Two New Countries Join Schengen Area

From today, it is easier to travel to Romania and Bulgaria by air and sea.

Temporary border crossing point on the road connecting Zajta in Hungary with Peles (Nagypeleske) in Romania opened on June 27, 2015. (Photo: MTI/Attila Balazs)

As of Sunday morning, Romania and Bulgaria have officially joined the Schengen area, but for the time being open borders only apply to air and sea travel. Border checks will remain in place on the land routes of Romania and Bulgaria within the Schengen area, that is, at road and rail crossings on the borders of Greece-Bulgaria, Bulgaria-Romania and Romania-Hungary.

👋 Welcome #Bulgaria & #Romania to the #Schengen family, the largest #free movement area worldwide!

👉 No more controls at internal air and sea borders 😊

🇧🇬🇷🇴❤️🇪🇺

👉 https://t.co/TcnMzcqzKz

— Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) March 30, 2024

Full border controls for passengers travelling to and from the other 28 Schengen member states have been lifted at the country's airports and four Black Sea ports as of Sunday, Romania's interior ministry announced. However, passengers must be in possession of valid travel documents, and border police will continue to carry out random checks at airports and ports to prevent criminal offences and illegal migration.

There are no changes to airport security and baggage control rules, and regulations applying to minors crossing the border have remained in effect.

Romania has four sea border crossing points: Mangalia, Constanta, Constanta South Agigea and Midia. In these ports, border checks will be abolished for the crew and passengers on board of vessels arriving from or departing for Schengen countries. Cruise ships arriving from the Schengen area will be allowed to dock in Romanian ports that do not have an established border crossing point (Tomis-Constanta, Belona-Eforie, Limanu-Mangalia). However, the coastguard can check the passengers travelling on board of these vessels at any time to prevent illegal migration, the Romanian interior ministry said. Schengen rules do not apply to river ports in Romania and Bulgaria. The ferry services, just like the bridges, on the Danube River between the two countries qualify as land border crossings and the documents of passengers travelling on these routes will be checked.

According to figures from Romania's ministry of interior, airports in Romania received more than 23 million passengers last year, with more than 160 thousand flights landing and taking off. Of the latter, 66 percent were flights within the Schengen area.

The European Council's decision of December 30 last year on the Schengen membership of Romania and Bulgaria did not set a target date for their full accession. It remains a priority for the Bucharest government to gain full inclusion in the borderless travel zone this year.

Cover photo: Temporary border crossing point on the road connecting Zajta in Hungary with Peles (Nagypeleske) in Romania opened on June 27, 2015. (Photo: MTI/Attila Balazs)