passport

[discobobby]

Can anyone tell me if you need a passport to go to France by train.

Thanks
Bob

[237SJ]

Yes

[Buenchico]

Assuming that you're starting from the UK, the answer is 'Yes'.

You can travel freely within the Schengen countries, without any documentation at all (other than which might be required by the carrier for security purposes). So you could travel to France, by rail, from Spaiin, Germany or even from Hungary without needing a passport.

But, for travel from the UK (which is not a full signatory to the Schengen Agreement) you need a passport for travel to any other country, irrespective of the method of travel. The only exception (for British & Irish citizens) is that no passport is needed to travel between the UK and the Irish Republic.

Chris

[jamesnan]

You will need to go through passport control before getting onto the train.

[DTCwordfan]

Nous avons les douaniers enormes de bien faire la fouille au corps......

[dzug2]

If you are from an EU or Schengen country that has official ID cards then you can use those to travel instead of a passport - including to and from the UK.

We were headed that way but the ID card scheme was scrapped.

[New Judge]

Not quite relevant to the question (which has already been answered) but the information provided by dzug is a bit misleading.

Although they both take part in some of its provisions (such as the Schengen Information System (SIS)), the UK and Ireland are not signatories to the Schengen agreement. It is not possible to travel to the UK using an identity card issued by a Schengen country – a valid passport is required.

Movement between the 25 Schengen nations is completely free and no documents are required to cross borders (although, of course, many carriers require proof of identification for security purposes). Had the UK joined the scheme no documentation would have been required to travel to and from other Schengen nations. The abandoned National Identity Card scheme would have done nothing to facilitate such movement and indeed it is difficult to grasp just what it would have achieved.

[dzug2]

<<It is not possible to travel to the UK using an identity card issued by a Schengen country – a valid passport is required. >>

So how come Germans, French, Poles, etc do it all the time with just their ID cards??

The only thing I'm not sure about is nationals of a country that is in Schengen but not in the EU - eg Swiss

[237SJ]

Do they do it all the time? Where?

[dzug2]

When they need to enter the UK. Passports are not needed for:

1. EU nationals holding a valid national ID card.

Note: EU nationals are only required to produce evidence of their EU nationality and identity in order to be admitted to any EU Member State. This evidence can take the form of a valid national passport or national identity card. Either is acceptable. Possession of a return ticket, any length of validity on their document, sufficient funds for the length of their proposed visit should not be imposed

I think i confused the issue by mentioning Schengen - EU and Schengen overlap but are not synonymous

[dzug2]

And I've been behind them in the queue at airports and seen them do it.

[New Judge]

Yup. Apologies dzug (and everybody else). Wires crossed I'm afraid.

[Dee Sa]

my hubby is Portuguese and he uses his ID card to travel anywhere in Europe.