The Schengen agreement took effect on March 26, 1995. This agreement eliminates ail border checks on the common borders between the 15 countries signatories of the said agreement. This replaces them with checks at theses countries outermost borders.

The treaty bears only on the movement of persons and not on their settlement in one of the member states or on security checks.

If you are arriving from a non-Schengen country in one of the 15 countries and if you are not a citizen of a European Union country, you must:

• Be in possession of a valid passport.
• Be in possession of a valid visa, if required.
• Hold a valid Schengen Treaty acceptable insurance policy
• Present documents describing the reason and conditions for your stay in the chosen country and have sufficient founds for travel and assurances of return to your country of origin.
• Not be listed in the Schengen files as a person to be refused entry.
• Not be considered a potential threat to law and order, to national security or to the international relations of any Schengen state.

If required, you must be in possession of one of the following visas (check with the appropriate authorities before departure :

• A standard short-term visa (3 months) valid in all the Schengen states.
• A standard visa with limited territorial validity, valid for one or several Schengen states.
• A standard visa for transit through a Schengen state en route to a third country (5 days).
• A national long-term visa (over 3 months) delivered by one country, which allows transit throught other Schengen countries.

When you are covered by one of the standard visas listed above (common to all Schengen states) and wish to travel among the Schengen countries, you must prior to entry in other country fill in a mandatory declaration of entry into the territory check with the appropriate authorities on arrival to find out the formalities required.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009