Nancy_W

I am hoping to visit England next year. This may be a silly question, but will I need to provide a passport when travelling into Wales from England? Or is this not necessary since it is part of the United Kingdom? Thank you.

adrienne

You don't need a passport to go to Wales if you are already in England. I'm not sure why you care about this or why this is important to you. However, you could be asked for your identity papers at any time in any country you visit and will be expected to provide them. No different than in the US.

You will need a passport to get into England. If you are American you will need a passport to leave the US and to get back in.

adeben

This is certainly a silly question, and has been since 1542.

janisj

OK - since you will need your passport to get into England, you will have it on you -- so why are you even concerned about this???

But no - you won't have show your passport when traveling across the English/Welsh border. Any more than you would between Nevada and California . . . .

helen_belsize

You don't need a passport to go to Wales from England and most people wouldn't fly but you do need to have a passport or other form of photo ID if you are flying within the United Kingdom. I mention this so you don't pack it at the bottom of a suitcase and need to find it in an airport if you want to fly to Scotland or Northern Ireland from England. Like others the temptation to tease you for this question is difficult to resist but I am assuming you are sincere.

nytraveler

Sorry - in the US you cannot be asked for your "identity papers" at any time. We don;t have "identity papers". People who travel abroad have a passport - but generally carry it only when leaving the country. Others have nothing. And police aren't allowed to just stop you and ask who you are - they have to have a specific reason to stop someone - and you have the right to refuse to give them any information at all, including your name. Unless you've committed a crime it's none of their business.

For people who only travel internally and need some sort of official identification to get on a plane the usual item is a driver's license.

This is one of the reasons you see so many questions about passports from Americans - the whole concept of being randomly stopped and required to identify yourself is foreign to us.

adrienne

nytraveler - a photo driver's license or a passport is proof of identity; they're not called "identity papers" but that's what they are. If I were stopped by the police I would not refuse to show them my ID if I had it on me. They do not stop you and ask specifically who you are, but when driving they may stop you and ask to see your driver's license, etc. That will tell them who you are.

Granted, the police normally do not stop people who are driving unless there is a reason. But they do not tell you why they are stopping you until they see your ID so you have no idea if you've done something illegal.

I was also once asked by an airport official to show my passport at a luggage carousel in a US airport. I willingly handed it over assuming there was a reason. He looked at it and handed it back.

I'm not about to spend my time refusing to show ID to the police. I show my papers and move on.

sheila

Actually you can't be stopped and asked for your ID in the UK either. (well, you can, but there's no law requiring it). Mostly people here use their passports for ID on internal flights, but driving licenses are fine (old driving licenses don't have photos- they don't do).

And, let's face it, the mere fact that Nancy_W knew Wales was not PART of England puts her head and shoulders above most of "your" compatriots. Not the Fodorite ones, obviously!

Cholmondley_Warner

The UK police (or anyone else for that matter) cannot just stop you and demand to see ID. There is no legal requirement to carry ID (which there is on most of the continent).

Outside of very specific cases (involving section 60 of the Public Order Act for them's that's interested) police can only stop you if they have good cause and reasonable suspicion (the once notorious "suss"). In other words it's pretty much the same as the Probable Cause rules in the colonies.

If they do stop you they have to give you a written record of the stop and their reasons for it.

It doesn't happen to "civilians", just those involved in "the game".

You do need somthing to prove who you are if you want to go on a plane - even short domestic flights. And lots and lots more if you want to rent a fillum from Blockbusters.

PatrickLondon

Of course, we could confuse our overseas cousins by suggesting they read Jasper Fforde's "Something Rotten", in which the villain is able to take refuge in the Socialist Republic of Wales (and the President of England is an ailing George Formby, and the national anthem is When I'm Cleaning Winders).

flanneruk

"But they do not tell you why they are stopping you until they see your ID "

Yet another example of Americans kow-towing to repression.

They let their government ban them from travelling to the country next door. They allow their police to demand ID. They let plain clothes policemen beat up visiting academics who want to see proof they really are policemen (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6251431.stm).

We all know the Boston Tea Party was a protest against lower taxes. But was the 1776 revolution just a demand for more authoritarian laws?

thursdaysd

Hadn't realized this thread had gotten so entertaining. flanner - that link doesn't work.

BTW, you can add the social (in)security number to American ID.

Robespierre

Here, grasshopper:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6251431.stm

daveesl

"Your papers, pleeaasse"
"Wow man, I don't have any"
"Then you'd better get a pipe!!"

Ok, where did those lines come from?

Porgy Tyrebiter, he's a man and a girl delighter...

artsnletters

I was once stopped on the street (in the US) and asked for my identification. Apparently I resembled someone the police were looking for. I probably have the right to have refused, but since I knew I hadn't done anything, I had no problem with showing my driver's license.

daveesl

Oops, I messed up the last line...

Porgy Tyrebiter, he's a spy and a girl delighter...

chartley

I once read, and I don't know where, that more people have passports in the U.K. than have driving licences, and that more people in the U.S. have guns than have passports.

Even though newer driving licences in the U.K. carry a photograph, the passport is still the commonest means of I.D. that is requested. We are making new wills shortly, and our solicitor has asked us to take our passports when we see her.

I am over 60 years old, yet two years ago at Yellowstone National Park I was asked for I.D. before being allowed to buy wine. The cashier was a student from Romania, and we had a little euro-giggle at the absurdity of it all.

Autres pays, autres moeurs. (or even o tempora, o mores).

BigRuss

What's that about repression Flanner? This from someone whose every move can be video-recorded in his home country and whose next door neighbors can take out a civil warrant against him restraining him from noisy sex. Your definition of authoritarianism needs refinement.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...o-1674955.html

Paul1950

There wasn't much reason for most Americans to have a passport until recently--we could cover a lot of territory in North America (including the Caribbean islands) without one: about 25,000,000 square kilometers and around 3 dozen different countries and territories belonging to various countries.

I got my first passport when I was 9, but, until recently, an American citizen could have a lifetime of travel experiences without one.

Of course, that is all changing very quickly.

Cholmondley_Warner

and whose next door neighbors can take out a civil warrant against him restraining him from noisy sex>>>>

It was a her (blokes don't tend to make much noise).
In any case individuals can't take out ASBOs only police, local authorities and RSLs can.

The same applies to covert CCTV - google "RIPA" if you can be arsed.

So more yankee ignorance from over the pond.

CW - ASBOmonger and RIPAflipper in real life.