Regional perimeter closures: what it means for bank holiday travel in Spain

Spain currently has over 40 million people in lockdown and a new daily record in the number of COVID-19 cases registered, although many would argue that these figures are due, in large part, to the enormous rise in the number of tests being done.

The latest State of Emergency declared by the government on October 25th limits travel around the country in an attempt to avoid, above all, the usual huge exodus from major cities like Madrid and Barcelona to coastal areas for the long weekend.

Whilst Madrid is only applying perimeter closure over the bank holiday weekend, all the other regions of Spain (with the exception of Galicia, Extremadura, the Canary and Balearic islands) have announced perimeter closures until November 9th. The Catalonian regional government announced the perimeter closure of the autonomous region for a full 15 days and stricter local lockdown over the weekend. These measures come into force at 6am on Friday 30th October, with 6am on Monday 2nd November being considered the end of the weekend.

Travel outside the regional perimeters will only be permitted in the following circumstances:

- To attend health or medical centres.
- To fulfil employment, professional, business, institutional or legal obligations.
- To attend universities or schools, including nursery schools.
- To return to usual or family residence.
- To care for elderly people, children, dependents, vulnerable people or people with disabilities.
- To go to banks or insurance companies or to go to petrol stations in adjacent municipalities.
- To attend urgent or compulsory appointments at public institutions, courts or notary offices.
- To renew licences or official documents or to carry out urgent administrative procedures.
- To sit exams or official tests that cannot be postponed.
- Due to force majeure or an emergency.

People crossing regional borders for one of the reasons listed above need to have a document justifying their travel. Regional authorities can provide the necessary documentation, which needs to show the person's name, their DNI/NIE, the reason for their travel and their origin and destination addresses. If a person crosses a regional border in order to fill up with petrol, it's imperative to keep the receipt showing the time and date in case of border controls. In order to prove one's normal residence, in the case of those returning home, a certificate of residency or 'empadronamiento' available from the local town hall is sufficient.

Healthcare
In order to attend health centres or hospitals, people will need a doctor's certificate, a referral note, and in the case of a pharmacy visit, people will have to show a receipt for medication purchased.

Work/Studies
There is no official document to justify travel for professional or educational reasons, but individual companies or schools/universities can provide signed letters to their staff/students, showing their name, DNI/NIE and the address of the school or business premises they have to attend. If a student has to travel outside his or her region to take an exam, the exact time and date of the exam should show on the letter of permission.

Caring for dependents
In order to be permitted to cross regional borders to care for an elderly or dependent person, a certificate of dependence or declaration of responsibility are necessary. Nevertheless, police officers are within their rights to accompany you to the address of the dependent in question.

With temperatures around 25ºC expected in many of the country's coastal regions this weekend, the latest measures are deemed imperative to restrict the movement of people from the big cities with high numbers of coronavirus cases to areas of the country currently less affected by the pandemic.