Taking back control: Spain will decide which British travellers to admit to Gibraltar

UK visitors to Gibraltar could be refused entry by Spanish frontier officials – even if they have a passport valid for the British Overseas Territory. They would then be sent home on the next plane.

Once the post-Brexit agreement between the UK, Gibraltar, Spain and the EU is ratified, visitors to the British Overseas Territory will face two passport checks on arrival. The existing examination by Gibraltar’s Borders & Coastguard Agency will be augmented by a Spanish frontier post.

The deal has been constructed to allow a free flow of passengers, vehicles and goods across the land frontier between Gibraltar and Spain. In order to achieve this, Gibraltar must be treated the same as the Schengen area – the passport-free zone that includes almost all the European Union, plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

Consequently, the “third-country” rules that the Boris Johnson government negotiated for UK citizens will apply to the territory.

Spain will have the final say on whether a UK traveller can enter Gibraltar. Unless they meet the “Schengen rules” for passport validity and maximum length of stay, they will be flown back to the UK.

As Spain gains control of the territory’s border, officials are at pains to stress that Gibraltar will not become part of the Schengen area.

The foreign secretary, David Lammy, said the settlement had tackled “the last major unresolved issue from our decision to leave the EU, providing much-needed certainty for people and businesses in Gibraltar”.

He said: “The deal removes another obstacle to closer ties with our EU friends and, crucially, protects British sovereignty over the Rock.”

But the red tape that British travellers will face is exactly the same as any Schengen frontier post. Because the Gibraltar-Spain border controls will be removed – allowing free movement as far as the Arctic and the Baltic – there is no alternative to treating UK arrivals as entering the European frontier-free zone.

At present British visitors to Gibraltar must simply have a valid passport and can stay up to 90 days. The only rule: “Your passport must not expire during your planned visit to Gibraltar.”

When the agreement takes effect, British passports will need to meet two stricter requirements:

Holders of Irish passports – or any identity document issued by an EU nation – will be allowed entry to Gibraltar up to the expiry date, while British travellers will be barred once their passport has less than three months remaining.

Initially, British travellers will be stamped in and out. Once the EU’s much-delayed entry-exit system takes effect, they will need to provide a facial biometric and fingerprints.

Customs rules for the European Union will also be applied, meaning that no dairy or meat products can be taken from the UK into Gibraltar.

In addition, the special status of Gibraltar to enable extended stays in the Mediterranean will end.

At the moment, time spent in Gibraltar does not count towards the “90 days in any 180 days” limit that the UK negotiated for British travellers after Brexit.

UK citizens who are nearing the maximum 90-day stay in Spain or elsewhere can currently cross the land border into Gibraltar and continue to enjoy Mediterranean life until the calendar permits them to return to the Schengen area.

This option will cease, and could mean that UK long-stayers travel across to Morocco instead.