Schengen area

From 1995 on, the development of the Schengen area has made cross-border travel with no formalities the norm for much of Europe. Schengen members rely on each other to manage the external borders of the area, including through the issue of visas to third-country nationals, and have developed a range of tools to share information among immigration and law enforcement agencies. Apart from the UK and Ireland, the Schengen area should extend to all EU Member States; those that have yet to be integrated have to comply with certain conditions in border management and law enforcement cooperation before they can join. The Schengen area extends also to the associated Nordic countries plus Switzerland and Liechtenstein.