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Are the overseas territories *really* legally part of the UK?

If I fly to Gibraltar, I have to show my passport to enter the territory; likewise on return to the UK. This to me suggests a different status than, say, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

--AdamW — Preceding unsigned comment added by AdamW (talk • contribs) 18:36, 16 October 2002 (UTC)[reply]

Good question. My first thought is "no". If there's some sense it is true, it's unclear and nor what one would take from the main articles on each. Nuances on those lines should really be dealt with there. This should be as close to a minimal dab/nav page as can be managed without being unduly opaque. 109.255.211.6 (talk) 14:36, 8 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Looking more closely, I think what it's saying is that there's UK sovereignty, not that it's part of the UK per se. I'm not sure it's necessary to say any of this here anyway. 109.255.211.6 (talk) 02:54, 12 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Note that this (undated) question was asked in 2002. Hopefully the editor (who has been inactive since 2014) has found the answer they were looking for at some point in the past 22 years. Thanks for taking the time to help answer another Wikipedian's question, though! Adam Black ^{talk • contribs} 00:34, 16 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This article should be a disambiguation page, rather than an attempt at a synthesis of two very distinct groups of territories. It does not explain the clear differences between them and seems to be trying to lump them together. The simplest difference is:

• The overseas territories are part of the UK but are located far away from the British Isles.
• The crown dependencies are not part of the UK but are located close to the British Isles.

If there is no opposition, I propose to reduce the page to a dab page. FredWalsh (talk) 14:45, 19 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose turning it into a dab page. It's fine as an article that briefly summarises the two types of territories. The text can be improved to better explain the differences. There's nothing to be gained by removing information. Mclay1 (talk) 10:08, 21 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]