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In Europe's Schengen area , your passport must be valid for at least six months at the time of your entry. At present, the Schengen area includes most European Union (EU) countries, except for Cyprus and Ireland.

If you are transiting through Canada or the United Kingdom (UK) enroute to the Schengen area : your passport must be valid for at least six months, even though Canada and the UK do not themselves have the six-month rule. If your passport will expire within six months, airlines may not let you board your onward flight to Europe.

Traveling in Europe

If you plan to travel in Europe, you need to know about the Schengen Borders Agreement, which allows you to move freely within a number of countries without border checks. Tourists, exchange students, and people visiting for business from certain countries, like the United States, can travel in the Schengen area for up to 90 days. The Schengen area includes most EU countries, except for Cyprus and Ireland. It also includes four non-EU countries: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

Before you travel to the Schengen area, we recommend you do the following:

Check the expiration date on your passport book carefully before traveling to Europe. Ensure your passport book is valid for at least six months when you enter the Schengen area. This is especially important for minors under age 16 as their passports are only valid for five years. In contrast, U.S. citizen adults aged 16 and older receive passports that are valid for 10 years.
Always carry your passport book with you when traveling to another country in the Schengen area. Even if there is no border check at that time, officials may reinstate border controls without notice.
Be prepared to explain your purpose of travel.
Be prepared to provide proof of sufficient financial resources for the visit.
Comply with other entry requirements for each country you will visit or transit.

On our Country Information pages , you can find passport validity requirements and other important information for your destination country. If your passport does not meet the Schengen requirements, you may be:

Refused boarding by the airline at your point of origin or while transferring planes.
Denied entry when you arrive in the Schengen area, regardless of how long you will stay.

An immigration official will determine if you qualify for visa-free entry to the Schengen area when you first cross any external Schengen border. You will have to present your passport at that time. The officer may deny your entry if you do not qualify.

You should also check passport validity requirements if traveling onward from the Schengen area to a country outside the Schengen area. You can find this information in our Country Information pages.

HOW LONG CAN I REMAIN?

With a valid U.S. passport book, you can stay up to 90 days in the Schengen area for tourism or business during any 180-day period. You must wait an additional 90 days before applying to re-enter the Schengen area.
If you plan to stay in the Schengen area longer than three months, contact the embassy of the country where you plan to spend the majority of your time and apply for a visa.

Countries in the Schengen area may reinstate temporary internal or external border control without notice. U.S. citizens should carry their U.S. passport book at all times when entering or leaving the Schengen area. They should also bring it when traveling between Schengen countries.

How can the U.S. government help me if border officials do not let me enter?

We can give you the contact information of foreign embassies of the countries you wish to visit.
We can provide information about hiring an English-speaking foreign attorney overseas if you choose to do so.
Note: We cannot influence a foreign government’s decision about allowing you to enter. We cannot intervene in another country’s criminal or administrative procedures.

What countries are members of the Schengen Borders Agreement?

Click on the country name for more information.

Bulgaria (entering in March 2024)

Czech Republic

Liechtenstein

Netherlands

Romania (entering in March 2024)

Switzerland

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Learn about your destination

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Travelling in the EU

Your rights & eu rules.

As an EU national, you enjoy the right of free movement. This means you’re entitled to travel, work and live in another EU country. If you’re a citizen of a Schengen country – which is most EU countries – you’re also free to travel to other Schengen countries without the need for border checks.

As an EU national, you can also benefit from EU-wide passenger rights for travel into, out of or within the EU by air, rail, bus/coach or ship. You can travel with pets and other animals in the EU provided you comply with the rules (pet passports). There are EU limits on taking alcohol, tobacco or cash with you to another EU country. Each EU country can set its own limits or restrictions, so check before you go.

Travelling to or within the EU? Follow the links below to check which documents you need to take.

Documents you need to travel in the EU

Information on travel documents needed by EU nationals, non-EU national family members, non-EU nationals and children when entering the EU or travelling across it. Find out what to do if you lose your passport or it expires when travelling in the EU.

Public Register of Authentic travel and identity Documents Online (PRADO)

View authorised travel and identity documents issued by EU countries and Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

Schengen – ID-free travel zone

What is it.

The Schengen area is a travel zone without borders between the 29 Schengen countries. It allows EU nationals and many non-EU nationals to travel freely without border checks. Since 1985, it’s kept growing, and now covers almost all EU countries and a few non-EU countries (Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland). It guarantees free movement to more than 400 million EU nationals.

Any person, irrespective of nationality, can travel between Schengen countries without going through border checks. However, national authorities can carry out police checks at borders between these countries and in border areas.

Having abolished their internal borders, Schengen countries have also tightened controls at their common external borders on the basis of Schengen rules to ensure the security of those living or travelling in the Schengen area.

See all the Schengen countries

Common visa policy

The common visa policy enables non-EU visitors to make transit or short stays to the Schengen area. A short-stay visa issued by one of the Schengen countries generally entitles them to travel through all Schengen countries for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

In practice, this means that if you’re cleared to enter one Schengen country, you can travel to any of the other Schengen countries without having to show your travel document again.

Follow the links below for more information about your rights when travelling in the EU.

What can you take with you?

Information on what you can take with you when travelling in the EU, including pets, food, alcohol, tobacco and cash. Find out the luggage restrictions when flying from an airport in the EU and which EU countries use the euro.

Air passenger rights

Information on where and when EU air passenger rights apply and how to make a complaint. Find out who to contact if you need help or advice with your claim.

Assistance for travellers with disabilities or reduced mobility

Information on your rights if you’re travelling in the EU with a disability or reduced mobility. See if you’re entitled to an EU disabled parking permit.

Schengen Area

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.

Freedom and security for travellers

The Schengen provisions abolish checks at EU's internal borders, while providing a single set of rules for controls at the external borders applicable to those who enter the Schengen area for a short period of time (up to 90 days).

The Schengen area relies on common rules covering in particular the following areas:

crossing the EU external borders, including the types of visa needed,
harmonisation of the conditions of entry and of the rules on short stay visas (up to 90 days),
cross-border police cooperation (including rights of cross-border surveillance and hot pursuit),
stronger judicial cooperation through a faster extradition system and the transfer of enforcement of criminal judgments,
the  Schengen Information System (SIS) and
documents needed for travelling in Europe.

Police checks and temporary border controls

Any person, irrespective of their nationality, may cross the internal borders without being subjected to border checks. However, the competent national authorities can carry out  police checks  at internal borders and in border areas, provided that such checks are not equivalent to border checks. The non exhaustive list of criteria allowing to assess if police checks is equivalent to border controls is set out in the  Schengen Borders Code . The Code is complemented by relevant case-law of the Court of Justice. It includes the following elements:

the police checks do not have border control as an objective,
are based on general police information and experience,
are carried out in a manner clearly distinct from systematic border checks on persons at the external borders,
are carried out on the basis of spot-checks.

The police carry out checks under the national law of the Schengen country. Depending on the exact purpose, they can, for example, include identity checks.

For more information on police checks in internal border areas see cases of the European Court of Justice  C-188/10 (Melki) ,  C-278/12 (Adil)  and  C-444/17 (Arib) .

Temporary reintroduction of border controls

If there is a serious threat to public policy or internal security, a Schengen country may exceptionally  temporarily reintroduce border control  at its internal borders.

If such controls are reintroduced, the Member State concerned has to inform the Council (and thus, other Schengen countries), the European Parliament and the European Commission as well as the public. The Commission provides more information on the current reintroductions of internal border controls on the website: Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control .

The new Schengen Borders Code

In 2021, the Commission proposed to amend the Schengen Borders Code. The new rules , that were adopted in June 2024, introduced several measures to strengthen the governance and management of the Schengen Area and the EU’s external borders. The new rules introduce:

Stronger external borders, with border measures to address the instrumentalisation of migrants;
Reinforced framework for the use of cross-border police cooperation in border regions as an alternative to internal border controls;
A revised framework for the possible reintroduction of internal border controls as a last resort measure, in a structured system with defined time limits and increased safeguards;
New transfer procedure for irregular migrants, to assist EU countries with secondary movements within the EU;
Travel restrictions for non-EU nationals at the EU's external borders during major health emergencies with common and simplified rules.

The new Schengen Border Code is a key delivery of the Strategy towards a fully functioning and resilient Schengen area , that the Commission presented in June 2021. The Schengen Strategy took stock of the progress made on the fundamental pillars of the Schengen area and other key measures sustaining the area of freedom, security and justice.

Criteria for countries to join the Schengen Area

Joining the Schengen Area is not merely a political decision of the joining State. Countries must fulfil a list of pre-conditions:

apply the common set of Schengen rules (the so-called "Schengen acquis"), e.g. regarding controls of land, sea and air borders (airports), issuing of visas, police cooperation and protection of personal data,
take responsibility for controlling the external borders on behalf of other Schengen countries and for issuing uniform Schengen visas,
efficiently cooperate with law enforcement agencies in other Schengen countries, to maintain a high level of security, once border controls between Schengen countries are abolished,
connect to and use the  Schengen Information System (SIS) .

Countries wishing to join the Schengen area must undergo a series of Schengen evaluations to confirm whether they fulfil the conditions necessary for the application of the Schengen rules.

Once the Schengen Evaluation confirms the readiness of the Member State to join the area without internal border controls, a unanimous approval from all other Member States applying the Schengen acquis in full is required.

Bulgaria and Romania have successfully accomplished the Schengen evaluation process set out in their  Treaties of Accession , taking all the necessary measures to ensure application of all relevant parts of the Schengen acquis. On 30 December 2023, the Council unanimously agreed on the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area. Thus, as of 31 March 2024, both Member States will start applying Schengen rules. Controls at internal air and sea borders between Bulgaria and Romania and countries of the Schengen area will be lifted as of 31 March 2024. The Council agreed that a further decision should be taken at an appropriate date for the removing checks at internal land borders.

In addition, the Schengen evaluation process to assess the readiness to join the Schengen area is ongoing for Cyprus. The Schengen Information System in Cyprus was put into operation in July 2023 and this process was already verified by a dedicated Schengen evaluation in 2023.

For more information on the Schengen Evaluation and Monitoring mechanism see  Schengen evaluation and monitoring .

Background: Free movement in Europe

Originally, the concept of free movement was to enable the European working population to freely travel and settle in any EU State, but it fell short of abolishing border controls within the Union.

A break-through was reached in 1985 in Schengen (a small village in Luxembourg), with the signing of the Agreement on the gradual abolition of checks at common borders, followed by the signing of the Convention implementing that Agreement in 1990. The implementation of the Schengen Agreements started in 1995, initially involving seven EU countries.

Born as an intergovernmental initiative, the developments brought about by the Schengen Agreements have now been incorporated into the body of rules governing the EU.