Yes sorry you are absolutely right right about that, I didn't put much thought into that part of the detail when typing and just used the first word that came into my head but on thinking about it ( and checking) yes, it was the Spanish "Consulate" in Edinburgh.Originally Posted by FarangRuMak
I don't know much about these affairs.
My handle is meant to be ironic-a play on the Thai mantra "Farang Ru Mak Mai Dee - but irony has to be very obtuse here before it sticks but never mind.
I thought that with a double Independence achieved for N. Ireland & Scotland we could all tell 'Arsenal' et al to go suck eggs.
Sh-t!
Ha I see where you're going with that and your logic makes perfect sense - except none of those things ACTUALLY applied and in fact the truth is much less explosive - but still all the more annoying for me at the time as a) my BF was told he'd need a Schengen Visa and to get it from CONSULATE :-) of the EU Country he intended visit - so we went and checked and there were four consulates that were practical - they were located in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin.
Now Dublin is a simple 45 minute drive for us so I thought great we'll go there BUT !!!! I then realised that for him to be legally allowed in to Southern Ireland to go to Dublin ( 45 minutes away) he would in fact need an IRISH visitors visa to enter the South ! and as we WERE going to request a visa I figured it would be a bit much wheeling up to their desk as an actual technical illegal immigrant in one Country whilst then asking for a visa to their own Country - not to mention he could in fact have ended up being arrested then ! Also also then discovered THAT those visitors visas are only available ( as SG found out) only issued after by interview and the closest office they offered for that was London !
So, Edinburgh believe it or not turned out to be the easiest option all round just as we tied it in with a nice weekend there where I / we visited the Royal Yacht Britannia ( which I really enjoyed).
The MOST maddening part of the whole disaster was that on arrival in Edinburgh the cheeky fucker who worked there said " so what the hell did you come all the way here for as you could have applied for this by post you know !" ( we had previously clearly checked that with his very office and were told that "no, that wasn't an option" )- Damned those thran Scots, making up the rules as they go along - almost as well as the Thai's !
Sounds like an absolute nightmare, NIrish. So your BF now has "leave to remain" in the UK and that allows him to travel within the EU? Sorry, I wasn't quite clear how it all ended up.
Hitchhiking's more of a challenge on the road less travelled.
I'm sure Head Judge Len has sucked, or at least licked plenty of "eggs" in his time
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arsenal (October 14th, 2017)
No, thank god after his mandatory 5 year wait was was able to apply for naturalisation and so is now a full British Citizen - which after him paying upwards of
sorry last post fell victim to the pound sign it seems - so I was saying that after him paying upwards of 1500 quid for his British passport he's not now very amused at the prospect of it being fairly useless for free travel within the EU if our Brexit masters dont get their finger out and agree a deal to suit the ordinary people here who just want to get on with their lives and travel around Europe on holiday and business as usual without all this fuss - lets hope that remains to be the case.
Ok so you can walk/drive/train from NI right across the border into the the Republic unchallenged and under no scrutiny whatsoever right - and vice versa of course.
But if the Irish police don't think you look Irish (e.g. You can walk in a straight line and you don't have a bulbous red drinker's nose) they might stop you in the street and demand to see your "papers"?
Is it the Garda or the Gestapo they have there?
PS: Only joking about the nose
all joking aside yes that is EXACTLY what can and does happen ! They're actually stepping up random stops on buses and things a few miles from the Border ( on the Southern side mainly it seems but I can see that reversing very shortly after Brexit ) and yes they are literally walking up and down the bus iand looking for dodgy characters ( i.e anyone who's not white in reality !) and asking to see their I.D / immigration status / papers etc.
Even I was surprised and a little pissed off when I see this happening as it was of course blatant racial profiling - but I guess in Ireland being the Country we are it IS the quickest and easiest and probably the most efficient way still of sorting out the wheat from the Chaff as they say - rightly or wrongly and it's no different than say Thai immigration getting on a bus in Thailand and immediately picking out the farang backpackers and asking to see their passports whilst ignoring all the Thai's.
I used to work for a cross-border peace charity, and regularly travelled to Belfast by train. It wasn't rare for the Gardai to board the train in the Republic (Dundalk) and carry out immigration checks. I agree with NIrish - it was definitely aimed at non-white, even if they were citizens of Ireland.
Hitchhiking's more of a challenge on the road less travelled.
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