Hours after the draft Gibraltar treaty was published, UK Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty told Westminster that the signing ceremony is scheduled for late March, with provisional application targeted for 10 April 2026. Speaking on 27 February, Doughty stressed that Gibraltar would **not** join the Schengen Area but would delegate immigration controls at its airport to Spanish officers "in the same way French police operate at London’s St Pancras." The Local Spain reports that a more than 1,000-page draft was simultaneously uploaded by the UK Government and the Gibraltar authorities. The agreement removes routine passport checks at the land border, preventing the hard frontier feared by businesses once the EU’s biometric EES becomes mandatory for non-EU nationals. Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo confirmed to the territory’s parliament that infrastructure work to dismantle the Verja fence and build new joint facilities has already begun. Spain’s cabinet called the publication “a decisive step” that will bring economic dynamism to the Campo de Gibraltar region, where unemployment sits above 20 percent. For multinational employers, timing matters. If the treaty enters provisional force in April, HR teams must ensure cross-border staff carry the new frontier-worker certificates that replace the post-Brexit passport stamp system. Mobility managers should also review posted-worker notifications, as Spanish labour inspectors will gain access to Gibraltar worksites under the pact’s social-security chapter.
Source: The Local Spain
