Alicante is in Spain, which is part of the European Union and the Schengen agreement. The travel documentation needed for flying to Alicante Airport will depend on your nationality and the country you are travelling from, as well as your intended length of stay.
If you are travelling within the Schengen area, you are unlikely to be asked to show any identification on arrival at Alicante Airport, regardless of your nationality. If your usual residence is outside the Schengen area, you will have provided the necessary documentation upon entry to the first Schengen country you visited. The following countries belong to the Schengen area:
Germany Austria Belgium Croatia Denmark Slovakia Slovenia | Estonia Finland France Greece Hungary Iceland | Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta | Norway Netherlands Poland Portugal Czech Republic Sweden Switzerland |
Please note
From the end of March 2024, Romania and Bulgaria will join Europe’s Schengen border-free zone for air travel. This means that there will be no more inspections for travellers arriving at Alicante Airport from Bulgaria and Romania from 31/3/2024.
If your flight has arrived from a country outside the Schengen area, you will need to go through passport control. The documentation you will be required to show depends on your nationality, your intended length of stay and the purpose of your visit.
You are required to show your passport, which will need to meet the following requirements:
Whether you require a visa depends on your nationality and your intended length of stay.
Nationals of over 60 countries do not require a visa for short trips and holidays, including
Please see the European Union website for a full list of countries whose nationals are exempt from the visa requirement.
As a national of one of the above countires, you do not require a visa for travelling to Alicante/Spain if you are travelling as a tourist and your stay is a maximum of 90 days or less in any 180-day period.
However, if you are also visiting other EU countries, you will need to check that you do not spend more than 90 days in total across all the countries you visit, in any given 180-day period.
If you are visiting Alicante as one of the above visa-exempt nationals on a short trip as a tourist, you may be asked to provide the following additional documentation:
In practical terms, these requirements may not be routinely checked at the border control when you arrive in Alicante but you may be asked questions regarding your stay and the date of your return journey.
You will need a visa to travel to Alicante/Spain if
If you do require a visa, you will need to apply for this at the Spanish embassy in your country of residence prior to travelling to Alicante.
There are changes ahead, with new procedures being introduced for nationals from non-EU/non-Schengen countries. Please note, that these are not yet operational.
Nationals from visa-exempt non-Schengen / non-EU countries will soon be required to apply for travel authorisation ahead of their journey to Alicante.
This new scheme is a visa-waiver rather than an actual visa. It is called ETIAS, which stands for European Travel Information and Authorization System. A valid ETIAS-authorisation will enable the person to visit Spain (and/or other European countries) as a tourist for short stays (please see above for the definition of a short stay).
Once operational, an ETIAS travel authorisation can be obtained via the official website for a fee of € 7 and will be valid for 3 years. When applying for an ETIAS visa-waiver, you will need to provide some personal information, e.g. your name, address, passport details and current occupation. You will also be asked questions about criminal convictions, past travel to conflict zones, and you will need to outline your travel plans during your stay in Europe.
The EES or Entry/Exit System is an IT system that will be used at passport control for passengers from non-EU, non-Schengen (third) countries. Its purpose is to speed up the process and increase the accuracy of the checks being carried out. The new system will automate procedures at border control and replace passport stamping. It will record the time and place of each person’s entry into the country and store their facial image and fingerprints.
The initial start date for both ETIAS and EES was intended for 2023 but this has already been postponed several times. According to the European Unione website, the EES will become operational first and ETIAS will follow a few months later. The most recent information announces that the EES will be launched on the 10th of November 2024, while ETIAS is due to start in mid-2025.