Spanish officials have visited the land border with Gibraltar to assess how the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) will be implemented there.
Senior officials came down to La Linea de la Concepcion from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Interior and Finance on Thursday.
The border controls are expected to be fully implemented once the international treaty between the EU and the UK comes into force.
The agreement, whose final wording is currently being completed, will allow Gibraltar free access to the Schengen area.
The visit comes as the EES, designed to monitor the entry and exit of non-EU travellers, continues its gradual rollout.
The system began phased implementation across most EU member states on October 12, 2025 and is expected to be fully operational before April 10 this year.
Gibraltar’s unique situation
Gibraltar presents a unique case due to its unusual status. At present, passport checks on Gibraltar residents entering Spain have been suspended as a goodwill gesture following Brexit and in anticipation of the treaty.
In return, British authorities do not carry out systematic checks on EU citizens entering Gibraltar.
For travellers from outside the EU, however, regulations state that they must undergo the same checks at this crossing as at any other external EU border, although daily practice may be affected by peak-time congestion.
At the border fence, known locally as la Verja, the IT and biometric systems required for the EES have been in place for months and must be activated while the treaty remains pending.
The current plan is for the system to begin operating on a trial basis from February, with full deployment by April, in line with the rest of the EU.
Before the treaty enters into force, several practical questions remain unresolved.
These include how the current border control area will be redesigned, given that police booths and existing facilities may no longer be needed, and where passport checks will take place for passengers arriving in Gibraltar by air, which will involve the presence of Spanish officers.
Treaty progress
Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, said in Parliament that his government was reviewing a provisional version of the treaty text and expected to complete that process this week.
He indicated that no major changes were anticipated and that the agreement could be finalised ‘in weeks, not months’.
