On December 21, 2007, the Czech Republic joined the Schengen Area, along with Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The entire Schengen area now thus comprises of the following states: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Once the external border of the Schengen area is crossed, subsequent movement within is free of controls. Traveling in the Schengen area, which covers most of Europe, has thus been simplified not only for its citizens, but also for visitors who need to be equipped with only one common Schengen visa to travel on a short-term basis to the Schengen area, as opposed to national visas of particular countries.

The Czech Republic now also issues common Schengen visas. For information on the application process please see other article.

To find out more about Schengen, click on the links below:

http://www.eurovisa.info/SchengenVisa.htm
http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l33020.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/freetravel/frontiers/fsj_freetravel_schengen_en.htm
http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l33183.htm