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The Schengen Area is a group of countries in Europe that, since 1995, have officially abolished checking passports, as well as several other types of border patrol actions at their mutual borders. The group of countries includes Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Thanks to the Schengen Borders Agreement, citizens from certain countries – including the United States – are currently allowed to travel freely to the countries within the Schengen area for up to 90 days for tourism or business without a visa or a visa waiver (a visa waiver will be required in the future, currently sometime in 2025).

Among other benefits and drawbacks, being a member of the Schengen Area allows each member country to greatly decrease the cost of border control, since the borders between each country no longer need to be controlled. So there have been some European countries over the years that weren’t a part of the Schengen Area but wished to join.

Each participating country gets a say and a vote in which countries can be allowed to join, and the vote must be unanimous. That’s how the Schengen Area, which originated with just 10 participating countries, has eventually grown into 27.  And come March 31st, that number will increase by 2 more: Bulgaria and Romania will both be added to the Schengen Area.

Both countries have been members of the European Union since 2007, but they haven’t been able to join the border-free zone due to security concerns. Finally though, issues raised by other Schengen members, particularly Austria and the Netherlands, who had both strongly opposed their joining, seem to have finally been addressed and resolved.

Austria’s concerns, in particular, have meant Bulgaria and Romania’s entry into the Schengen Area will be a little different. The two countries are close to Türkiye, which has long been a popular travel route for escapees from the Middle East. So Austria (and, to a lesser extent, the Netherlands) expressed concerns about an influx of refugees once other European countries in the vicinity would no longer be able to check individuals coming into their territories.

To stem this, something called an “Air Schengen” will be created. With that, people traveling from Bulgaria or Romania into other Schengen states via land will still be subjected to passport control. Those traveling by air (which is the case for the majority of passengers) will not.

How does this affect Americans?

• Effective this March 31st, it will be as simple as not having to show your passport if you travel to Bulgaria and/or Romania if you enter through one of the other Schengen Area countries.
• However if you fly to those two countries and travel by land to another Schengen Area country, you’ll still need to go through border patrol.
• Once the visa waiver program is in practice, Bulgaria and Romania will be included as the 28th and 29th countries it will cover.
• However your travel to those two countries will also be counted as part of your 90-day stay.

Feature photo (cropped): Manolo Gómez / flickr / CC BY 2.0 DEED

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