The CTA is intrinsically linked with preventing a hard border and protecting the peace process. It has also been essential in supporting non-British and non-Irish people living on the island of Ireland to live cross-border lives. Post-Brexit the CTA is also frequently referred to as the source of ‘reciprocal rights’ for British and Irish citizens, including the right to reside and work in the alternate state without immigration permission. This rhetoric risks limiting the CTA to British and Irish citizens – excluding the rights of others.
We have worked on racial profiling and the conducting of unlawful immigration checks within the CTA; post-Brexit changes to CTA policy and the imposition of Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) on the land border through the Nationality and Borders Act 2022.
We also work jointly with the Committee on the Administration of Justice on a campaign examining the impact of the CTA on migrant and minority ethnic people. This campaign highlights how many people residing legally on the island of Ireland are excluded from freedom of movement within the CTA and develops legislative and policy asks to modernise and reform the CTA to include everyone in our communities.
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.
Keep the momentum moving
Set up a table in your school, community centre, workplace, or faith space and collect signatures offline.
Invite MLAs, TDs, councillors, or MPs to meet affected families and endorse the CTA reforms.
Document how immigration checks impact your family so policy makers cannot ignore lived experience.
The organisations holding governments to account
A migrant and refugee–led organisation based in Derry-Londonderry, coordinating legal clinics, anti-racism education, and youth leadership.
Focus: Community organising, story gathering, and public engagement across the island.
An independent human-rights NGO that monitors governments in Ireland and Britain to ensure international legal commitments are upheld.
Focus: Policy development, legal strategy, and campaigning to secure enforceable CTA rights.
Funders and allies keeping the petition moving
