All you need to know about the CTA and how you can help us extend freedom of movement to every legal resident on the island of Ireland.
We are lobbying both the British and Irish governments to extend the rights and privileges enjoyed by CTA nationals to all migrants, refugees and cross-border families.
Families who are not CTA nationals face document checks, refusals and threats of deportation even when they hold valid residency. Students miss classes, workers lose wages and parents cannot access healthcare because racism is embedded in border enforcement. Together we can reimagine the CTA as a human-rights based arrangement that lets every resident travel freely, care for loved ones and take part in civic life.
The Common Travel Area (CTA) is a long-standing arrangement between the UK and Ireland that allows Irish and British citizens to move, live, work, vote and access services across both states without routine checks. It predates the EU and continues post-Brexit, but it was never written into a single piece of legislation, leaving significant gaps in how the rights are implemented.
Large numbers of people who live, work, study and raise families on the island of Ireland are excluded. That includes spouses of UK or Irish nationals, refugees with leave to remain, asylum seekers, migrant workers from Africa, Asia and other non-EU countries (even when they hold permanent residence), and students with valid visas. These neighbours pay taxes and contribute to public life but are denied the same protections as CTA nationals.
Non-CTA residents are routinely prevented from crossing the border for leisure, work, education or urgent healthcare. They may be refused access to the job market, elections, cross-border youth programmes, or even border-area essentials like pharmacies and supermarkets. Families are split at airports and children can miss school trips or lifesaving treatment because visa processes are expensive and slow.
North West Migrants Forum, alongside partners across the island, is running a public campaign to raise awareness, document how the CTA harms communities and lobby both governments to extend CTA rights to all legal residents. The plan centres migrant leadership, strategic litigation, political education and a mass petition demanding equal mobility.
Aoife Greenberg – a Leeds University student, NWMF member and Summer Club leader – interviewed families impacted by the CTA for her dissertation. Her research documents how people with legal status are still blocked from day trips, medical care and cultural life. Download the full dissertation to understand the lived reality of the policy.
Everyone who cares about equality can back this movement – individuals, youth groups, unions, faith communities, civil society organisations, universities, schools and politicians at every level. Shared action is how we make the CTA fair for every resident.
Resources and downloads
Brief volunteers, set up petition stations and share policy briefings with stakeholders using the files below.
Common Travel Area leaflet Download the full launch leaflet and share it with families, schools and community groups.
Open Resource
Read the policy recommendations we co-authored with the Committee on the Administration of Justice.
Open Resource
Add your name to the petition calling for CTA rights for all legal residents on the island.
Open Resource
Moments from the CTA campaign
From petitions to youth briefings, these glimpses capture the communities keeping pressure on governments to reform the CTA.
Trade unions, women’s groups, migrant-led organizations and civic partners across the island have publicly backed CTA reform. Join them today.
Ways to keep the momentum moving
Choose one action this week and let us know how we can support you.
Host teach-ins, school assemblies or lunch & learns to explain how the CTA currently works.
Collect testimonies, log incidents at the border and share anonymised evidence with our policy team.
Invite unions, student bodies and neighbourhood groups to endorse the campaign and host petition stations.
Host teach-ins, school assemblies or lunch & learns to explain how the CTA currently works.
