The Schengen Area is the territory where there is no passport and border control at the internal borders. When you come to Poland, you do not only cross the Polish border but also the borders of the European Union (EU) and the Schengen Area.
Schengen Area
Currently, the Schengen Area covers 26 countries which are called “Schengen States” including 22 EU countries and 4 non-EU:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland (non-EU)
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein (non-EU)
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Norway (non-EU)
- Poland
- Portugal
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland (non-EU)
United Kingdom and Ireland are not part of the Schengen Area.
Schengen Visa
The Schengen Visa is a short-term visa that allows you to stay in the Schengen territory up to 90 days within a period of 180 days for tourist or business purposes. It may have limited territorial validity, eg. you can only stay in Poland and the number of entries may also be limited depending on the type of the visa that is issued.
The procedure may require you to apply for a Schengen transit airport visa if you intend to travel with a stopover in any Schengen Area country.
Whether you need or not a Schengen visa depends on your nationality. The EU has published a list of nationals who must have visa when crossing the external borders. The list can be found here.
Since there are different regulations and agreements between the countries, not all EU countries belong to the Schengen Area and the requirements may change with time, the best cheap replica watches option is always contact the embassy of your destination country before your trip to make sure you are provided with the most updated information.
General information on visa requirements to Poland can be found here.
