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.

The Bulgarian border

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.

On 1 January 2025, border controls on the land borders with Bulgaria and Romania were lifted. Both countries have been striving to join the full Schengen Area since they joined the EU in 2007. Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU and adopted some of the Schengen regulations,