European Union/Schengen Area: Internal Schengen Border Checks Situation
May 20, 2025
Country / Territory
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- The following countries have internal checks at their borders in effect up to May-June 2025: Bulgaria and Slovenia.
- The following countries have internal checks at their borders in effect up to September-December 2025: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.
- Amid concerns about ‘foot and mouth’ disease (a viral disease affecting livestock), Slovakia has implemented border controls as of April 2025 at its borders with Austria and Hungary. The controls – originally scheduled to expire in May 2025 – have now been extended into July 2025.
Impact
Border guards may request identification documents and perform detailed checks of travelers crossing borders in affected Schengen countries. Travelers should carry their identification documents, and visa-exempt nationals should be mindful of their Schengen allowance days, as the limit for visa-exempt nationals to remain in Schengen countries is 90 days in a six-month period.
Background
Details on borders checks and duration are published here. Travelers should be aware that there may be a delay in updates to the site after the announcement of extended restrictions.
Internal border controls are, in principle, not allowed within the Schengen Area as they have the consequence of delaying traffic at the borders and hampering mobility within the European Single Market. They are nevertheless possible as temporary national security measures. These checks have been in effect since late 2015 in various forms in several affected countries.
In mid-2024, an amended Schengen Border Code came into effect which, among other things:
- Allows the implementation of EU-wide travel restrictions in the event of large-scale public health emergencies;
- Clarifies the rules and procedures regarding EU Member State use of internal border controls; and
- As part of tackling the instrumentalization of immigration, grants EU Member States greater authority to reduce the number (and operating hours) of border crossing points and increase border surveillance measures.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].
