Supporting the North West Migrants Forum Common Travel Area Campaign

The Common Travel Area (CTA) is the widely used term for a variety of rights exercised by citizens of Ireland and the United Kingdom that allows them to move freely – without checks – across the two islands. CTA nationals can live, work, vote and access benefits in both states. The CTA arrangement began in 1922 based on an understanding between the UK and Ireland, due to their common history and because of difficulties applying immigration controls at a shared border. Over time, some of the rights came to be included in different pieces of legislation in both Ireland and the UK. While the CTA is recognised under the Treaty of Amsterdam, it is not dependant on the European Union and so CTA rights continue even though the UK has left the EU.

Not everyone who lives on the island of Ireland can access these rights. Important categories of permanent residents of Northern Ireland (NI) and the Republic of Ireland (ROI), are excluded including:

• People with permission to live, work and study in either NI or ROI.

• People married to UK or Irish Nationals.

• Refugees with ‘Leave to Remain’/ Indefinite Leave to remain (permission from the government to stay in a country indefinitely).

• Asylum seekers.

• Migrant workers from Africa, Asia and other non-EU countries with Indefinite Leave to remain.

• Migrant workers from Africa, Asia and other non EU countries with permanent residence in ROI.
  

We fully support the NWMF campaign and you can find more information on the CTA campaign here.