Spain’s Tax Agency (AEAT) has invited businesses and cross-border professionals to a three-hour online seminar on 19 March that will explain how the forthcoming UK-EU treaty on Gibraltar will be applied once provisional implementation begins on 10 April. The notice, published by the Gibraltar Chronicle on 11 March, coincides with visible construction work on the Spanish side of the frontier – including removal of fencing and installation of biometric lanes – designed to integrate the crossing into the Schengen Entry/Exit System (EES). The webinar will cover new customs arrangements, rules for VAT-registered traders, and the formalities that will replace passport stamping for habitual commuters. A dedicated mailbox has been set up for questions, signalling the authorities’ eagerness to avoid the confusion seen when France and the Netherlands rolled out EES pilots last autumn. The treaty, politically agreed in June 2025 after years of Brexit-related wrangling, will make Gibraltar part of the Schengen area for the limited purpose of external border checks. Spanish Policía Nacional officers, rather than Frontex, will carry out entry controls, while goods inspections will be “risk-based” to preserve just-in-time supply chains for Gibraltar’s online-gaming and maritime-services sectors.
![Spain schedules webinar and accelerates border works as Gibraltar treaty enters final phase]()
Travellers and companies seeking practical help with Schengen visas, residence documentation or cross-border work permits can streamline the process through VisaHQ; the firm’s Spain portal (https://www.visahq.com/spain/) offers real-time requirement updates and an end-to-end application service that reduces paperwork and turnaround times ahead of the new Gibraltar arrangement.
For the estimated 15,000 Spanish residents who cross the border daily – many employed in Gibraltar’s finance and hospitality industries – the key change will be registration in a new database that links their biometric data to a fast-track corridor. Employers are being advised to collect residency and work-contract documentation now so staff can sign up once the pre-enrolment portal opens later this month. Logistics companies welcomed the information session but warned that any last-minute software glitches could cause tailbacks on the A-7. The Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations (CEOE) has asked the Interior Ministry to publish contingency plans by the end of March, noting the Easter tourism peak. The government says full operational testing will run from mid-May to September before the EES becomes mandatory across all Spanish external borders.
Travellers and companies seeking practical help with Schengen visas, residence documentation or cross-border work permits can streamline the process through VisaHQ; the firm’s Spain portal (https://www.visahq.com/spain/) offers real-time requirement updates and an end-to-end application service that reduces paperwork and turnaround times ahead of the new Gibraltar arrangement.
For the estimated 15,000 Spanish residents who cross the border daily – many employed in Gibraltar’s finance and hospitality industries – the key change will be registration in a new database that links their biometric data to a fast-track corridor. Employers are being advised to collect residency and work-contract documentation now so staff can sign up once the pre-enrolment portal opens later this month. Logistics companies welcomed the information session but warned that any last-minute software glitches could cause tailbacks on the A-7. The Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations (CEOE) has asked the Interior Ministry to publish contingency plans by the end of March, noting the Easter tourism peak. The government says full operational testing will run from mid-May to September before the EES becomes mandatory across all Spanish external borders.
