Find out here frequently asked questions and answers about traveling to / from the UK.

Documentación

As of 1 January 2021, all passengers from the United Kingdom must bring their passport, although passengers from EU countries and United Kingdom shall use the ABC (Automated Border Control). In the case of British passengers as well as the rest of non-EU passengers, it will be also mandatory to have the passport stamped and to answer a series of questions posed by National Police officers. 

Travelling with minors

Travel of minors or travelling with minors has specific restrictions. Border officers, inside as well as outside the European Union, have specifically been ordered to pay special attention to minors travelling either alone or with a companion

Pets

Pets must travel from an airport authorised by the Ministry of Agriculture for the entry of animals from a third country and they will have to fulfill the same requirements pets from third countries currently have.

For these cases, the microchip and the valid rabies vaccine will be requested. As for documentation, the EU passport will no longer be valid, a health certificate will be necessary. Pets coming from Northern Ireland are excluded from these requirements, as they are considered intra-community in this regard.

Airports not authorised for the entry of pets only guide dogs for people with visual impairments may do so, provided that the Ministry of Agriculture has granted an exceptional and punctual authorisation to the owners in each case for them to pass through it. To ask for this authorisation,  owners must use the following e-mail address: importacionanimal@mapa.es

The Customs office may detect non compliances after examination of the animal. To that end it has the collaboration of the local animal health service. The different options when a non compliance has been itentified are:

• Re-dispatch the animal, which involves returning to its country of origin on the earliest possible flight. If it cannot be done with the owner this option must be accepted by the airline.
• Quarantine of the animal, if the previous option is not possible. The quarantine will last 14 days in an authorised centre with which there is an agreement. After this period, the animal can return to its usual residence to be subjected to home isolation. The Animal Health Services will provide information on the authorised centres available.

Mas información: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Luggage

The luggage of passengers arriving in Spain from the United Kingdom must undergo customs control upon arrival and the Civil Guard may carry out physical control of the luggage

In the European Union, there are restrictions on products of animal origin and plants in order to prevent the entry of pathogens and diseases.

In relation to plant products, it is worth mentioning that the entry into the European Union of plants from third countries is prohibited without a phytosanitary certificate (seeds, plants, fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc.).

In relation to products of animal origin (meat, milk and products derived from meat and milk, fishery products, etc.), their introduction into the European Union is prohibited. Meat, milk and meat and milk products from the UK are prohibited in any case.

However, there are some exceptions in other products of animal origin, which can only be brought into the EU for private human consumption, and which are indicated below:

• Powdered milk for infants, infant food and special food necessary for medical reasons as long as their combined weight does not exceed 2 kg per person, they do not need to be refrigerated before consumption, they are packaged commercial brand products and their packaging intact unless in use.
• Small quantities (20 kg per person, or a single piece if the weight exceeds the limit) of fishery products (including fresh, dried, cooked, cured or smoked gutted fish and some shellfish, such as prawns, lobsters, dead mussels and dead oysters). However, in the case of caviar from the different sturgeon species, the weight limit is 125 grams per person.
• Small amounts of other products of animal origin (eg honey, live oysters, and live mussels and snails) provided their combined weight does not exceed 2 kg per person.

Consult the Tax Agency website for an exhaustive list of this type of product and the restrictions for each one.

VAT refund

You can request the refund of the Value Added Tax (VAT) for the goods purchased during the stay in Spain (Peninsula and Balearic Islands) as long as the conditions set are met.

More information:

Spanish Government: travelling after Brexit

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: entry points for travellers with pets

Tax Agency: customs information for non-Eu travellers

Tax Agency: procedures and steps in customs for travellers