Schengen area

The Schengen area is a group of European countries that have removed systematic passport and border checks between their shared borders, so people can travel between them without border controls. The member states apply common rules for controlling their external borders and for issuing short-stay visas. The Netherlands is a full part of the area, so a decision to reintroduce temporary checks at a border with another Schengen country is an exception that has to be notified and justified.