Romania and Bulgaria have become full members of the European Union’s border-free Schengen area after scrapping land border controls in the bloc.

Romania and Bulgaria scrapped land border controls to become full members of the European Union's Schengen free-travel area on Wednesday, joining an expanded bloc of countries whose residents can travel without passport checks.

Bulgaria and Romania are holding ceremonies to mark their full membership in Europe’s Schengen area, the culmination of years of negotiations by the Eastern European countries to join the ID check-free travel zone.

Residents from Romania and Bulgaria can now travel freely in the Schengen area. The combined 25 million residents of Bulgaria and Romania now join nearly 450 million EU citizens who already have the freedom to move around the Schengen zone, after land border checks were officially lifted.

Romania and Bulgaria officially join the Schengen Area on 1 January 2025, removing border controls and ensuring free movement across the EU

Romania and Bulgaria fully joined the Schengen Area on Wednesday, allowing their citizens to travel freely within the European Union. The Schengen Area now includes 25 of the 27 EU member states, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

Two EU nations, Romania and Bulgaria, are eliminating land border controls to the rest of the bloc after Austria dropped its veto last month. All EU countries except Cyprus and Ireland are now in the Schengen zone.