Customs and the border on the Algeciras-Tanger Med ferry

The border between Spain and Morocco is not one place but three steps: the Spanish exit control in the port of Algeciras, the Moroccan passport control on board during the crossing, and customs on arrival at Tanger Med. Knowing that, you stand in the right queue at the right moment and do not lose an hour on arrival. Ninety minutes at sea is short: you only get the stamp on board if you join the queue right after departure.

After check-in and the luggage scan comes the Spanish exit control, because with the boat to Tanger Med you leave the Schengen area. EU passports get a stamp; non-EU passports, British ones included, are registered in the EU’s Entry/Exit System, which replaced the stamps in April 2026. With a car you stay in your lane and keep everyone’s passports and boarding passes to hand; the check often happens from the car, at a checkpoint on the quay. The exact route differs per operator and ship; follow the signs. Your days in Morocco do not count towards the ninety days in the Schengen area. How early to be there is on the check-in page.

On the sailings to Tanger Med the Moroccan police are on board. Shortly after departure the desk opens; join the queue straight away with all the passports and the completed entry cards. Those who are in time have their stamp before arrival, show it when leaving the ship and drive on to customs at Tanger Med. Those who are late wait in the port. Keep the entry stamp safe, you need it when you leave.

Baleària provides the police form as a pdf: fill it in at home and hand it to the Moroccan police on board. With the other operators you get the form at check-in or on board. How check-in itself works, and how early to be there, is under check-in.

After driving off the ship you follow the signs to customs. The driver stays with the car. You show your passport, registration document, insurance and the authorisation if you have one; customs links the car to your passport and may check the chassis number and the load. You receive a temporary import document, which you hand in when you leave Morocco. Outside the high season it usually moves quickly; during Operación Marhaba and around public holidays the queues grow long.

Foot passengers go through the green or red channel, as at an airport. Without a green card that covers Morocco you take out border insurance at the port, paid per period. Then you are in Morocco: past the barrier you are on the motorway and within the hour in Tangier or Tétouan.

Your own car in your own name. Registration document, passport, driving licence and insurance that covers Morocco. That is all; the D16 ter you fill in beforehand or at the port.

Your partner’s, parents’ or family’s car. Bring the registration document plus an authorisation from the owner with your name, the registration number and the travel period. Have the signature legalised, by a notary in the UK or the authority your country uses, and make sure the text is readable in French, so Moroccan customs can read it.

Lease or company car. Ask the lease company or employer for written permission for Morocco and an authorisation in your name. For a car registered to a company the authorisation needs a company stamp and the signature of someone authorised to sign. Allow a few weeks.

Hire car. Most rental companies in the UK and Spain forbid Morocco in their terms. Without written permission from the rental company you do not get through customs, and you are not insured for damage. Fly into Málaga and hire a car, and you usually cross the Strait as a foot passenger.

Leaving Tanger Med it runs in reverse, and everything happens before boarding: you drive into the passenger port, show your ticket at your operator, and then, from the car, come the boarding-pass check by the port authority, the Moroccan exit stamp and customs, which takes in the car’s import document and looks at the car and the luggage. On arrival in Algeciras only the Spanish entry control is left. Expect long queues at Tanger Med in summer and be in good time: the port recommends ninety minutes. Check the timetable and your operator’s times beforehand.