Gibraltar, Spain scrap 118-year border controls after Brexit deal
Why it matters: The change eases daily crossings for about 15,500 workers and ties Gibraltar to Schengen travel rules.
Gibraltar and Spain lifted long-running land border checks at midnight on July 15, ending a frontier regime that had shaped daily life for more than a century. The change follows a post-Brexit agreement between the UK and the European Union and allows freer movement between the British overseas territory and southern Spain. An AFP journalist at the crossing saw people and vehicles pass without customs checks shortly after midnight. Gibraltar, with about 40,000 residents, depends on thousands of workers who commute from Spain each day. Travelers arriving from outside the Schengen area will still face passport checks at Gibraltar’s airport and port.