Romania enters Schengen Area with full rights as of January 1

Romania has become a full member of the Schengen Area at midnight, in the night between Tuesday, December 31, and Wednesday, January 1.Thus, after joining the free movement space with its air and sea borders, as of Wednesday, Romania also joined the Schengen area with its land borders.According to the General Inspectorate of the Border Police, starting with January 1, 2025, there will be no controls operated at the internal border of Romania, namely at the border with Hungary and Bulgaria, which means that all persons will be able to travel to or from other Schengen member states (except Cyprus and Ireland) without stopping at the Border Police control booths to have their travel documents checked.In practice, travel from Romania to and from other Schengen member states will be similar to travel within the country.This applies to all persons, regardless of citizenship, and to all categories of means of transport, whether cars, buses, minibuses, trucks, boats or trains.According to the existing practice in several member states of the European Union, Romanian border police will carry out random and unsystematic checks along the internal border or at various road junctions, within the 30 km from the internal border line, together with employees from the Police, Gendarmerie, Immigration or other structures.Police actions will be carried out based on a risk analysis or when there is information regarding the possible commission of illegal acts and will aim to prevent and combat illegal acts. The mixed patrols will be equipped with mobile control devices on which the eDAC application will be installed.The travel conditions in states outside the Schengen Area remain unchanged.Through a decision approved during the last Government meeting of 2024, obstacles to traffic at the internal border crossing points with Hungary and Bulgaria were eliminated.The regulatory act also provided for the closure of Romania's border crossing points with Hungary and Bulgaria, respectively, from January 1, 2025. The personnel involved in the control activities will be redistributed, in compliance with the conditions and procedure applicable to each category of personnel.The interior ministers of the EU countries, meeting on 12 December in the Justice and Home Affairs Council, decided to lift controls on persons at internal land borders with and between Bulgaria and Romania as of 1 January 2025. The decision was ratified at the last European Council, under the Hungarian Presidency of the EU.Schengen is the largest free movement area in the world.Currently, the Schengen Area covers 29 countries (25 of the 27 Member States, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and 420 million people. Internal border controls with Cyprus have not yet been lifted, and Ireland is not part of Schengen.