redadeco

Hi all,

A friend is travelling soon on BA to GIB from the US via LHR, and due to his tight connection he's wondering where he's going to clear immigration, LHR or GIB?

I'm a fairly experienced traveler and been to GIB twice (by land/sea only though) but I can't find an answer to his query.

Thank you!

GUWonder

Passengers from all scheduled common carrier flights into GIB clear passport control at GIB. If it's an airside transit at LHR, passport control is just cleared at GIB.

Admissibility criteria for GIB are separate from admissibility criteria for entering the U.K. in say England or Scotland. For example, Chinese and Indian citizens with a Schengen visa may enter Gibraltar under some conditions even as they may be inadmissible if wanting to fly into LHR from a Schengen country.

ajeleonard

Gibraltar is not part of the UK and maintains its own border controls for everyone, the UK included

GUWonder

GIB is a British overseas territory. And it indeed has its own border control rules.

<redacted>.

WorldLux

That's an oxymoron. Either you are a member state and hence part of the EU or you aren't a member state and subsequently not part of the EU.

Nevertheless the situation is indeed interesting. I believe that the EU has currently specific rules for some types of oversea territories.

GUWonder

It's not an oxymoron. This comes down to legal agreements. And according to legal agreements there are ways to be part of the EU but not be an EU member state. I don't have the time to put up a treatise on how this works.

WorldLux

Yes it is.

Nope. Gibraltar is not a member state but can be considered a part of the EU, because the UK are a member state. If Gibraltar was independent, it couldn't be part of the EU without being a EU member stater at the same time.

GUWonder

It's not an oxymoron. There are ways to be part of the EU but not be an EU member state.

It's also possible to be part of a EU member state but not be part of the European Union.

It all comes down to legal agreements.

I don't have time to put up a treatise to educate people about this legal area too, but feel free to deal with the EC on this.

GIB is a British Overseas Territory and part of the EU. Not all British Overseas Territories are part of the EU, even as the U.K. is an EU member state. GIB is special.

WorldLux

I know that. But that's only the case, because the UK are a member state. Same can be said about New Caledonia.

What isn't possible (and which is why your initial statement is an oxymoron), is that an independent nation is part of the EU, but not a member state.

Being an independent nation, it naturally excludes the possibility of being part of a member state, but not being part of the EU (otherwise it wouldn't be an independent nation).

GUWonder

New Caledonia is not a British Overseas Territory. The legal agreements covering New Caledonia are not all the same as those covering Gibraltar. There are different ways for a place to legally be part of the EU but not legally be an EU member state. There are different ways for a place to legally be part of an EU member state but not legally be part of the EU.

GIB is special in that it is a British Overseas Territory that is part of the EU even as other British Overseas Territories are not part of the EU. In other words, just because a Territory is part of an EU member state does not make it necessarily a part of the EU. GIB is rather legally special in this regard in terms of the U.K.-EU relationship.

Whatever, GIB has its own passport control; and for landside transfers at LHR on US-LHR-GIB trips, the lines to worry about at LHR during the transit are the security screening lines. The ugly LHR passport control lines aren't applicable to airside transits on such route.

TWA884

Passport control issues for particular countries and territories are generally discussed in the Destinations forums.

I'll move this thread to the Spain/Portugal/Gibraltar forum.

TWA884
Travel SafetySecurity co-moderator

LupineChemist

I will add an additional point to this. If crossing from GIB into Spain AND you plan on leaving from another Schengen port, you will need to track down someone to register your entry and give you the stamp. This will absolutely not be automatic.

99% of crossings are EU citizens or people just going on day trips so if you flash a US passport, they won't really inspect it, but it can be a major deal if you need to prove entry/exit records later. If going back to GIB to leave, it shouldn't be much of an issue since they won't inspect when crossing back onto the rock either.

Conversely if you arrive in Spain/other Schengen and want to leave from GIB, you need to find someone on the Spanish side to register your exit

:D!

Yes in theory, but several years ago I tried to do this and was passed between 3 different people, the last of whom said that they did not do any stamping or scanning of passports (yet he took his time leafing through all the pages manually - although flashing a closed passport was sufficient to get past the guy at the actual border)

Wasn't a problem leaving Schengen later as I had the GIB stamp with a date (but the Swiss guy didn't actually know what Gibraltar was and just shook his head at the Spanish in general)

LupineChemist

Yeah...that sounds like that border. I will say border security has gotten better in recent years so I wonder if there is a more recent data point.

craz

I walked thru Spain-GIB-Spain last Fri. As : D! posted all I did was show my passport and kept walking both times.(Most locals both sides seemed to show a plastic ID card of some type, and they too did so as they kept walking). GIB control took the PP looked thru it and when looking at my pic looked at me as well

couldnt believe how cheap a bottle of booze was,what cost $46 @ JFK and $49 in MAD and $52 @ AGP was 25 gbp or $31 on Main St.

They didnt have a stamp , so on the way out since there wasnt any traffic I walked over to the car booth and he was nice and stamped it for me