從今天（2024 年 3 月 31 日）起，羅馬尼亞與保加利亞正式加入歐盟申根區。這表示，從其他申根國家搭乘飛機或海上交通工具前往這兩個國家的旅客，將不再需要接受邊境查驗。不過，這兩國的陸路邊境目前仍須進行護照或身分證查驗。
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，申根區涵蓋大多數歐盟國家（塞浦路斯與愛爾蘭除外）。羅馬尼亞與保加利亞成為最新加入申根區的成員國。不過，是否取消內部陸路邊境的人員查驗，仍有待歐盟理事會日後一致決議。
對於打算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納入申請申根簽證的考量。如果其他申根國家的領事館很難預約到簽證，也可以試著考慮這兩個國家。
