Romania and Bulgaria joined Schengen: EES and ETIAS

If you last visited Romania or Bulgaria before spring 2024, the border rules are now completely different. Both countries joined the Schengen area in two stages: air and sea borders on 31 March 2024, land borders on 1 January 2025. The practical results for 2026 travellers are EES biometric checks at their external borders, days in Romania or Bulgaria counting toward your Schengen 90-day total, and ETIAS required for both countries when the application portal opens.

What changed and when

• 31 March 2024. Under Council Decision (EU) 2024/210, checks at internal air and sea borders were lifted and the Schengen rules applied to both countries. Flying to Bucharest Henri Coandă or Sofia Airport from outside Schengen became a Schengen arrival, and days there began counting toward the 90/180 rule.
• 1 January 2025. Land border checks removed. Driving from Hungary into Romania or from Greece into Bulgaria no longer crossed an external Schengen boundary. The Commission described both as full members of the Schengen area from that date.
• 12 October 2025. EES began its progressive rollout at Schengen external borders, including in Romania and Bulgaria. Biometric enrolment started for non-EU short-stay travellers.
• 10 April 2026. EES became fully operational at all Schengen external border crossing points, so every external crossing into Romania or Bulgaria now falls under it, with facial image, fingerprints and travel-document data recorded.

Do days in Romania and Bulgaria count toward the 90-day limit?

Yes, from 31 March 2024 onwards. A day spent in Bucharest or on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast counts exactly the same as a day in Paris or Madrid toward your Schengen 90/180-day allowance. Before that date, neither country was part of Schengen and days there were outside the count entirely.

EES now does much of the counting. Its records only start with the rollout on 12 October 2025, and the EU says its automated calculator began working on 10 April 2026. The EU’s online stay tool does not reflect any time in Schengen that began before that date. The legal limit still counts every day in the rolling window, whatever the tool shows. EES covers the 29 countries using it, Romania and Bulgaria included. If admitting you would put you over 90 days in the rolling 180-day window, you can be refused entry.

For most holiday visitors on one trip a year, this changes nothing practical. For anyone who visits Europe frequently, it narrows the allowance: a fortnight on Sunny Beach now uses 14 days of the same allowance as a fortnight in Spain.

Does EES apply at Bulgarian and Romanian resorts and ski areas?

EES applies at the point of entry into Schengen, which for most package travellers is the arrival airport. Sunny Beach, Albena, Varna, Bansko, Borovets and every other destination within Bulgaria or Romania are simply inside Schengen once you have crossed the external border. You are not checked again at the resort.

What this means in practice: if you are flying from the UK to Varna or Sofia this summer, expect EES biometric checks on arrival. First-time visitors since the rollout go through full enrolment (fingerprints and a facial image), so build extra time into your arrival plans. The EES queue guide for summer 2026 covers typical wait times at major Schengen airports.

Will ETIAS be required for Romania and Bulgaria?

Yes. Both are on the official list of 30 European countries requiring ETIAS. When the system starts, travellers from visa-exempt countries will need a valid ETIAS before boarding a flight or crossing any land border into Romania or Bulgaria from outside Schengen, exactly as for France, Spain or any other ETIAS-covered country.

The terms are the same across all 30 covered countries: €20 per adult, free for under-18s and over-70s (though they still need the authorisation), valid for 3 years or until the linked passport expires, covering multiple trips within that window.

Applications are not open yet. No action is required yet. Applications are not open. See the ETIAS status page for the current official position.

If you last crossed into Romania or Bulgaria before 2024

If you have not crossed any Schengen external border since EES started on 12 October 2025, you will enrol on your next visit. No EES record exists for any crossing before then, so the border system treats you as a first-time enrollee: fingerprints and a facial image at the desk or kiosk. Once enrolled, future crossings are quicker because the system already holds your biometrics.

Old trips will not eat into this year’s allowance. Only days in the 180 days before each day of your stay count, so time spent in Romania or Bulgaria in 2024 or 2025 has long since dropped out of the window. Recent trips anywhere in Schengen do count, so check your remaining allowance before booking onward travel. The guide to checking your Schengen days explains how to see your EES record and count the remaining time correctly.