Stamping Of Passports At The Border
The Government says it has received reports of a number of cases of UK passport holders who have had their passports stamped on crossing from Gibraltar into Spain.
A statement continued: “The cases fall into two categories:
"The first are Gibraltarians, resident in Gibraltar, who have forgotten their identity card.
“It is important to underline that anyone crossing into Spain will require both their passport, as a travel document, and their identity card, as proof of residence. Gibraltar issued identity cards ceased to be considered as valid travel documents when we left the European Union.
“The second category are holders of blue civilian registration cards, which was the format issued to UK nationals and EU citizens resident in Gibraltar.
“All British Citizens, including Gibraltarians, are entitled to spend 90 days in each 180 in the European Union without a visa. The stamping of passports is to record the date of entry into the EU order to ensure that this 90 day limit is not exceeded. Anyone who has had their passport stamped on entry into Spain should ensure that they have it stamped again on exit on their way back into Gibraltar, otherwise, if there is no record of having left Spain, the time taken until the next visit could be counted as part of the 90 day limit.
“The Government is making enquiries as to why the holders of blue civilian registration cards are being stamped now when they were not stamped before given the bridging measures which have been applied. It is understood that this may be related to the wider issue of travel to Spain by UK nationals following the lifting of COVID restrictions imposed by Spain on visitors from the UK on 1 June.”
