Romania and Bulgaria will become full members of the Schengen Area that allows free movement of 420 million people between 29 mostly European Union countries without border checks from Jan. 1, the EU said Thursday.

Romania and Bulgaria will become full members of Europe's Schengen free-travel area from next month, swelling the number of nations to 29, the EU said on Thursday.

The European Union ministers has agreed to let Bulgaria and Romania fully integrate into Europe’s ID-check free travel zone known as the Schengen area by lifting land border controls next year.