Italy and Spain extend reciprocal border checks by 15 days

Italy's temporary border checks on travellers arriving from Spain were due to expire on 31 August 2026. They did not. On that day the Italian Interior Ministry announced a further 15-day extension, and Spain's Interior Ministry responded by extending its own reciprocal checks on arrivals from Italy by 15 days. Both sets of controls stem from the mass crossing into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta at the end of July. The practical effect for travellers is unchanged but now lasts longer: if you fly or sail between Italy and Spain in the first half of September, expect your documents to be checked on a route where you would normally walk straight through.

Background

Italy introduced the checks on 1 August 2026, after more than 70,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta, the Spanish territory on the North African coast, on 30 and 31 July. Rome framed the measure as a temporary reintroduction of controls at internal Schengen borders, which the Schengen Borders Code permits a member state to do on notice to the European Commission. Spain objected, and on 8 August introduced its own month-long checks on travellers arriving from Italy as a countermeasure. EU home affairs ministers met by videoconference on 4 August, declined calls to suspend Spain from Schengen, and said the system itself was not at risk. GoMate covered both of those moments; neither settled whether Italy's one-month measure would simply run out.

What exactly changed

In a statement on 31 August the Italian Interior Ministry said "the government is in the process of notifying the EU of the extension, for a further 15 days, of checks at air and sea borders with Spain", citing "the continued relevance of the assessment factors that led to their introduction on August 1". Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi had signalled the decision days earlier, telling the news programme TG1 that "the situation in Ceuta is anything but improved" and that the government would decide on the day the measure expired. The ministry said Piantedosi set out its reasoning to his Spanish counterpart, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, by telephone. Piantedosi has repeatedly stressed that Rome is not seeking a confrontation with Madrid and that the checks apply only to third-country nationals, with no impact on Italian, Spanish or other EU citizens. Italy and Spain share no land border, so the measure reaches every route between them: flights and ferries.

Who it affects

Non-EU nationals moving between the two countries feel this most directly: third-country nationals living in Spain or Italy on a residence permit who travel between the two for work or family, people on long-stay visas, and travellers from outside the EU whose itinerary routes through Madrid or Rome. A non-EU professional commuting between offices in Milan and Barcelona, or a family on Spanish residence permits flying to Italy for a holiday, should expect to present documents on arrival. EU citizens are formally outside the scope, but a check is applied to the arriving flight or ferry, so queues can lengthen for everyone on board. Land travel through France is not covered by either measure.

What to do now

Carry your passport and, if you are a third-country national, your residence permit or visa, even on a route that normally needs nothing more than a boarding pass. Allow extra time at Italian and Spanish airports and ferry terminals through the first half of September. Because both measures were extended on the day the first was due to lapse, treat any end date as provisional and re-check before travelling later in the month. These are border checks rather than a suspension of free movement: no one is being barred on nationality grounds, and EU citizens retain their right of entry. The controls also do not change the 90/180 rule, so our calculator at /tools/schengen still applies as normal. Country detail is in our guides at /country-guides/italy and /country-guides/spain.