A new post-Brexit agreement between the UK, EU, and Spain will require British travellers to show passports when entering Gibraltar, ending the territory’s de facto passport-free land border with Spain.
The arrangements, detailed in a 1,000-page draft treaty, establish a system of dual checks at Gibraltar’s airport and port. Passengers will first be screened by Gibraltarian officials, then by Spanish authorities in a “second line” Schengen-style zone. Spanish guards will have powers to search, question, and arrest travellers where justified.
The treaty, aimed at providing long-awaited certainty nearly a decade after Brexit, could eventually allow the removal of La Verja, the 1.2km chain-link fence dividing Gibraltar from Spain. It mirrors systems like Eurostar’s St Pancras checks, where both countries’ officials operate jointly.
Gibraltar’s government hopes to provisionally implement the deal from 10 April, coinciding with the EU’s new automated border system. The UK says it protects Gibraltar’s economy and simplifies goods movement, with most items cleared in Spain to avoid customs bottlenecks. The treaty also establishes funding for regional training and employment initiatives.
Draft text is under legal review and requires ratification by both the UK and European Parliaments. Chief Minister Fabian Picardo welcomed the deal as delivering “certainty for people and businesses,” while Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares hailed it as ending “the last wall in continental Europe.”
