Italy extends Spain border checks a third time

Italy extended checks on passengers arriving directly from Spain for another 15 days from 1 October 2026. Its controls at Italian airports and ports on direct routes from Spain now run until 16 October. When this article was first published, Spain had not said whether it would renew its own checks on Italy arrivals, which ran until the end of 7 October. It has since done so: Spain’s latest notification to the European Commission covers 8 to 22 October, so the checks continue in both directions.

What changed on 1 October?

Italy’s Interior Ministry notified the European Commission of a further 15-day extension. It is the third extension since Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced the measures on 31 July, with checks in force from 1 August. Each notification cites the risk of secondary migration movements linked to the Ceuta crisis. The extension covers all direct air and sea routes from Spain to Italy. No land border between the two countries exists, so the measures apply only at airports and ferry terminals on those specific routes.

Is Spain still checking arrivals from Italy?

Yes. Spain introduced its own checks on 8 August as a reciprocal response to Italy’s decision. Its order for 23 September to 7 October said any further prolongation would need a new decision. That decision came: the Commission’s list of notifications shows Spain’s checks on air and sea arrivals from Italy renewed from 8 to 22 October. Passengers flying or taking ferries from Italy to Spain should still expect a possible check on arrival.

Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, described Italy’s mid-September extension as “absurd, useless and a disgrace” and said Ceuta posed no threat to the integrity of Schengen. Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, rejected the criticism as aggressive and said the controls were about security, not hostility to Spain. Neither side has signalled that the row is close to being resolved.

Who does Italy’s extension affect?

Italy’s checks were introduced for non-EU nationals, according to Spain in English. If you hold a British, American, Canadian, Australian or other non-EU passport and fly or take a ferry directly from Spain to Italy before 16 October, you may face a document check when you arrive at the Italian airport or port. Flights and ferries between the two countries continue to operate normally.

Carry your passport or national identity card whatever your nationality. Spain’s order covers people arriving from Italy by air and sea, and now runs until 22 October.

Does this affect EES or my Schengen day count?

No to both. A flight from Barcelona to Rome, or Rome to Barcelona, is an internal Schengen movement. The Entry/Exit System only registers you when you first cross the external Schengen border. Internal crossings create no EES record and no biometric data is taken.

Your 90-day Schengen allowance is equally unaffected. Days count from the moment you enter the Schengen area from outside it; crossing between member states uses none of your allowance and resets nothing.

Why are these checks still running?

The measures have now run for just over two months. Italy’s justification, in its notifications to the Commission, is the large-scale irregular entries into Ceuta and the risk of onward movement within Schengen. These checks are too recent to have been covered by the Commission’s opinions of 2 June 2026, which dealt with longer-running controls, including Italy’s checks on its land border with Slovenia, and recommended phasing them out. The Commission said then that EES, fully applicable since April, and the future ETIAS will improve oversight of who enters and leaves the EU. Italy has kept renewing.

For ETIAS, which covers pre-travel authorisation for entering Schengen from outside the area rather than movement within it, see the current ETIAS status page. ETIAS has not launched and the application process has not started. Movement between Italy and Spain is unaffected by ETIAS in any case.