The border-free Schengen Area guarantees free movement to more than 425 million EU citizens, along with non-EU nationals living in the EU or visiting the EU as tourists, exchange students or for business purposes (anyone legally present in the EU). Free movement of persons enables every EU citizen to travel, work and live in an EU country without special formalities. Schengen underpins this freedom by enabling citizens to move around the Schengen Area without being subject to border checks.
Today, the Schengen Area encompasses most EU countries, except for Cyprus and Ireland. Bulgaria and Romania became the newest Member States to join the Schengen area as of 31 March 2024, any person crossing the internal air and sea borders will no longer be subject to checks. Nevertheless, a unanimous decision on the lifting of checks on persons at the internal land borders is still expected to be taken by the Council at a later date. Additionally, the non-EU States Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein also have joined the Schengen Area.
Freedom and security for travellers
The Schengen provisions abolish checks at EU’s internal borders, while providing a single set of rules for controls at the external borders applicable to those who enter the Schengen area for a short period of time (up to 90 days).
The Schengen area relies on common rules covering in particular the following areas:
- crossing the EU external borders, including the types of visa needed,
- harmonisation of the conditions of entry and of the rules on short stay visas (up to 90 days),
- cross-border police cooperation (including rights of cross-border surveillance and hot pursuit),
- stronger judicial cooperation through a faster extradition system and the transfer of enforcement of criminal judgments,
- the Schengen Information System (SIS) and
- documents needed for travelling in Europe.
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Criteria for countries to join the Schengen Area
Joining the Schengen Area is not merely a political decision of the joining State. Countries must fulfil a list of pre-conditions:
- apply the common set of Schengen rules (the so-called “Schengen acquis”), e.g. regarding controls of land, sea and air borders (airports), issuing of visas, police cooperation and protection of personal data,
- take responsibility for controlling the external borders on behalf of other Schengen countries and for issuing uniform Schengen visas,
- efficiently cooperate with law enforcement agencies in other Schengen countries, to maintain a high level of security, once border controls between Schengen countries are abolished,
- connect to and use the Schengen Information System (SIS)
Countries wishing to join the Schengen area must undergo a series of Schengen evaluations to confirm whether they fulfil the conditions necessary for the application of the Schengen rules.
Once the Schengen Evaluation confirms the readiness of the Member State to join the area without internal border controls, a unanimous approval from all other Member States applying the Schengen acquis in full is required.
Bulgaria and Romania have successfully accomplished the Schengen evaluation process set out in their Treaties of Accession, taking all the necessary measures to ensure application of all relevant parts of the Schengen acquis. On 30 December 2023, the Council unanimously agreed on the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area. Thus, as of 31 March 2024, both Member States will start applying Schengen rules. Controls at internal air and sea borders between Bulgaria and Romania and countries of the Schengen area will be lifted as of 31 March 2024. The Council agreed that a further decision should be taken at an appropriate date for the removing checks at internal land borders.
In addition, the Schengen evaluation process to assess the readiness to join the Schengen area is ongoing for Cyprus. The Schengen Information System in Cyprus was put into operation in July 2023 and this process was already verified by a dedicated Schengen evaluation in 2023.
For more information on the Schengen Evaluation and Monitoring mechanism see Schengen evaluation and monitoring.
