The Government of Gibraltar has already activated the web portal where frontier workers can check whether they are registered as such. This initiative is part of the Brexit measures, as from 1 January, when the UK will leave the EU after the transition period.
Workers who wish to check whether they are registered can do so via this link on the Frontier Worker Search portal. To do so, they must enter their full name, date of birth and the number of one of the valid identification documents. The website is in English.
The authorities in Spain, the United Kingdom and Gibraltar agreed on this procedure so that the approximately 15,000 EU residents working in Gibraltar can claim their rights from 1 January 2021.
The agreement stated that from 1 December, frontier workers would be able to check on a website of the Gibraltar authorities whether they are registered as such, a portal which is already in place.
From 1 January 2021, they will also be able to ask the Gibraltar authorities for a letter certifying their employment status if they wish. The letter will only be issued to those who request it.
If a worker is not listed as a frontier worker and considers that he is entitled to do so, he may approach the Gibraltar authorities with a statement of his case.
From 1 January and for as long as they maintain that status, frontier workers will receive the treatment to which they are already entitled under EU law, notwithstanding the Brexit.
The UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement guaranteed frontier workers the maintenance of all the employment rights they enjoyed before Brexit under EU law. Spain included a Protocol on Gibraltar in that Withdrawal Agreement and signed with the United Kingdom a memorandum on citizens’ and workers’ rights in order to strengthen this aspect of the Brexit. Since its coming into force, the three administrations have negotiated how to apply these rights to those who enter Gibraltar every day to work.
This agreement is a response to one of the main concerns that the Brexit had given rise to in the Campo de Gibraltar and Gibraltar.
