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So I recently made a return journey from London Southend (SEN) to Dublin (DUB), flying out of SEN and into DUB on Saturday on Aer Lingus, and back to SEN on Sunday via a similar Aer Lingus flight. In Dublin I did have to go through passport control (I received a stamp because I am non-EU).

But on the return flight back to SEN there was no immigration control at all (like a domestic flight). Was this some mistake?

I also asked another friend who had flown back from DUB to London Standsted (STN) and although they did have immigration control, there was a separate "Entry from Dublin" line which bypassed most checks, again my friend is non-EU.

So was this just a mistake? Or does the UK accept entries from Dublin/Ireland and just trust everyone coming in?

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This is due to the Common Travel Area Zone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Travel_Area) and is not a mistake.

The assumption is that anyone entering the Zone has already been checked by Immigration when entering the Zone. Eg, if you travelled from the US to Ireland you would pass through Irish Immigration. The UK then trusts that Ireland has completed the relevant checks.

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    So interestingly, the 1997 legislation in Ireland allows immigration officers to reject travellers arriving from elsewhere in the CTA zone, which explains why I was checked entering Dublin despite.
    – EdmundYeung99
    Commented Jun 24, 2014 at 13:21
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    Yes, @EdmundYeung99. The CTA is not as open as Schengen: checks may be made. Travelling by ferry, checks are more common in Holyhead than they are in Dublin.
    – TRiG
    Commented Jun 24, 2014 at 14:01
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    Kind of funny, considering it's a common Zone, that on one side (Ireland) you always pass through passport control when entering by air, but not on the other side (UK/Channel Islands/Isle of Man)
    – Crazydre
    Commented Jul 5, 2016 at 0:30
  • I remember reading that there are some situations where travelling to the UK through Dublin can cause unexpected problems because if this. I.e. if you have a UK visa that needs to be stamped by UK immigration.
    – Tor Klingberg
    Commented Apr 8, 2019 at 8:28
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In DUB (Dublin Airport) ALL passengers pass through the same immigration checkpoint, even those travelling on internal Irish flights. If you have a boarding card for a flight from a UK or Irish airport, you don't need to present any immigration documentation at all (merely identification documentation).

Being the awkward person that I am, when travelling from the UK, I regularly presented my boarding card and BIRTH CERTIFICATE to the cop at the passport desk. Even though the birth cert had no photograph or anything else to easily validate me, I was NEVER pressed for any other ID. I did this for at least 20 returns to DUB, until my wife insisted that I stop acting the maggot!

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