I have a legal visa (work) for Gib but there is a passport control office on both sides of the boarder between Spain and Gib. When I go out I have to show a passport and when I return I have to show a passport. Sometimes they’ll accept a residence card but when the Spanish border control guys feel a little pissy they’ll give you a hard time about not having a passport so it’s safer just to carry the passport.

Bill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement

The 1985 Schengen Agreement is an agreement among European states which allows for the abolition of systematic border controls between the participating countries.

When you enter a Schengen country as a foreigner you are supossed to do it with a legal visa. Therefore, you can travel within those countries without documents. I think what happened to you is that you had to pass a security control, as it could be at any street, so they asked for your ID or whatever.

UK is not a Schengen country so Spain, in the past, used that to closed the Gibraltar border to put pressure on British government… but that another issue: policy.

All this as I know.

Yes, for EU citizens that would be correct. I am a US citizen residing in the EU though which means I still have to show a passport to cross from one EU country to another. Also, I think the “identification is not necessary” is not quite accurate. You still need to show a residency card. You can’t just show up at London Heathrow and say that you live in the EU so you aren’t required to have any form of identification

Also, the Spain/Gibraltar relationship is a tricky one. Spain often intentionally slows up boarder crossings as a way to passively/aggressively respond to it’s resentment over the fact Gibraltar doesn’t want to be a part of Spain. It wasn’t too long ago that Spain completely sealed Gibraltar’s boarder and the only way in or out of here was via sea or air.

Bill