How Ukraine is moving towards the Schengen Area and why rapid accession is realistic
The European Union has recently begun discussing how to integrate Ukraine as deeply as possible into its structures even before full membership.
One possibility is Ukraine’s accession to the Schengen Area before joining the EU itself – a goal the country has been moving towards for more than fifteen years.
Looking back, one can see a coherent logic behind this policy: from visa liberalisation to the development of an integrated border management system, and from there to the implementation of the Schengen acquis. These are not three separate stories or a collection of disconnected reforms, but rather successive stages of a single transformation – from a post-Soviet border-guard model to a European system of border management.
Read more about what Schengen is, what is required for accession and where Ukraine currently stands in the article by Yevheniia Hryhorieva and Iryna Sushko of the Europe Without Barriers think tank: From visa-free travel to Schengen: What Ukraine must do to join Europe’s border-free area.
For millions of Ukrainians, visa-free travel with the EU became a symbol of freedom of movement and open borders with Europe. For the state, however, it meant much more.
Visa liberalisation was the result of large-scale reforms in document security, migration policy, border management and interagency cooperation. At the same time, it served as the first major test of Ukraine’s ability to operate in these areas according to European standards.
In 2025, Ukraine completed the implementation cycle of its first Integrated Border Management (IBM) Strategy. One of its main achievements was transforming a broad concept into a practical model of modern border governance.
This experience laid the foundation for the next stage of European integration: preparing to operate in accordance with the requirements of the Schengen Area.
Schengen is one of the key achievements of European integration and an integral part of EU law. For candidate countries, implementing Schengen rules is a mandatory condition of accession. Yet Schengen is not merely a border-free travel zone. It is also one of Europe’s most comprehensive systems of internal security.
The European Commission defines Schengen as a single integrated system in which all elements, from border control and migration policy to law-enforcement cooperation, must be aligned and operate in a coordinated manner. This is why one of the first tasks for candidate countries is to establish a fully functioning national Schengen governance system.
According to EU recommendations, such a system should rest on three key pillars: a national Schengen governance structure, a national Schengen strategy and a Schengen action plan.
Schengen accession involves more than formally adopting legislation. The European Commission and member states also assess a country’s actual institutional capacity, including: the effectiveness of law-enforcement agencies; the level of interagency coordination; personnel training systems; anti-corruption mechanisms; and the ability to maintain a high level of security in practice.
The experience of Romania and Bulgaria illustrates this point. Their readiness to join the Schengen Area was officially confirmed as early as 2011, yet their full accession did not take place until 2025.
In other words, even extensive preparation and a positive assessment from the European Commission did not guarantee rapid entry.
In 2026, Ukraine began drafting a national Schengen strategy and an action plan for implementing the Schengen acquis. To coordinate this work, the government established an interagency working group along with four thematic temporary working groups.
In many ways, the current process resembles Ukraine’s earlier preparations for visa-free travel. However, whereas the primary goal then was compliance with a specific set of visa-liberalisation criteria, today the task is far more ambitious: adapting entire sectors of public policy to the rules and operational mechanisms of the European Union.
Ukraine is therefore no longer preparing for a single integration milestone. It is preparing to become part of one of the EU’s most complex systems of governance, security and border management.