Schengen Visa

The Schengen Area /ˈʃɛŋən/ is the area comprising 26 European countries that have abolished passport and any other type of border control at their common borders, also referred to as internal borders.

It mostly functions as a single country for international travel purposes, with a common visa policy.

The Area is named after the Schengen Agreement. Countries in the Schengen Area have eliminated border controls with the other Schengen members and strengthened border controls with non-Schengen states.

Twenty-two of the twenty-eight European Union (EU) member states participate in the Schengen Area. Of the six EU members that do not form part of the Schengen Area, four – Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania – are legally obliged and wish to join the area, while the other two – Ireland and the United Kingdom – maintain opt-outs.

All four European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member states – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – have signed the Schengen Agreement, even though they are outside the EU.

In addition, three European microstates – Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City – can be considered as de facto within the Schengen Area, as they do not have border controls with the Schengen countries that surround them; but they have not officially signed documents that make them part of Schengen.

Some national laws have the text “countries against which border control is not performed based on the Schengen Agreement and the 562/2006 EU regulation”, which then includes the microstates and other non-EU areas with open borders.

The Schengen Area currently has a population of over 400 million people and an area of 4,312,099 square kilometres (1,664,911 sq mi).

 The Schengen Area Member States:

Schengen Visa Countries List

• Austria
• Belgium
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Liechtenstein

 The Schengen Visa is the representative of the collective of 26 European countries that have mutually decided to eliminate passport and immigration controls at their joint borders.

Within the Schengen area, concurrently, the citizens of these 26 European countries are free to travel in and out of this zone as one single country sharing equal international travel rights.

The citizens of the Schengen zone countries cherish the right to migrate internationally without any limitations, the basis of free movement, one of the basic human rights.