Sign Our Petition

The Common Travel Area (CTA) enables the free movement of Irish and British citizens within the island of Ireland. However, it excludes people of many other nationalities in particular nationals from countries in Africa, Asia, and South America. Legal residents who have made their homes on both sides of the Irish border are prevented from fully living their lives here.

Effectively there is an invisible – racist – hard border stopping people from moving freely to work, to access healthcare or to visit friends.

North West Migrants Forum and its partners are petitioning the Irish Government to put an end to this discrimination. We demand that:

Non-EU/EEA residents who have lawful residency in Northern Ireland should have ‘deemed permission’ to cross the border as visitors. Any notification requirements for persons entering the state across the land border should be removed when the person is a visa national.

- The Immigration Act s11(4) of 2004 be amended to end the requirement for non-EU/EEA citizens to carry and produce passports when crossing the border and to notify the authorities of their visit in advance.

- Amend the citizenship law to open a pathway to Irish citizenship through residency on the island of Ireland and to restore birth entitlements to citizenship.

- Undertake a social mobility assessment and ensure that essential cross-border services are available to all legally resident non-EU/EEA citizens who have lawful residence on the island of Ireland.

Sign Our Petition

We, the undersigned, call on the Irish Government to uphold
and implement the North West Migrant Forum’s and the Committee on the Administration of Justice’s (CAJ) recommendation to end the invisible hard border that exists on the island of Ireland