The following countries known as "member states" currently make up the Schengen Area:

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

The new Schengen Members who were added on December 21, 2007 are the nine new member states:

Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia

Over the next 6 months, the new 9 member states, will begin to implement the Schengen Agreement in various stages.

The first stage commenced on Dec 21, 2007 where all consulates of the 9 new member states began issuing Schengen visas for visa nationals (i.e. travelers who required a visa to travel to a Schengen country) and all land and sea border controls between the existing Schengen countries and the new 9 member states were abolished.

The next stage is due to take place at the end of March 2008, and that will be the abolishing of all air border controls between the old and new Schengen member states.

The final stage will be at the end of June 2008, where all national short-term visas issued before December 21, 2007 by the 9 new Schengen members will remain valid for the purpose of traveling through another Schengen member.

There are various types of Schengen Visas.

The most common is the Short-Term Visa (Type C), commonly referred to as the "Schengen Visa".

This visa may be issued by any one of the member states and may be used to enter any Schengen member state for maximum period or authorized stay of 90 days over a 180-day period.

Labels: Schengen visa