When it comes to international borders, for most countries they are hard barriers, separating
people, cultures, money, languages, driving sides, and more.
Not to mention all the special documentation you will need to cross that line.
However, in Europe something somewhat mind-blowing has been established.
Borders that you can just stroll right across.
What?!
How?!
Yep, those exist.
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This such freedom of travel is essentially unique to most— but not all— of the countries
of the European Union.
France, Germany, BeNeLux, Italy, Spain, and several others have agreed to essentially
abolish the borders between them, and let people move as they please.
This is an area called the Schengen Area, and it can be somewhat mind-blowing to outsiders,
and is the reason why I have so many Europeans in the comments of my passports video bragging
about visiting 20 countries without a passport.
How is this possible?
Well, it is doubtful that this would be possible in any random collection of nations, but the
EU is different, because one of the most basic agreements of being an EU member nation is
freedom of movement.
If you‘re a citizen of an EU member state, you‘re basically by extension an EU citizen,
which means Germans can move to Spain, Portuguese can work in the Netherlands, and Brits can
of course *insert Brexit joke here*.
With this in mind, this would explain how the visa policy of the area works.
Since people (including visiting foreigners) can freely move into any country they want
to, no Schengen Area Country has their own visa policy, instead the countries of the
Schengen Area all have to agree on one single, collective visa policy.
Thus, the Schengen Area may seem to resemble a single country on visa policy maps, as for
these intents and purposes, it kind of, sort of is.
After all, crossing from Spain into France is logistically just like crossing from Oregon
into California.
Of course, now’s the time for me to at least clarify the hopefully obvious, which is that,
yes, you do still need a passport to get into or out of the Schengen Area.
So if you fly from London to Berlin, you will still be stopped and questioned by immigration
personnel, and if they see you fit to enter, they will give you their local version of
the Schengen stamp (assuming you’re from one of the countries in green).
The Schengen Area consists of 22 of the 28 members states of the EU, the exceptions being
the UK and Ireland-- who have a permanent opt-out, as they argue that islands are different--
and Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Cyprus, as they basically just haven’t gotten around
to it yet.
However, there are actually 26 nations participating in Schengen, as four non-EU nations-- Iceland,
Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein-- have also decided to hop on, as well as Monaco,
San Marino, and Vatican City, who aren’t formally part of this agreement, but at the
same time… come on.
Somewhat interestingly though, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Cyprus, despite not currently
being in the Schengen Area, are obliged to follow the same visa policy for foreign nationals
as the other states, as they don’t have opt-outs, and are of course obligated to join
sometime in the future.
It should be noted, however, that while Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein are part of the
European Economic Area-- and thus their citizens can live and work in the EU, and vise versa--
this is not true with Switzerland and the microstates.
Thus, non-Swiss can visit, but not live in Switzerland.
Switzerland, Norway, and Iceland are also not part of the European Customs Union, which
means that, crossing the German-Swiss border, you won’t be stopped for immigration purposes,
but you will likely have to declare any regulated goods.
Weirdly, this is actually the reverse with some non-Schengen states, notably the UK and
Turkey.
Remember, customs and immigration are different things.
Immigration is where you get your passport stamped, and customs is where you declare
goods (for a good rule of thumb, immigration is for people, and customs is for what the
people are bringing with them).
Also, perhaps it should be noted that Andorra does *not* participate in Schengen, despite
its small size.
The Schengen Agreement was established on the 14th of June, 1985 in the Luxembourgish
town of Schengen (which judging from this video’s script was really put on the map
by this agreement), with the first five member states being Germany, France, Belgium, the
Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
This bloc has since grown, now encompassing a population of 400 million people, and of
those 400 million people, roughly 1.7 million cross an international border every day, responsible
for billions of euros in trade every year.
Some people even wake up in one country and make breakfast in the other, especially in
places like Baarle-Nassau in the Netherlands and Baarle-Hertog in Belgium.
Normally, such a scenario would be a complete mess, but in the Schengen Area everything’s
fine, which is nice because this area is a cool place to go as a border-obsessed tourist.
However, there is still some regulation within the Schengen Area.
While there will never be border checks for someone taking a train from Szczecin to Berlin,
or their following flight to Madrid, police can still ask them for identification at different
points.
Member nations are also allowed to temporarily reintroduce border checks along certain sections
of their borders with other Schengen states, provided it’s for an emergency.
Currently, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Norway, and Sweden have temporarily reintroduced border
checks in response to the European migrant crisis, and France due to persistent terrorist
threats.
However, not all of these have to be due to an emergency, as Malta has done this in 2010
for Pope Benedict XVI’s visit, and in 2015 for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting,
and Estonia has also done so in 2014 when US President Barack Obama visited.
Weirdly, some Schengen states actually have territories outside the Schengen Area.
The Danish possessions of the Faroe Islands and Greenland, as well as Norway’s visa-free
Svalbard, and all of France’s overseas territories are all exceptions to this rule, though this
doesn’t always mean you have to get your passport stamped when flying from Paris to
Guadeloupe.
However, these far-flung territories might not accept visas for their mainland counterparts,
so always be sure to check the visa requirements before travelling.
Granted, that’s kind of good advice for anywhere, especially with bringing your passport.
I realize the previous point about external territories sometimes not requiring passport
checks was a bit vague, but that’s because it varies a lot, so when in doubt, just bring
your passport anyways.
So yeah, that’s basically one of my top pieces of travel advice, always bring your
passport if you’re not 100% sure you won’t need it.
I’ve found this out the hard way, believe me.
Anyways, if you liked this video, tell me by giving it a like and subscribing for more
every week, and I will see you on Sunday, unless you’re also coming to VidCon this
week, in which case maybe I’ll see you there!