Eurail for UK citizen living overseas

[justin1123]

I am planning to purchase a Eurail / Interrail ticket soon and wondering if anyone could help with experience of using this in the UK.

I am a UK citizen (UK passport) but living in Hong Kong for over 10 years. From advice on Eurail forums I understand I am technically able to use either the Eurail or Interrail. Eurail, I believe is actually the right one (as I am currently residing outside Europe), but I have concerns with the documentation / ID for this. I will be using in both Europe and the UK, but I suspect the UK would be where problems come up as I have a UK passport!

How frequently / rigorously are IDs and residences etc checked for these tickets in the UK? This would be useful for me to know. I am not "cheating" anything, but obviously with UK passport it's hard to prove you DON'T live in the UK! I have a Hong Kong identity card - this obviously shows a connection to Hong Kong, but it isn't a travel document, and doesn't prove you are living there now. I can also carry a letter from Hong Kong employer, or perhaps something from the government. I just don't want to have hassle every time this gets checked. And of course, there doesn't seem to be any formal way to get this checked/approved, so you are at the whim of each conductor you come across!

 

[Watershed]

I am planning to purchase a Eurail / Interrail ticket soon and wondering if anyone could help with experience of using this in the UK.

I am a UK citizen (UK passport) but living in Hong Kong for over 10 years. From advice on Eurail forums I understand I am technically able to use either the Eurail or Interrail. Eurail, I believe is actually the right one (as I am currently residing outside Europe), but I have concerns with the documentation / ID for this. I will be using in both Europe and the UK, but I suspect the UK would be where problems come up as I have a UK passport!

How frequently / rigorously are IDs and residences etc checked for these tickets in the UK? This would be useful for me to know. I am not "cheating" anything, but obviously with UK passport it's hard to prove you DON'T live in the UK! I have a Hong Kong identity card - this obviously shows a connection to Hong Kong, but it isn't a travel document, and doesn't prove you are living there now. I can also carry a letter from Hong Kong employer, or perhaps something from the government. I just don't want to have hassle every time this gets checked. And of course, there doesn't seem to be any formal way to get this checked/approved, so you are at the whim of each conductor you come across!

I doubt you will have any problems - passport checks are fairly rare anyway when using Interrail passes. In the unlikely event you were asked whilst in the UK, just explain the situation - that you're an expat. Your HK identity card should serve as enough, but if you have proof of address (e.g. a bank account statement) that's pretty open and shut.

Ultimately with any kind of ticket there is always a small chance that a "rogue" member of staff will wrongly reject it. I wouldn't worry overly about it.

 

[jfollows]

When I used a Britrail pass, admittedly about 20 years ago now, I was a UK citizen residing abroad. I made sure I carried proof of overseas residence with me, but I was never asked for it. I was certainly not asked for my passport, and I didn't even carry it with me.
All that I suggest you do is to ensure you carry documentation with you to verify the terms and conditions against which the ticket is issued.
In my case I carried a US Social Security card and some formal bill with my name and US address on it. As I say, I was never asked for it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I tried to do exactly this while living in Germany (admittedly 20-odd years ago), and was told that as I had German residence and a British passport I wasn't entitled to use the ticket in either, and was refused it. (Well, they said they'd sell me the Germany-Austria-Switzerland one but I'd only be able to use it in Austria and Switzerland and they were if I recall going to endorse it to say so).

So I can see the OP encountering issues doing this. It'll be assumed if you have a British passport you have British residence.

 

[jfollows]

Eurail terms and conditions (https://www.eurail.com/en/terms-conditions/booking-conditions):
I predict about 50% of the comments here will be to the effect that you're OK, and 50% will say the opposite, it's clearly not totally clear, so I think you'll have to be happy with your own interpretation of these terms and conditions and how they apply to you.

5.1 Eurail offers several variations of Rail Passes. Each type of Rail Pass has its own conditions and limitations (age, use, number of countries, duration, etc.). These conditions are all part of the offer and are clearly stated on the Website before any Agreement is concluded.

5.2 The Customer is eligible to purchase a Eurail Rail Pass if they are a citizen or official legal resident of a country that is:

• not part of one the European Union Member states

and is not mentioned in this list:

• Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Iceland, Isle of Man, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom or Vatican City.

5.3 Individuals who are a citizen or official legal resident of the countries defined in article 5.2 are not eligible to travel with a Eurail Rail Pass. Instead they can purchase an Interrail Rail Pass through www.interrail.eu, the website of Interrail.

5.4 Citizenship can be proven by means of a valid passport or legal equivalent. Residency can be proven by means of official residence documents issued by the government. This must be a document that clearly proves that the Customer is registered in the country where they live. Such documents vary by country.

5.5 Your citizenship or country of residence must be indicated during the order process and this country will be shown on your actual Pass.

5.6 In case the country where you live and/or work - your official country of residence -, is different than the nationality in your passport or legal equivalent, the country where you actually live and/or work prevails and should be indicated when ordering the Pass.

 

[Bletchleyite]

One of the problems with regard to UK residency is that holding (or being entitled to) a British Citizen's passport* automatically entitles you to it, even if you also have another country's residency, and so because registering your residency in the UK is not necessary, you are therefore considered by default to be UK resident and may have a job proving otherwise (proving the absence of something is quite hard). Tax domicile is provable based on a set of criteria but is a slightly separate thing.

Thus when I had a German resident's permit I was considered resident in both countries. And talking of tax domicile, when I was spending 4 days out of 7 in Switzerland for a bit, even when the company rented a flat for me, I was considered UK tax domiciled because I owned property here that I was using as a primary residence (another concept again) - a colleague who did the same work pattern but only rented in the UK was considered Swiss tax domiciled which caused him all manner of problems.

* There are other types of British passport that don't e.g. Subjects and Overseas Dependency ones, but they're far less common.

 

[Feuillesmortes]

I have a Hong Kong identity card

seems to be all you need to prove where "you actually live and/or work"

 

[jfollows]

Thus when I had a German resident's permit I was considered resident in both countries.

Yes, for what it's worth when I was living in the USA I was definitely not considered a resident "for tax purposes" even though I owned property in the UK, which had subsequent positive ramifications for me when I exercised my IBM share options which were granted during my period of non-residence (basically no income tax bill).
Anyway, I was happy with my understanding of the rules around my Britrail pass, which were probably not the same as today's Eurail pass, and had no problems at all with a month's unrestricted first class pass - obviously it was loads cheaper than the equivalent all-line rovers would have been.

 

[XAM2175]

I think it's fairly safe to say that the OP is ordinarily resident in Hong Kong and thus entitled to use the pass, on the basis that "official legal resident" is more likely to mean "ordinarily and lawfully resident at the time of buying and using the pass" than it is "entitled to or eligible to claim residence".

 

[Egg Centric]

Eurail terms and conditions (https://www.eurail.com/en/terms-conditions/booking-conditions):
I predict about 50% of the comments here will be to the effect that you're OK, and 50% will say the opposite, it's clearly not totally clear, so I think you'll have to be happy with your own interpretation of these terms and conditions and how they apply to you.

I would have thought clause 5.3 makes it clear OP should use inter rail, no?

 

[Watershed]

I would have thought clause 5.3 makes it clear OP should use inter rail, no?

Read on! 5.6 says that in the case of a conflict/difference, the country of residence takes precedence.

 

[justin1123]

Thanks all for the comments. I agree with the 50/50 opinion that I could go either way with Eurail or Interail. Eurail though I think is right from the terms and conditions, and will allow me additional travel (in the UK) for not much extra cost.

I suppose the concern is just how much this will be checked in reality. I'm confident that legally / tocs wise this is fine. But its potentially going to be difficult to explain, and I don't relish the hassle, and risk of not being able to travel, just because a conductor / station staff don't like my paperwork! I will use Eurostar a couple of times as well, where I guess you definitely have to show passport!

seems to be all you need to prove where "you actually live and/or work"

The problem with HK identity card is that it has a date of issue (in my case around 10 years ago) but no expiry or current status. Cards are linked up to immigration etc electronically. They don't even stamp passports anymore in HK. Of course, it has name / dob / picture etc, but you could argue if you want that it doesn't show residency. I am sure other countries must have similar systems - obviously, in the UK there is no such thing!

 

[Watershed]

Thanks all for the comments. I agree with the 50/50 opinion that I could go either way with Eurail or Interail. Eurail though I think is right from the terms and conditions, and will allow me additional travel (in the UK) for not much extra cost.

Yes, definitely Eurail. Condition 5.6 is clear that your country of residence takes precedence so it's got to be Eurail.

I suppose the concern is just how much this will be checked in reality. I'm confident that legally / tocs wise this is fine. But its potentially going to be difficult to explain, and I don't relish the hassle, and risk of not being able to travel, just because a conductor / station staff don't like my paperwork!

Very rarely I would expect. Based on the experience of an expat friend of mine who bought a BritRail Pass in similar circumstances, she was only once (during several months) asked for evidence of residence. A bank statement indicating her foreign address was accepted as sufficient.

I will use Eurostar a couple of times as well, where I guess you definitely have to show passport!

Yes, but at a separate point from where your ticket is checked. So actually I'd almost think of this as the TOC/journey least likely to cause problems!

The problem with HK identity card is that it has a date of issue (in my case around 10 years ago) but no expiry or current status. Cards are linked up to immigration etc electronically. They don't even stamp passports anymore in HK. Of course, it has name / dob / picture etc, but you could argue if you want that it doesn't show residency. I am sure other countries must have similar systems - obviously, in the UK there is no such thing!

Like many of these things, it's not definitive proof - but merely having it and holding it is strong evidence in support of your claim that you live in HK. The average person wouldn't exactly be able to rustle that up, would they!