Welcome to Schengen: Bulgaria and Romania become full members from tonight

As of tonight, Bulgaria and Romania become full members of the Schengen Area. At exactly midnight, the Ministers of Interior of both countries, Atanas Ilkov and Cătălin Predoiu, will be at the "Danube Bridge" border checkpoint to symbolically lift the final closed border barrier between the two nations.

For the next six months, a so-called "lightened inspection regime" will be in place at Bulgaria’s border checkpoints with Romania, with random checks based on risk analysis.

From tonight, a route will be provided at the border crossing for cars to pass through without controls, with drivers and passengers not showing their identity documents. They will only be stopped if they have not paid the bridge crossing fee online. This year, traffic across the Danube Bridge has been record-breaking, with over one million cars crossing from Bulgaria to Romania.

From January 1, there will be no checks at Bulgaria’s border crossings with Greece either, although vehicles may still be stopped randomly for inspections.