由今日（2024 年 3 月 31 日）起，羅馬尼亞和保加利亞加入歐盟申根區。這意味著，旅客若從其他申根國家乘搭飛機或經海路前往這兩個國家，將毋須再接受邊境檢查。不過，這兩個國家的陸路邊境交通目前仍然需要進行護照或身分證檢查。
以下是歐盟的聲明：
The border-free Schengen Area guarantees free movement to more than 425 million EU citizens, along with non-EU nationals living in the EU or visiting the EU as tourists, exchange students or for business purposes (anyone legally present in the EU) . Free movement of persons enables every EU citizen to travel, work and live in an EU country without special formalities. Schengen underpins this freedom by enabling citizens to move around the Schengen Area without being subject to border checks.Today, the Schengen Area encompasses most EU countries, except for Cyprus and Ireland. Bulgaria and Romania became the newest Member States to join the Schengen area as of 31 March 2024, any person crossing the internal air and sea borders will no longer be subject to checks. Nevertheless, a unanimous decision on the lifting of checks on persons at the internal land borders is still expected to be taken by the Council at a later date. Additionally, the non-EU States Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein also have joined the Schengen Area.
目前，申根區涵蓋大部分歐盟國家（塞浦路斯及愛爾蘭除外）。羅馬尼亞和保加利亞成為最新加入申根區的成員國。不過，至於何時取消內部陸路邊境的人員檢查，仍有待歐盟理事會日後一致通過相關決定。
對於計劃前往歐洲旅遊的朋友來說，這是個好消息！現在又多了兩個國家可考慮用來申請簽證。如果其他申根國家領事館預約不到簽證，不妨試試這兩個國家。
