Named after the village where a deal was created, in 1985 the Schengen Agreement followed by the 1990 Schengen Convention, were both signed in Schengen, Luxembourg. The agreement creates a set of rules that enable treating the member countries as a single country for the purposes of visitor and citizen movement. Most member countries as also European Union (EU) members as well but not. There are some countries that are not EU members but are Schengen members.
For US passport holders, the agreement makes it possible to visit any of the Schengen member countries for up to 90-days, during the previous 180-days, without a visa. This is a rolling requirement. In the past 18 days, no more than 90 of those days can be in a Schengen country. Note that any part of a day counts as a full day.
29 Member countries as of 2026:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland*
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein*
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Norway*
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland*
A few unusal cases:
- Andorra is landlocked between Spain and France. It is not a Schengen member but its borders are all with Schengen countries. So days spent in Andorra do not count as Schengen days, but visiting requires crossing at least one Schengen border so travelers must comply with Schengen visa rules.
- San Marino, Monaco, and Vatican City are all countries that are not members of Schengen but are completely contained within Schengen countries so are treated as de facto Schengen coutries.