Schengen Area

The Schengen Area is a system of open borders that encompass European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their common borders. As an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice policy of the European Union, it mostly functions as a single jurisdiction under a common visa policy for international travel purposes. The area is named after the 1985 Schengen Agreement and the 1990 Schengen Convention, both signed in Schengen, Luxembourg.
Of the 27 EU member states, only two, Cyprus and Ireland, are not members of the Schengen Area. Cyprus is committed by treaty to join the system and aims to do so in 2026, although its participation has been complicated by the occupation of Northern Cyprus by Turkey since 1974. Ireland maintains an opt-out in order to maintain the Common Travel Area between Ireland and non-EU member United Kingdom and operates its own visa policy.
In addition to the member states of the European Union, all member states of the European Free Trade Association, namely Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, have signed association agreements with the EU to be part of the Schengen Area.
In addition, the territories of three microstatesMonaco, San Marino and Vatican Cityare de facto included in the Schengen Area due to their small size and difficulty of maintaining active border controls. Andorra, while maintaining border controls, has open borders with Schengen states and applies Schengen visa rules but is not considered de facto part of the Schengen Area.
The Schengen Area has a population of more than 450 million people and an area of about. About 1.7 million people commute to work across an internal European border each day, and in some regions these international commuters constitute up to a third of the workforce. In 2015, there were 1.3 billion crossings of Schengen borders in total. 57 million crossings were due to the transport of goods by road, with a value of €2.8 trillion. The decrease in the cost of trade due to Schengen varies from 0.42% to 1.59% depending on geography, trade partners, and other factors. Countries outside of the Schengen Area also benefit. States in the Schengen Area have strengthened border controls with non-Schengen countries.

History

European borders prior to Schengen

Before World War I, most countries of the world, including those in Europe, had lax border policies, facilitating such educational trips as the Grand Tour amongst the wealthy.
Visas became commonplace during the interwar period, as did border controls. After World War II, however, customs unions arose between various European countries. The Nordic countries allowed free movement and residence between them in 1954, and the countries of Benelux opened their mutual borders in 1960. This reflected a greater trend towards European integration; the European Communities, the predecessor of the EU, were established in the 1950s for economic cooperation, though they did not deal with border control issues.

Schengen Agreement

The first move towards the abolition of border controls between EC member states took place on 14 June 1985 with the signing of the Schengen Agreement by five EEC members – the Benelux countries as well as France and West Germany – of the then ten EEC member states. These five countries entered into the Schengen Agreement separately from the European Communities, because consensus could not be reached among all EEC member states.
The Agreement was supplemented in 1990 by the Schengen Convention, which proposed the abolition of internal border controls and a common visa policy. The Agreements and the rules adopted under them continued to be separate from the EC structures, and led to the creation of the Schengen Area on 26 March 1995.
As more EU member states signed the Schengen Agreement, consensus was reached on absorbing it into the procedures of the EU. The Agreement and its related conventions were incorporated into the mainstream of European Union law by the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997, which came into effect in 1999. A consequence of the Agreement being part of European law is that any amendment or regulation is made within its processes, in which the non-EU members are not participants.
The UK, the Crown Dependencies, and the Republic of Ireland have operated a Common Travel Area since 1923, but the UK would not abolish border controls with any other countries and therefore opted out of the Agreement. While not signing the Schengen Treaty, the Republic of Ireland has always looked more favourably on joining, but has not done so in order to maintain the CTA and its open border with Northern Ireland.

Common Schengen Visa Policy

The common visa policy allows nationals of certain countries to enter the Schengen Area via air, land or sea without a visa for stays of up to 90 days within a 180-day period. Nationals of certain other countries are required to have a visa either upon arrival or in transit.

Current members

The Schengen Area consists of countries, including four which are not members of the European UnionIceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Iceland and Norway are part of the Nordic Passport Union and are officially classified as states associated with the Schengen activities of the European Union. Switzerland was allowed to participate in the same manner in 2008, and Liechtenstein in 2011.
Romania and Bulgaria are the newest members of the Schengen Area, with border controls lifted for air and sea travel on 31 March 2024 and land border controls lifted effective 1 January 2025, more than 17 years after they acceded to the European Union. In 2011 the European Commission concluded that the two countries had fulfilled all technical accession criteria, and their participation was approved by the European Parliament. However this was rejected by the Council of Ministers, with some countries citing concerns about shortcomings in anti-corruption measures and in the fight against organised crime. The Netherlands conditioned approval for joining the Schengen Area on positive reports under the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification. Austria was the last country to end their veto, after series of negotiations to address concerns that the countries were a major transit route for illegal immigration to the country.
De facto, the Schengen Area also includes four European micro-states Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican Citythat maintain open or semi-open borders with other Schengen member countries.
Ireland negotiated opt-outs from Schengen and continues to operate border controls with other EU member states, while at the same time being part of the open-border Common Travel Area with the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies.

Summary table

State

Area

Population

Andorrants|467.63UN_Population|Andorra

Potential enlargement

The procedure to join the Schengen Area is that the European Commission evaluates certain criteria. These criteria include border control legislation, infrastructure and organisation, personal data protection, visas, deportations, police cooperation and more. After a positive evaluation, the Schengen members of the Council of the European Union decides unanimously together with the European Parliament to accept the new member.

Cyprus

Cyprus as EU member state is committed by its Treaty of Accession to join the Schengen Area eventually. However, before fully implementing the Schengen rules, the state must have its preparedness assessed in four areas: air borders, visas, police cooperation, and personal data protection. This evaluation process involves a questionnaire and visits by EU experts to selected institutions and workplaces in the country under assessment.
Although Cyprus, which joined the EU on 1 May 2004, is legally bound to join the Schengen Area, implementation has been delayed because of the Cyprus dispute. According to former Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Lillikas, "strict and full control based on Schengen will create a huge tribulation on a daily basis for the Turkish Cypriots" of Northern Cyprus, and it is unclear if this control is possible before the resolution of the dispute. The British Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, a British Overseas Territory which is outside the EU, also needs "other handling and mechanisms". Akrotiri and Dhekelia has no border control to Cyprus, but has its own border control at its air base.
In November 2019, Cyprus's Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Christodoulides revealed that Cyprus formally began the process of joining the Schengen Area in September. In July 2023, Cyprus joined the Schengen Information System, which allows for cooperation on crime, immigration and other security-related matters within the Schengen Area. In October 2023, the commission was to "verify that the necessary conditions for the application of the Schengen acquis in the field of the Schengen Information System have been met"., Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides expects the country to join the Schengen Area in 2026. However, this is highly unlikely in the short term due to political tensions surrounding the Green Line.

Territories of Schengen states outside the Area

There are territories of Schengen member states that are exempted from the Schengen Agreement. The only areas of Schengen member states located in Europe but excluded are the Faroe Islands and Svalbard. Until 2008, when Switzerland joined the Schengen Area, the German exclave Büsingen am Hochrhein, a small village in Baden-Württemberg, remained outside of the Schengen Area, being completely surrounded by Switzerland.

French territories

The French overseas departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte and Réunion, and the overseas collectivity of Saint Martin are part of the European Union but do not form part of the Schengen Area; so one cannot travel there with a Schengen Visa. The freedom of movement provisions of the EU apply, but each territory operates its own visa regime for non-European Economic Area, non-Swiss nationals. While a visa valid for one of these territories will be valid for all, visa exemption lists differ. A Schengen visa, even one issued by France, is not valid for these territories. A visa for Sint Maarten is also valid for the French side. France also has several territories which are neither part of the EU nor the Schengen Area. These are: French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, New Caledonia, Saint Barthélemy, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, and Wallis and Futuna.