This summer I will be travelling to Helsinki (and staying there for about a week). While both countries belong to the EU, and so I am not obliged to get a passport, I know that not having one can make your life difficult if you travel to some (EU) countries - for instance, the UK. Considering this, would you (as experienced travelers!) recommend me getting a passport before I leave?
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What sort of issues are you concerned about? Never had any trouble in the UK using my ID card from another EU country, certainly for short-term travel.– RelaxedCommented Jun 30, 2015 at 14:38
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1Are you EU citizen? If yes, EU ID card should be okay for you traveling within EU, if not i highly suggest to take passport with you. Portugal and Denmark are in schengen zone. UK is not in schengen. I have traveled from Lisbon to copenhagen, no problems whatsoever, had to show my nonEU passport and EU residence card to the airline.– pbuCommented Jun 30, 2015 at 14:56
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1and @pbu yes, I am a EU citizen.– essayCommented Jun 30, 2015 at 15:08
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4@Karlson No. The only plausible way to interpret the question is “Would you recommend getting a passport in the context of this trip?” Even if you wanted to make the unrelated (and somewhat unconvincing, given the price of a passport) point that having one can be useful for trips outside of the EU, you ought to specify that in your comment if you want to have any chance of being understood. It has absolutely nothing to do with the subjective or objective nature of the statement.– RelaxedCommented Jun 30, 2015 at 15:27
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@essay, Are there any chances that you might want to leave EU, for instance, an unplanned day trip to Saint-Petersburg, which is not far from Helsinki and not part of the EU?– gmauchCommented Jun 30, 2015 at 16:29
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1 Answer
Because you are an EU national you have the right of free movement inside EU.
The national ID card is enough, the portuguese one is called Cartão de Cidadão.
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1I think your answer is not acurate. @essay can travel not because he is in a EU country but because it's schengen space. Can someone confirm that? EU and schengen mostly coincide but it's not exactly the same. Countrys like UK are out (although you can travel there for leisure with the ID only) Can someone back this up? is this accurate?– nsnCommented Sep 10, 2015 at 7:25
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2@nsn he can travel because he is an EU national, therefore he has freedom of movement inside all the EU members. Schengen treaty is about borders check and visa rule. He can go due to the "Free Movement of Citizens Directive 2004/38/EC" Commented Sep 10, 2015 at 8:30
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@nsn see travel.stackexchange.com/questions/21932/… for entering UK with EU National Id (or here for an official source: gov.uk/uk-border-control/before-you-leave-for-the-uk) Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 0:31
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"The Schengen Agreement was signed on 14 June 1985 by five of the ten EU member states[2] in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg. The Schengen Area was established outside of the then European Community, when consensus could not be reached among all of its member states on the abolition of border controls. As more EU member states signed up to join the Schengen Area, agreement was reached on absorbing it into the EU. The Agreement and related conventions were incorporated into the mainstream of European Union law by the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997". Still UK and others have an opt-out for instance– nsnCommented Sep 11, 2015 at 7:51
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1@nsn, then what? EU citizens has the right of movement inside all the EU countries, regardless Schengen membership, due to the 2004/38/EC Directive. Because we are talking about EU nationals, Schengen treaty is irrelevant for this case. If the OP was an extra-EU citizen with a Portuguese residence permit he can't go to UK because extra-EU is regulated by Schengen treaty, but because he is Portuguese he can go to UK under the 2004/38/EC Directive. If you still don't believe me you can read the directive here eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/… Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 8:00