The Government will designate the blue civilian registration card to become the document which recognises the residency rights in Gibraltar of EU, EEA and Swiss nationals under the Withdrawal Agreement. This means that those relevant residents of Gibraltar who already have a blue card do not need take any further action.

This information is set out in the latest Technical Notice issued by the Government today which provides guidance to EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who live in Gibraltar.

It will be recalled that the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement, which covers Gibraltar, provides for reciprocal rights for British Citizens (including Gibraltarians) resident in the European Union and for European Union nationals resident in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar. The same reciprocal recognition applies with those countries in the European Economic Area, namely Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, as well as with Switzerland.

There are presently nearly six thousand blue cards in circulation in Gibraltar or awaiting collection. These cover, UK aside, residents from 29 different countries, the largest groups of which are Spanish, Portuguese, German, Irish, Polish and French in that order.

The Technical Notice issued by the Government today also advises British nationals, including Gibraltarians, who live in the EU, the EEA or in Switzerland, to find out how the Government in their country of residence is implementing the Withdrawal Agreement. This is particularly important as active steps may need to be taken with the immigration authorities of those countries, ahead of a deadline, in order to exercise rights under the Agreement going forward.

ENDS