SpainEntry rules Spain and Italy to drop airport and port border checks on 23 October
Spain and Italy have agreed to end their mutual border checks at airports and ports from 23 October 2026. The checks were brought in after the July migrant crisis at the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.
Travellers moving between Spain and Italy will no longer face the extra border checks at airports and ports that the two countries put in place in August. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez agreed on the morning of Thursday 22 October to end the controls on 23 October 2026.
Key facts
- Border checks between Spain and Italy end on 23 October 2026.
- The checks applied at airports and ports between the two countries.
- They were introduced in August after the migrant crisis at the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.
- The decision was agreed by Prime Ministers Meloni and Sánchez and follows a call between the two interior ministers.
What is changing?
Spain and Italy will scrap the mutual border checks at airports and ports that were introduced in August. Those checks followed Italy's decision on 31 July to suspend the Schengen agreement with Spain — the arrangement that allows free movement between 29 European countries.
Why were the checks introduced?
Italy announced the suspension of Schengen rules with Spain on 31 July, after more than 70,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta within 48 hours. The agreement to lift the controls was reached after a call between the two countries' interior ministers, Fernando Grande-Marlaska of Spain and Matteo Piantedosi of Italy.
Who decided this?
The two prime ministers, Meloni and Sánchez, discussed removing the border checks on the sidelines of the European Council summit on 15 October, and reached the agreement on Thursday morning following the call between Grande-Marlaska and Piantedosi.
What this means for travellers
From 23 October 2026, the additional border checks at airports and ports between Spain and Italy no longer apply. Travellers heading for either country on or after that date should not expect the controls that were in place since August.
The source does not give further detail on how the checks operated in practice or whether any other border measures linked to the Ceuta crisis remain in force.
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