Govt asks residents to report incorrect EES registrations 

The Gibraltar Government has asked Gibraltar residents who believe they were incorrectly registered on the Schengen Entry/Exit System after July 15 to report their experience as it seeks to establish the extent of the problem. 

In a technical notice, the Government said Gibraltar residents, including holders of Gibraltar identity cards and civilian registration cards, are exempt from the EES under the treaty arrangements governing the circulation of persons. 

The exemption applies at Gibraltar Airport and at external borders across the Schengen Area, including airports and ports in Spain and other Schengen states. 

The technical notice was issued after the Chronicle reported earlier this month that several Gibraltar residents had encountered problems at EU borders since the treaty entered provisional implementation on July 15, despite treaty exemptions.  

The EES requires British and other non-EU nationals entering the 29 countries in the Schengen area to provide biometric information, including fingerprints and a facial scan.  

Gibraltar residents are exempted from EES controls under the treaty arrangements, though they are still required to present a passport, which remains the valid travel document.  

Their Gibraltar identity card or Gibraltar Civilian Registration Card should act as proof of their exemption, but the new arrangements have not yet filtered through to every EU border post given the treaty is still in the early stages of provisional implementation.  

Registrations carried out after July 15 should not have been required, No.6 Convent Place said in the technical notice. 

Residents who were registered before that date were required to do so at the time but should not now face further interaction with the EES. 

The Government acknowledged that incorrect registration and the incorrect application of the treaty arrangements could cause frustration and inconvenience, but added responsibility for applying the rules and exemptions rested with the relevant Schengen state and its border authorities. 

While the Government will continue raising cases with the relevant authorities and the European Commission, it said it cannot intervene in or reverse decisions made by individual border officials. 

Residents who believe they were registered on the EES after July 15 are being asked to contact eesinfo@gibraltar.gov.gi with details. 

They should provide their name, whether they hold a Gibraltar identity card or civilian registration card, the date and location where the registration took place, whether they were entering or leaving the Schengen Area and whether fingerprints or a facial image were taken. 

People registered before July 15 are also being asked to provide the same information. 

The Gibraltar Government said the details would help it monitor implementation of the treaty arrangements and raise cases of concern with the relevant authorities. 

It is also discussing a process under which individual EES registrations could be deleted, whether they were made correctly before July 15 or incorrectly after that date. 

For now, residents who have already been registered are not required to take any further action, with further information expected once those discussions progress. 

The technical notice also said it may not always be obvious whether an EES registration has been created. 

If a traveller was asked to provide fingerprints and a facial image when crossing an external Schengen border, the Government said it was likely this was done for the purpose of EES registration. 

There is no publicly available tool that directly confirms whether someone has been registered, although travellers can contact the relevant national authority in the Schengen state concerned. 

The EU’s online tool showing how long a traveller may remain in the Schengen Area may also provide an indication. 

The Government said that if the tool shows fewer than 90 days of authorised stay remaining without the traveller entering details of an intended entry or exit, this may indicate that previous travel has been processed through the EES. 

Residents have been advised to continue travelling normally and to carry both their passport and a valid Gibraltar identity card or civilian registration card when crossing Schengen external borders. 

They should present both documents to border authorities to establish their entitlement to the exemption. 

If a border official nevertheless seeks to register them, the Government said residents should explain that they are Gibraltar residents and exempt from the EES under the treaty arrangements.