In 1985 France, Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg and Netherlands set forth to create among them a territory without frontiers, called Schengen area from the name of the Luxembourgian city where the first agreements were signed.

This inter-governing co-operation was then extended to 13 Countries with the signature of the Amsterdam’s Treaty in 1997. By virtue of the above-said treaty, the decisions adopted from 1985 afterwards by the members of the Schengen area and the operative structures set up were integrated in the European Union on the 1st May 1999.
Some common rules were established regarding visas, the right of asylum and control at the external border lines to allow the free circulation of people inside the Countries members without troubling the public order.

To conciliate freedom and security, besides, the free circulation was companied by the so-called "compensation measures" aiming to improve the co-ordination between police forces, customs and judicial administrations, as well as to fight, in particular, terrorism and organized criminality. For this purpose, it was created the complex called Schengen Information System (SIS), which allows to exchange data on people’s identity and on the description of the objects searched.

Schengen area: it is the whole of the domestic territotories of the Countries which apply the Convention:
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway,  Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Hungary.

Non-foreign nationals: are citizens of all the countries of the European Union (CEE) and the European Economic Area (SEE): Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Hungary.

Foreign nationals: are citizens of any other State. To enter, stay in or transit through the entire Schengen area, aliens must hold a passport or another travel document recognized as valid for the purpose of crossing the borders by all Schengen States.

For further information:  www.esteri.it