Borders and Fences
In 1908 the British constructed a fence along the British edge of the neutral territory establishing where Gibraltar ended and Spain began.
On June 8, 1969 the Spanish dictator, General Franco closed the frontier in response to the 1967 sovereignty referendum where Gibraltarians voted overwhelmingly to remain British. It was totally closed until December 15, 1982 wnen it partially reopened. Later in February 5, 1985 it opened fully. Most of the time.
Since Brexit Gibraltar has been seeking for a formula to establish free movement across the frontier, despite the EU Schengen agreement causing problems.
The Schengen Agreement was designed to create a "borderless" zone, the reality in 2026 is a mix of open roads, high-tech surveillance, and in some specific areas actual physical fences.
Following the post-Brexit negotiations, the UK and Spain have recently published a draft treaty (as of February 2026) which aims to dismantle the physical border fence entirely as Spain would like to see it go.
Provisional application of this "fluid border" is slated to begin as soon as April 10, 2026, which would effectively end the era of routine passport checks at the land crossing.
We explore what this means in practice with opinions and documents.