In 2025, there will be more: how many countries are part of the Schengen area and what are the rules of entry

On January 1, 2025, the Schengen area will expand. Two countries, Romania and Bulgaria, will become full members. The accession negotiations began in 2012. In practice, this means that border controls will be abolished on the land borders of these countries with other Schengen members.

The decision to expand was made on December 12. OBOZ.UA explains what the Schengen area is and what are the rules of entry.

What is Schengen?

The name Schengen zone comes from the eponymous village of Schengen in Luxembourg, where in 1985 five out of ten EU member states signed an agreement to create the zone.

Later, Italy (1990), Spain and Portugal (1991), Greece (1992), Austria (1995), Sweden, Finland and Denmark (1996) joined the list of signatories. Iceland and Norway also signed the Convention.

The 1990 Convention defined the abolition of internal border controls and a common visa policy, which led to the creation of the Schengen area on March 26, 1995.

Schengen countries

In terms of international travel, the Schengen area is a territory with border controls at the external border - when entering and leaving the area. At the same time, there are no border controls at the internal borders of states.

EU countries that are not part of the Schengen area:

• Ireland - adheres to its visa policy;
• Cyprus - accession was not approved by other countries due to the unresolved Cyprus conflict.

The Schengen area also includes four non-EU countries: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Full list of Schengen countries:

1. Austria
2. Belgium
3. Hungary
4. Germany
5. Greece
6. Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands, but only with a Schengen visa issued by Denmark)
7. Iceland
8. Spain (in particular, Ceuta and Melilla located in Africa, but with border control at the exit)
9. Italy
10. Latvia
11. Lithuania
12. Liechtenstein
13. Luxembourg
14. Malta
15. Netherlands (excluding self-governing island territories within the Kingdom)
16. Norway (except for the island of Svalbard)
17. Poland
18. Portugal
19. Slovakia
20. Slovenia
21. Finland
22. France (excluding overseas territories)
23. Czech Republic
24. Croatia
25. Switzerland
26. Sweden
27. Estonia
28. Bulgaria
29. Romania.

De facto, Schengen includes three microstates - Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City - which did not sign the agreement but are located within the zone and support the openness of borders.

Currently, the population of the Schengen area is over 420 million. According to preliminary estimates, about 1.7 million people travel to work across the internal European border every day.

By the way, the decision to expand Schengen was approved unanimously. Even Austria, which had opposed it because of the high level of illegal migration, has recently lifted its veto.

Controls at the internal air and sea borders of Romania and Bulgaria were abolished earlier, on March 31, 2024, when the "air" and "sea" Schengen came into effect.

Rules for entering the Schengen area

Citizens of countries that do not have a visa-free regime with Schengen must obtain a visa at a diplomatic mission, after which the first entry rule will apply.

This rule means that when crossing the Schengen border, a person must first visit the country that issued the visa.

However, if a person travels by land, the transit rule applies - a person may stay in the territory of these states for a period of two to five days (depending on the country).

Ukrainians do not need to obtain a visa or permit for stays not exceeding 90 days in a 180-day period.

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