With the legal text of the long-awaited UK-EU treaty on Gibraltar still under wraps, cross-border stakeholders gathered in La Línea on 27 November to vent frustration at the “opacity” surrounding future mobility rules. The public debate—organised by media group Grupo Joly—brought together academics, lawyers, trade-union leaders and logistics executives from both sides of the border.
Speakers agreed that the draft treaty, once finalised, should pave the way for the Rock’s de facto integration into the Schengen Area, removing systematic passport checks at the land frontier and creating a joint entry-exit regime at Gibraltar’s port and airport. Yet panelists warned that local businesses are “flying blind”: property prices in La Línea are already spiking amid speculation, while transport companies cannot plan fleet investments without clarity on customs and cabotage rules.
![Businesses on Spain–Gibraltar Frontier Demand Details of Post-Brexit Mobility Treaty]()
Labour unions highlighted that some 15,000 Spanish residents commute daily to Gibraltar and need certainty on social-security coordination and the recognition of professional licences. Employers in Gibraltar, for their part, fear competitive distortions if the treaty imposes Schengen-wide employment-visa rules without parallel UK concessions on hiring non-EU talent.
From a corporate-immigration standpoint the limbo complicates assignment planning. HR teams must continue to rely on the existing ad-hoc frontier worker certificates and separate Spanish and Gibraltar work permits, even though these processes may be scrapped within months of the treaty’s entry into force. Mobility managers are advised to build flexibility into assignment letters and to brief assignees on possible changes to tax residence thresholds and social-security coverage.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry insists that negotiations are in “the final stretch”, but stakeholders urge publication of the draft so that companies can adapt compliance frameworks and infrastructure projects—such as Gibraltar’s planned data-centre campus—to the new legal reality. Until then, the border that symbolises Britain’s EU exit remains a strategic unknown for businesses in southern Spain.
Speakers agreed that the draft treaty, once finalised, should pave the way for the Rock’s de facto integration into the Schengen Area, removing systematic passport checks at the land frontier and creating a joint entry-exit regime at Gibraltar’s port and airport. Yet panelists warned that local businesses are “flying blind”: property prices in La Línea are already spiking amid speculation, while transport companies cannot plan fleet investments without clarity on customs and cabotage rules.
Labour unions highlighted that some 15,000 Spanish residents commute daily to Gibraltar and need certainty on social-security coordination and the recognition of professional licences. Employers in Gibraltar, for their part, fear competitive distortions if the treaty imposes Schengen-wide employment-visa rules without parallel UK concessions on hiring non-EU talent.
From a corporate-immigration standpoint the limbo complicates assignment planning. HR teams must continue to rely on the existing ad-hoc frontier worker certificates and separate Spanish and Gibraltar work permits, even though these processes may be scrapped within months of the treaty’s entry into force. Mobility managers are advised to build flexibility into assignment letters and to brief assignees on possible changes to tax residence thresholds and social-security coverage.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry insists that negotiations are in “the final stretch”, but stakeholders urge publication of the draft so that companies can adapt compliance frameworks and infrastructure projects—such as Gibraltar’s planned data-centre campus—to the new legal reality. Until then, the border that symbolises Britain’s EU exit remains a strategic unknown for businesses in southern Spain.
