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I will visit Ireland for training purpose (~10 weeks, single entry short term visa). I am searching for stuff to do and places to visit.

I know that Ireland is not part of Schengen states. So, my question is, are there any other places (i.e. European countries) I can enter with this visa?

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    If you don't want to apply for a Schengen visa, this is a good excuse to explore Ireland thoroughly!
    – Ankur Banerjee
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 16:18
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    Actually it is not "I don't want to", it is "It needs complex procedure to get it". But you are true, I should explore all Ireland in these 10 week ends :)
    – Yousf
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 16:31
  • There is no border controls at the Ireland/Northern Ireland border. The main way you know you've crossed over is the speed limit signs change mph ↔ kmph.
    – Amandasaurus
    Commented Apr 20, 2012 at 10:43
  • i have got irish multiple entry visa, do I need to take saperate visa to visit united kingdom. or my present visa is sufficient to visit united kingdom. if so what type of visa I need to take
    – user40196
    Commented Feb 15, 2016 at 16:00

4 Answers 4

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Ireland is part of Common Travel Area that consists of the islands of Ireland, Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, but according to Wikipedia:

Unlike the Schengen Agreement, the Common Travel Area provides no mechanism for the mutual recognition of leave to enter and remain, and the United Kingdom and Ireland operate entirely separate visa systems with distinct entry requirements. In general, a United Kingdom visa will not allow a traveller entry to Ireland, nor vice-versa.

Since your visa is single entry I would recommend you to stay in Ireland if you cannot obtain multiple entry visa.

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    There is no border control at all on the roads between the Republic and Northern Ireland. I have taken buses between Dublin and Belfast many times, and no one has ever asked for any kind of travel documentation.
    – TRiG
    Commented Oct 17, 2011 at 9:25
  • Yes there is no border control between Northern Ireland and Ireland. Many public intercity bosses drive through N. Ireland. You can easily go up there without any visa issues.
    – Amandasaurus
    Commented Oct 18, 2011 at 9:34
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    Just because you can doesn't mean you are allowed to or should: according to the following link, entering Northern Ireland will technically invalidate your Irish visa! citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/moving_to_ireland/…
    – lambshaanxy
    Commented Apr 20, 2012 at 11:31
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    It sounds like it is risky going to N.Ireland with just a visa. With a Canadian passport, we still could not legally bring a rented vehicle from the Republic into Northern Ireland.
    – joshin4colours
    Commented Apr 20, 2012 at 20:29
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    Old question and answer, but it may need to be updated as there are now "British-Irish" which give access to both countries. They are reserved to a very limited set of citizenships for now, but it'll probably expand in the future.
    – jcaron
    Commented Feb 15, 2016 at 23:11
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Travelling outside of Ireland into Europe also depends on the passport you hold, but since you had to obtain a visa for Ireland, I would assume you need a visa for the UK and other European countries and since it's a single-entry visa I wouldn't risk leaving the Republic. From personal experience I wouldn't be so confident about going over the border into N. Ireland without travel documents. I tried it in 2004, when there were "no border controls" and as we got to the border 2 immigration officials boarded the bus and I had no documents on me, thankfully I was able to sweet talk my way out of it and not get deported.

Stay in Ireland and explore the beautiful country!

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As @bobbalicious already indicated, it really depends on your nationality (See this link here showing the number of countries a person with a given nationality can travel). This IATA has a nice site where you can get information based on your info.

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  • 'this link here' is not useful without some further documentation about what the numbers mean, and for who...
    – user987
    Commented Nov 7, 2011 at 16:38
  • @NWS another problem with "this link here" is that links die, as that one there has.
    – phoog
    Commented Nov 4, 2015 at 19:30
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Please note that words used have sensitive political meanings.

'Ireland' can (in different contexts and with differing background and intent of the person using it mean either

  • an Island
  • the Republic which covers part of said Island.

For many people, what you said does not make sense. Ireland has no borders with anything else -- it is surrounded by sea. Personally I cannot think of any Irish or British person (whether Nationalist. Unionist or Indifferent) background that would ever write something that implied Ireland stops at the border with the Province.

I know what you MEANT, of course. I would have written

'There are no immigration controls between the Republic and the United Kingdom.' which is neutral, uncontroversial and objective.

(There used to be pretty often security controls all over the border area on the N. Irish side, with an army person carrying a machine gun but they, thankfully, have almost disappeared).

Actually there are regular controls, but in one place only. The Gardai have checks on persons for ALL arriving flights into Dublin -- but if you are British or Irish, and you are travelling from the UK, under the Common Travel Area agreement you don't need a passport to go through.

(These days the Gard on duty will ask for a form of ID like a driving licence, which he or she know you must have to check in with the airline at your departure airport)

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    99% of the time, when people say Ireland, they mean the Republic of Ireland. They specify Northern Ireland when they mean something else. Similar to calling 'South Korea' just 'Korea' - even Obama has called them that. Secondly, the OP didn't mention borders at all. Didn't even say the word. He's asked if there's anywhere else in the EU that he can visit with the Irish visa. This could be France, Germany, etc. If you were trying to reply to another user's answer, you should comment on their question, rather than making a new answer.
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented May 17, 2012 at 7:36
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    Yes there is amibiguity over the term "Ireland", however it's quite common to refer to the Republic of Ireland as "Ireland", that is it's official name! The Government there says that Ireland has a border! (And not all of the Province of Ulster is in Northern Ireland, 3 counties (Donegal, Cavan & Monaghan) are in Ulster, but in (Republic of) Ireland.
    – Amandasaurus
    Commented Sep 17, 2012 at 11:02

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