Border Control

Irish_Steve

Hi

I have an Irish Passport and my wife has a British Passport. We are flying to Greece in a couple of days time (from Edinburgh) and I was wondering if she could join me in the EU queue both when we arrive in Athens and when we return to Edinburgh?

Otherwise I'll just have to wait for her as I'll be through Border Control quicker

Thanks for any advice

eskbanker

I don't believe there is an EU-specific queue in Edinburgh now, so you'll both be in the same one there....

Irish_Steve

Seems strange that they wouldn't but I'll take your word for it

TadleyBaggie

Irish_Steve said:

Seems strange that they wouldn't but I'll take your word for it

Not that strange, we ain't in the EU. So makes sense to have a UK and others queues.

Irish_Steve

TadleyBaggie said:

Irish_Steve said:

Seems strange that they wouldn't but I'll take your word for it

Not that strange, we ain't in the EU. So makes sense to have a UK and others queues.

I meant that I thought they would have a queue for EU citizens, just to keep the queues down

mtc95

I don't know if Edinburgh Airport has e-gates for passports but if it does, and it's like Heathrow, then EU citizens can use them in the same way and in the same queue as UK passport holders.

Regarding Athens, in theory your wife shouldn't use the EU queue but I don't khow strictly they enforce it there. It might depend on the individual official whether they would let you both through together.  Hopefully none of the queues will be too long when you visit.

daveyjp

Join the queue you are asked to.

Having just been through an EU border which queue goes quickest is down to how many passengers in each queue and number of staff, not the passport you have.

NoodleDoodleMan

daveyjp said:

Join the queue you are asked to.

Having just been through an EU border which queue goes quickest is down to how many passengers in each queue and number of staff, not the passport you have.

On our most recent visits to Spain, entering at Palma or Malaga, the biggest queues were post Brexit Brits - those with an Eu passport went through a separate lane in quick time.

tightauldgit

Irish_Steve said:

Hi

I have an Irish Passport and my wife has a British Passport. We are flying to Greece in a couple of days time (from Edinburgh) and I was wondering if she could join me in the EU queue both when we arrive in Athens and when we return to Edinburgh?

Otherwise I'll just have to wait for her as I'll be through Border Control quicker

Thanks for any advice

In theory I think you should use the lines which correspond to your passport - in practice if you are going through as a family group I've never had anyone query it when I've done it in the past with me (UK) and wife (non-EU). 

Having said that I'm pretty sure that EU and UK (plus US, Korea and a few others) all go through the same line to the E-gates now 

DullGreyGuy

daveyjp said:

Join the queue you are asked to.

Having just been through an EU border which queue goes quickest is down to how many passengers in each queue and number of staff, not the passport you have.

Its certainly not solely the passport you have but the reality is queuing with many others that need visas and document checks etc is likely to be longer than the EU queue unless they have a really unbalanced number of staff on each queue. Normally its considered acceptable that those from RoW have a longer queue than nationals.

Irish_Steve said:
I was wondering if she could join me in the EU queue both when we arrive in Athens and when we return to Edinburgh?

Otherwise I'll just have to wait for her as I'll be through Border Control quicker

How could she? Does she have another EEA nationality you havent mentioned? UK left the EU and so she cannot use the EU queue in Athens. You are free to join her in the non-EU queue if you want, which is what I used to do with the Mrs before she got her British passport, or you can use the EU queue and wait post immigration.

When you arrive in Edinburgh you can both use the e-Gates 

tightauldgit

DullGreyGuy said:

daveyjp said:

Join the queue you are asked to.

Having just been through an EU border which queue goes quickest is down to how many passengers in each queue and number of staff, not the passport you have.

Its certainly not solely the passport you have but the reality is queuing with many others that need visas and document checks etc is likely to be longer than the EU queue unless they have a really unbalanced number of staff on each queue. Normally its considered acceptable that those from RoW have a longer queue than nationals.

Really depends on the flight though - a flight to the UK from say Spain is going to have hundreds of UK/EU passport holders and probably 2 or 3 ROW. Thats when I would just chance the non-EU line and never had an issue