Visa requirements for European Union citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other countries placed on citizens of the European Union. They differ among countries. The European Union has achieved full reciprocity with certain countries.
Current member states of the European Union are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
Member states' citizens enjoy freedom of movement in each other's territories. European Union citizens and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) nationals are not only visa-exempt but are legally entitled to enter and reside in each other's countries. The United Kingdom and the EU continued to maintain the same mutual policy until 31 December 2020.
The freedom of movement provisions do not apply to the overseas countries and territories (except Saint Barthélemy) and the Faroe Islands.
This table lists all countries, with source information as it is cited online, which citizens of at least one EU member state may enter without a visa on an ordinary passport. Information regarding visas on arrival and on exit fees is not listed in the table, regarding which, see the relevant section below.
All European Union citizens can visit the following partially recognised countries or territories with autonomous immigration policies without a visa â in Europe: Kosovo, Transnistria, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, in Asia: Hong Kong, Macau, Palestine, South Ossetia, Taiwan.
All European Union citizens always must arrange the visa prior to travel to (as of July 2024) Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba (can be obtained in travel agencies or airlines), Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ghana, Guinea, India, North Korea, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Nauru, Niger, Nigeria, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, Suriname, Syria, Turkmenistan and Yemen.
As per Regulation No 539/2001 (amended by Regulation No 1289/2013) reciprocity is required from all Annex II countries and territories. That means that these countries must offer visa-free access for 90 days to all EU citizens (except citizens of Ireland) and to the citizens of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. When this is not the case, the affected EU or Schengen member state is expected to notify the European Commission. Starting six months after the notification, the Commission may adopt an implementing act to suspend the visa-free regime for certain categories of nationals of the third country concerned, for a period of up to six months, with a possible prolongation by further periods of up to six months. If the Commission decides not to adopt such an act, it has to present a report explaining the reasons why it did not propose the measure. If after two years from the notification the third country is still requiring visas from citizens of one or more Member States, the Commission shall adopt a delegated act to re-impose the visa obligation on all citizens of the third country, for a period of 12 months. Either the European Parliament or the Council could oppose the entry into force of the delegated acts. All of the states that implement the common visa rules â including Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Cyprus â may notify the European Commission about non-compliant third states.
The EU has achieved full reciprocity with the following countries (meaning the citizens of those countries may travel to all EU member states visa-free) â Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Kiribati, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu.
Following countries are not implementing visa reciprocity fully, as of February 2024:
According to a report from April 2015, the Commission dismissed notifications by both Bulgaria and Romania of a general visa requirement by Australia. It concluded that the Australian electronic visa 'manual processing' treatment should not be considered as equivalent to the Schengen visa application procedures and consequently will not be covered by the reciprocity mechanism. In its previous report the Commission also committed to assessing certain provisions of the US ESTA system â such as the application fee â and the Australian eVisitor system.
In October 2014, it was reported that the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada might not be ratified by Bulgaria and Romania unless visa requirements were lifted for their citizens. In November 2014 Bulgarian Government also announced that it will not ratify the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership unless the United States lifted visas for its citizens.
Australia still imposes some minor visa requirements on five nationalities under its eVisitor program. In the second quarter of 2024, tourism application approval rates were very low for nationals of Romania (62.6%), Croatia (71.5%), Bulgaria (78.1%), Lithuania (82.1%), and Latvia (84.8%). Since 2022, approval rates for citizens of these countries have ranged between 62 and 89%, while in all other Schengen states the approval rate has never fallen below 95%.
The following countries require electronic registrations for all citizens of the European Union who don't need a visa:
The following countries provide visa on arrival to the citizens of the European Union. Some of these countries may be available for visa free access to some (*) or all other EU nationals (**) â for details see above. Some countries may not provide visa on arrival facilities at all entry points.
The following countries provide electronic visas to the citizens of the European Union.
In addition to visa requirements for normal passport holders certain countries have specific visa requirements towards diplomatic and various official passport holders:
Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Mali and Zimbabwe grant visa-free access to holders of diplomatic or service passports issued to nationals of any country. Mauritania and Senegal grant visa-free access to holders of diplomatic passports issued to nationals of any country <small>(except Italy for Mauritania)</small>. Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cambodia and South Sudan allow holders of diplomatic, official, service and special passports issued to nationals of any country to obtain a visa on arrival.
Passport rankings by the number of countries and territories their holders could visit without a visa or by obtaining visa on arrival in July 2024 according to the Henley Passport Index were as follows (ranked): French, German, Italian and Spanish â 192 countries and territories (2nd); Austrian, Dutch, Finnish, Irish, Luxembourgish, Swedish â 191 (3rd); Belgian, Danish â 190 (4th); Portuguese â 189 (5th); Greek, Polish â 188 (6th); Czech, Hungarian, Maltese â 187 (7th); Estonian, Lithuanian â 185 (9th); Latvian, Slovak, Slovenian â 184 (10th); Croatian â 183 (11th); Cypriot â 178 (13th); Bulgarian, Romanian â 177 (14th). All EU passports are ranked within the top 15 positions. Passports of the European Free Trade Association countries rank similarly, Norwegian, Swiss â 190 (4th); Icelandic â 184 (10th) and Liechtenstein â 182 (12th), while the passports of the candidate states rank lower Serbian â 140 (34th); Montenegrin, North Macedonian â 128 (41st); Albanian, Bosnia and Herzegovina â 123 (43rd) and Turkish â 116 (45th). European microstates rank high: Monaco â 178 (13th); San Marino â 172 (16th); Andorra â 171 (17th) and Vatican City â 155 (25th).
European Commission proposed a visa-free travel for 16 island nations in 2012. This proposal foresees that the visa exemption will be reciprocated through visa waiver agreements, ensuring a visa free regime for all EU citizens who wish to travel to these countries. The island nations in question are Caribbean island nations â Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago, and Pacific island nations â Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The list was expanded in 2013 with Colombia, Peru and the United Arab Emirates. Most of these countries already provide visa-free or visa on arrival access in some form to the EU citizens. As of 2020, visa-free agreements have been concluded with all listed nations except Nauru.
Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 recognises the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States defines the right of free movement for citizens of the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the European Union (EU) and the three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. Switzerland, which is a member of EFTA but not of the EEA, is not bound by the Directive but rather has a separate bilateral agreement on the free movement with the EU.
Citizens of all European Economic Area (EEA) member states and Switzerland holding a valid passport or national identity card enjoy freedom of movement rights in each other's territory and can enter and reside in the each other's territory without a visa.
If EU, EEA and Swiss nationals are unable to present a valid passport or national identity card at the border, they must nonetheless be afforded every reasonable opportunity to obtain the necessary documents or have them brought to them within a reasonable period of time or corroborate or prove by other means that he/she is covered by the right of free movement.
However, EU, EEA member states and Switzerland can refuse entry to an EU/EEA/Swiss national on public policy, public security or public health grounds where the person presents a "genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society". If the person has obtained permanent residence in the country where he/she seeks entry (a status which is normally attained after 5 years of residence), the member state can only expel him/her on serious grounds of public policy or public security. Where the person has resided for 10 years or is a minor, the member state can only expel him/her on imperative grounds of public security (and, in the case of minors, if expulsion is necessary in the best interests of the child, as provided for in the Convention on the Rights of the Child). Expulsion on public health grounds must relate to diseases with 'epidemic potential' which have occurred less than 3 months from the person's the date of arrival in the Member State where he/she seeks entry.
A family member of an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen who is in possession of a residence permit indicating their status is exempt from the requirement to hold a visa when entering the European Union, European Economic Area or Switzerland when they are accompanying their EU/EEA/Swiss family member or are seeking to join them.
Country-specific regulations
When in a non-EU country, EU citizens whose country maintains no embassy there have the right to get consular protection from the embassy of any other EU country present there. However, EU citizens living and working an EU country other than the one of their citizenship must generally contact the embassy of the country of their citizenship (if there is one in the non-EU country concerned), not the one of their host country.
As of 2014, there are 16 non-EU countries where there is only one embassy of an EU country: Barbados (EU delegation), Belize (EU office), Central African Republic (France, EU delegation), Comoros (France), Gambia (EU office), Guyana (EU delegation), San Marino (Italy), São Tomé and PrÃÂncipe (Portugal), Timor-Leste (Portugal, EU delegation), and Vanuatu (France, EU delegation).
As of 2014, the following 18 non-EU countries have no embassy of an EU country: Bahamas, Bhutan (Denmark Liaison office), Dominica, Grenada, Kiribati, Lesotho (EU delegation), Liechtenstein, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa (EU office), Swaziland (EU office), Tonga, and Tuvalu.