Does everyone need a passport to travel?

[Wonderi]

Bit of a weird one.

Is there anyone who doesn’t need a passport to travel?

I thought you had to have one if you want to go to a different country.

I know someone who isn’t British but has lived in England for many years.

They want to travel to their home country but don’t have a passport and say they don’t need one.

YABU - not everyone needs a passport to travel.
YANBU - everyone needs a passport to travel (unless you’re the king or something).

You can’t enter the UK with a EU ID card.

Some people can. I know Ukranians fir example who come in and out the country on their biometric residence permits.

The entire EU has open borders. You can drive through and never encounter a checkpoint.

Not necessarily, if you are not an EU citizen (or Swiss) you can be stopped when crossing borders from one EU country to another. They don't do it often but we have been checked between Germany and Austria and Portugal and Spain

Well everyday is a school day. I had no idea about travel using ID cards

But (I could be wrong) surely when you entered your first country in the Schengen Zone you would have needed passports and maybe visas - depending on where you were travelling from and could travel freely within the Zone after that.

That was always my understanding anyway.

I traveled across Italy, through Germany, Switzerland, France and up all the way through Baltics and there wasn't anyone to stop you. There are no checkpoints when travelling by road/train. Airports are obviously different.
The old checkpoint between Latvia and Estonia is currently taken over by nature and looks rather post apocalyptic. I don't think there is a border officer hiding in the bushes.
Although I seem to remember seeing a checkpoint on German/swiss border but I may be imagining it.

You get through check in process because airlines know to check your ID card. My doubt is about travelling back to the UK. It is fine if you are travelling between countries that accept the ID cards.

I believe UK and Ireland is a special case too but I have no experience with it,

I can travel to any EU country with my Belgian ID card I’m pretty sure.

But I mean … that’s basically then a passport right? Also I don’t think I’d get back into the UK, although I haven’t tried it in fairness.

Oh OK. I must have misunderstood.

I thought the freedom to travel was within the EU, but I thought you would need a passport when you initially entered a EU country from somewhere not in the EU?

Except you can...

Me neither.

I assumed everyone needed a passport but it seems that’s not always the case.

Yes, you can’t; even when you theoretically don’t need one.

If you have pre-settled or settled status in the UK, you can come and go with your ID card. If not, then since October 2022 you need a passport to enter the UK.

We did show our passports on first entry into schengen but were still checked at the borders.
We own a house near the Spain/Portugal border and pre Brexit we used to get on the ferry to Portugal for lunch but we heard of a few Brits getting stopped and asked for passports, I started carrying ours and sure enough we were stopped.
Last Christmas we flew to Austrian and got the train into Germany, The Police got on the train and asked to see our passports.
In many EU countries you are supposed to carry photo ID at all times so I suppose it could have been that rather than our passports.

I’m British ;)

so actually what would that mean? Being born here, I obviously don’t have settled/ pre settled status … so I could use a British driving license to get back in?

It's a bit frustrating reading all the "I'm pretty sure" replies here, when you can find the exact rules on the UK government website (https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control/before-you-leave-for-the-uk) and the EU website (here for EU citizens https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/entry-exit/eu-citizen/index_en.htm and here for non-EU citizens https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/entry-exit/non-eu-nationals/index_en.htm).

DL is NOT a travel document so no

You said that you had a Belgian ID card. I assumed you were a Belgian citizen. By "Belgian ID card", do you mean the kind of Belgian ID card that Belgium issues to citizens, or some kind of other document that the Belgian authorities have issued to you?

If you are (also) a UK citizen then you can enter the UK with your UK passport. If you lose that then you would have to persuade the Border Force officials of your identity. They can't leave you in limbo like Tom Hanks in The Terminal, although they will not be especially happy.

I am also a Belgian citizen! We do exist 😅
Yeah it’s legal to travel into the EU with a Belgian ID card, which is also required to be carried within the country.

However, in practise, I travel with two passports so I’ve never tested it.

For travel between Ireland and UK it is. But not for all airlines. Fine for the ferries though.

Although I know the topic relates to UK/other EU travel (not the CTA only) so you are right in respect of that and driving licences not being a travel document in that case.

EU member states can conduct border checks within Schengen, but these are generally to do with security rather than checking your visa(-waiver) status. There's been an uptick in these recently because politicians are under pressure to "dO sOmEtHiNg AbOuT iLlEgAl ImMiGrAnTs" even though the vast majority of non-citizens committing crimes in EU countries are legal residents of those countries.

Ok ok bar Ireland - UK. I knew someone will point it out🙈 wa too lazy to edit 😁

Back of the class for you and 100 lines. NOW. 😊

Well, why don't you try it next time? Get on the plane or Eurostar with your Belgian ID card and tell the check-in staff that you are OK to travel to the UK with it because you have settled status there. Then get to the UK border and tell them that you are in fact a UK citizen but for <a reason of your choice> you do not have your passport on you. I've often wondered what happens in such cases. Do pop back here and tell us how you got on. 😂