Italy reinstates Schengen checks with Spain for August

Italy announced at the end of July that it was reintroducing border controls with Spain at air and sea crossings, and the checks took effect on 1 August 2026. Non-EU travellers on routes between the two countries face document spot checks throughout August. Italy and Spain share no land border, so every affected crossing is by flight or ferry. EU citizens need only a valid identity card or passport, as before.

What triggered the move?

The immediate cause was a surge of migrants entering Ceuta, the small Spanish enclave on the northern tip of Morocco. More than 60,000 people crossed into the territory over a short period in late July, and at least 72 people died in the crossing. Spain’s territorial policy minister said a court ruling earlier in July, holding that migrants intercepted at sea cannot be summarily turned back at the border, may have contributed.

Italy’s notification to the Commission cites the risk of secondary movements, with large numbers of newly arrived migrants expected to move further into the Schengen area. Italy told the Commission the checks would run until 1 September, and the interior ministry said it would review them around the middle of August.

What do the spot checks mean in practice?

Not every passenger is stopped. Border officers check a sample of non-EU passengers on selected flights and ferries, rather than processing the entire queue. In practice that means showing your passport and, if asked, some indication of your legal basis for being in the Schengen area. You may clear without being questioned at all, or you might face a brief document check that takes a few minutes.

These checks are not EES biometric registrations. The Entry/Exit System operates at the external Schengen border, the point where you first enter the area. A flight from Madrid to Rome is an internal Schengen movement. EES does not log it, and no fingerprints are taken. Your facial image, fingerprints and travel-document data were collected when you crossed the external border; they are not re-recorded on internal routes.

Which routes are affected?

Italy’s notification covers all of its internal air and sea borders with Spain. That takes in routes from Spanish airports such as Madrid, Barcelona, Palma and Valencia to Italian airports, plus ferry services between the two countries, although checks are made on selected services rather than every one.

If your Italy-Spain trip passes through a third Schengen country, say France, you would technically be making two internal crossings. Whether checks apply to those connections depends on whether the transit country is also running its own internal controls. France has controls in place at its borders with both Spain and Italy until 31 October 2026, so the picture is already complicated for anyone travelling overland through southern Europe.

Does this affect your 90-day Schengen allowance?

No. Your 90 days in any 180-day period is measured from your first entry into the Schengen area at the external border to your last exit. Moving between member states inside the area does not use any additional days. Three weeks in Spain followed by two weeks in Italy still counts as five weeks total, as it always has.

How long will the checks last?

Italy notified the Commission that the checks would run until 1 September. The Schengen Borders Code allows member states to reintroduce temporary internal controls for limited periods when there is a serious threat to public policy or internal security. Whether Italy extends beyond that date depends on how the Ceuta situation develops.

Italy is not the only country doing this

Before 1 August, nine Schengen countries were already running internal border controls, according to the Commission’s list of notifications: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy (on its border with Slovenia), the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden. Germany has checks at all its land borders until 15 September 2026. France has controls on its borders with Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland until 31 October. The Italy-Spain measure adds a further specific crossing to a landscape already well-stocked with temporary controls.

In June 2026 the Commission issued formal opinions urging the states that had kept controls in place for 12 months to phase them out, guidance that Al Jazeera reports appears to have had little practical effect.

What about ETIAS?

ETIAS is a pre-travel authorisation that will apply when you first cross into the Schengen area at an external border. It has no role in internal movements. Whether Italy runs checks on its border with Spain has no connection to ETIAS, and ETIAS going live (it has no official start date; press reporting points to 2027) will not change how internal controls work. No action is required yet. Applications are not open. For the latest on the launch timeline, the ETIAS status page carries updates as they are confirmed.

What to carry on Italy-Spain routes this August

• Your passport. Document checks require the physical document, not a phone photo.
• Any supporting details you might be asked for, such as accommodation bookings or onward travel information.
• A few extra minutes. Spot checks are unpredictable in speed. Most people clear quickly, but allow a little buffer if you have a connecting flight.