When the Gibraltar to Tangier ferry was confined to port because of bad weather last December, it sharply illustrated a problem faced by many Moroccan workers living on the Rock.

For several days the ferry was unable to make the crossing while hundreds of frustrated Moroccans waited anxiously. It was the start of the Eid festivities and they wanted to get home to their families.
With tempers frayed, there were angry scenes in Irish Town outside the ferry company’s local agent.
Many of those gathered there said they understood the company’s position but felt let down that no one had pushed for a long term solution to their problem.
“I’ve been working for 40 years and look at the way that I’m treated,” said one man.
The problem hinges on the fact that many Moroccan workers, despite having lived and worked here for many years, have never received any formal right of residence or recognition as British citizens.
Because of this, they are unable to cross over land into Spain, a Schengen border, and are only able to leave the Rock by sea to Morocco.
The only link is a weekly fast ferry. When bad weather or a technical problem closes that down as happened last December, they are stuck. Even though larger ferries may continue operating from Algeciras, many workers here cannot get from Gibraltar to the Spanish port overland.
Spain has authorised occasional humanitarian crossings but says that in the wider context, this is a problem for the Gibraltar authorities to resolve.
Over the years, authorities here have granted many residency permits to long-term workers, but increasingly there is mounting pressure for them to pay closer attention to the matter.
Earlier this year TGWU (Unite) Deputy General Secretary Jack Dromey wrote to Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Milliband demanding full nationality and residential rights for long-term Moroccan nationals working in Gibraltar.
He said the union was concerned at “the deeply entrenched and continuing discrimination against Moroccan nationals living and working in this British Overseas Territory.”
He added that even though many Moroccans had lived in Gibraltar for over twenty years, they continued to have an “inferior status in the eyes of the [Gibraltar] law and institutions.”