Romania and Bulgaria have become full members of the European Union’s border-free Schengen area after scrapping land border controls in the bloc.

Romania and Bulgaria scrapped land border controls to become full members of the European Union's Schengen free-travel area on Wednesday, joining an expanded bloc of countries whose residents can travel without passport checks.

Two EU nations, Romania and Bulgaria, are eliminating land border controls to the rest of the bloc after Austria dropped its veto last month. All EU countries except Cyprus and Ireland are now in the Schengen zone.

Bulgaria and Romania are holding ceremonies to mark their full membership in Europe’s Schengen area, the culmination of years of negotiations by the Eastern European countries to join the ID check-free travel zone.

Romania and Bulgaria scrapped land border controls to become full members of the European Union's Schengen free-travel area on Wednesday, joining an expanded bloc of countries whose residents can travel without passport checks.

Romania and Bulgaria have joined the Schengen zone on January 1, a space that now consists of 29 European countries that have abolished border controls between

Residents from Romania and Bulgaria can now travel freely in the Schengen area. The combined 25 million residents of Bulgaria and Romania now join nearly 450 million EU citizens who already have the freedom to move around the Schengen zone, after land border checks were officially lifted.

Romania and Bulgaria have become full members of the Schengen zone, expanding the borderless area to 29 members and ending a 13-year wait for the two eastern European countries.

Romania and Bulgaria became full members of the Schengen zone on Wednesday, expanding the borderless area to 29 members and ending a 13-year wait for the two eastern European countries.Romania and Bulgaria,