Extraordinary situations deserve extraordinary measures. That’s the premise that the Home Office has followed to end the extreme saturation of British travelers at the country’s most touristy airports by approving the British passport. can pass through the gates of the Schengen area. Strange move, as a British passenger they have to pass through the gates of non-EU citizens and stamp their passports since Britain left the European Union, but other countries have taken over, such as Portugal, and that will reduce the long queues at the busiest airports for these nationalities.

One of the airports that will implement this policy is, as expected, South Tenerife. Thousands of British tourists pass through Reina Sofia every year. In fact, about 90% of visitors from the UK arrive on Tenerife via this airport. The same thing happened with Gando, in Gran Canaria, which together with Fuerteventura airport complete the list of three Canarian aerodromes that will be included in the list of the Ministry of the Interior.

Passport needs to be stamped

The information was published by the official account of the Spanish Tourism Office in the UK on June 9, explaining that travelers from the UK can use “Automatic Border Control”, an electronic door that scans passports.

This week, the news has been picked up by many British media outlets for more information, because Local environment the first to do it. “Passport rule changes Great Britain at Spain’s busiest airports, including Ibiza, Malaga, Tenerife and Alicante”, digital tabloid headlines Diary. “Spain introduces new rules for UK passports: Alicante, Tenerife and Malaga airports affected”, is it? Fast.

This new norm does not mean that the UK does not have to stamp their passports. In fact, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) reminds Britons that go get your passport stamp after you pass the control. What this measure means is that the electronic passport reader at the Schengen gate will recognize a British passport just like a European passport, even though the stamp rule still applies.

Flight delays and missed flights

In addition, the Ministry of the Interior plans to deploy 500 additional police officers in documentation control during this summer at selected airports, in addition to the three Canary Islands, namely Alicante Airport, Barcelona, ​​Bilbao, Girona, Ibiza. , Lanzarote, Madrid, Malaga, Majorca, Menorca, Valencia and Seville.

Since Brexit takes effect in January 2021, UK tourists have had to join the queue of non-EU passports to be checked and stamped by Police. Irish Mirror reported in early June that this had caused at least 15,000 tourists been missing flight connection since March 1 only in Madrid-Barajasaccording to Iberian estimates.

Some airports in the UK, such as Manchester, have been badly affected by flight delays and cancellations, in large part due to large crowds of travellers.