Brexit and the Irish Border

You mean the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland, right?
If so, crossing the border is seamless - ie there are no checkpoints or restrictions in either direction since the two countries share a Common Travel Area (CTA). Can Google it if you want more detailed information. .
You'll only notice that speed limits have changed from Kph to Mph.

Thanks for the quick reply. I know that has been true in the past but things have changed recently, at least between UK and France. How recently have you crossed?

Brexit didn't affect the CTA.

Ok, but the CTA applies to Irish and British citizens. As Americans we can just drive over the boarder non stop?

Yes, you can.
This topic came up on the forum after Brexit and several of our local (Irish) contributors verified that there were no changes affecting travelers between the two countries. Might want to use the Search feature here to review those previous threads if you're still worried about it, but I can assure you that there's no issue here.

Ok, but the CTA applies to Irish and British citizens. As Americans we can just drive over the boarder non stop?

Yes, your nationality is irrelevant.

Ok thanks. I did look through the Brexit thread but most of those post are a couple years old. I listen to a lot of British media and it sounds like SE Kent is a parking lot right now trying to get to the continent. I know the Irish border was a huge issue politically but if there are still no checkpoints then that's good to know. Thanks.

Yes, the Irish border was, and is, a big issue.

Short version, the Good Friday Agreement requires an open border on the island. Ireland is part of the EU, hence the UK must remain within the EU single market/customs union or there has to be a customs border in the Irish sea.

@Badger
Yes, I know. That's why I asked the question. But is sounds like nothing has changed on the land border so far, so that's good to know.

Thanks everybody. Great to hear that's still the case. Amazing you can just drive across a national border, and now in and out of the EU without even stopping. I live in Oregon and we can't even cross the California border without stopping and promising that we aren't carrying any fruit. Thanks for all the quick replies.

there is currently no border between the UK (Northern Ireland) and Ireland. The border is in the middle of the Irish Sea and is invisible to everybody except those living in any of the 4 nations of the UK.

There are slowdowns in and out of France but much less than earlier, unless you mean around the strikes (UK, not French) or school holidays or bank holidays or Christmas.

These stories of people sleeping in their cars - when are they from, and which news source?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/world/europe/trucks-kent-brexit.html
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/23/uk/uk-france-dover-delays-brexit-gbr-intl/index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTHwwWLnzHc&ab_channel=LBC
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/french-blame-brexit-as-uk-travellers-wait-in-cars-for-more-than-7-hours-to-cross-border-20220724-p5b45k.html

those links are from July 2022 and November 2 years earlier, 2020.

When I crossed in October there was no queue either way, in fact I was put on the previous crossings to what I had reserved.

@Nigel
Thank you for simply answering the question with a recent first-hand experience. That's all I wanted. Thank you, Nigel

I crossed the land border in September. You wouldn't know it until you started reading signs.

@ Frank II
Thank you.