Schengen Area  

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The Schengen Area 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 microstatesMonaco, 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. The Schengen Area currently has a population of over 400 million people.

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Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Schengen Area" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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