Reffering to Norway, yes from March 25th 2001, but only partly! Svalbard
is according to the article 5 of the Norwegian Schengen Parliamentary bill not a
Schengen terrirory. Norwegians going to Svalbard therefor almost
needed to carry their passports (!) to go there, but that was avoided since
almost all traffic from the EEC area to Svalbard is going through the airports
of Oslo and Tromsø. But travellers from Svalbard to these airports will
need to enter passport control separating those from
EEC from travellers from countries.
Svalbard is consisting of Spitzbergen, the adjacent islands, Bjørnøya Is.
and Hopen Is., but Jan Mayen Is. is not belonging to the
Svalbard treaty (in force from Aug. 14th 1925 - text
(Norwegian only: http://www.lovdata.no/all/tl-19200209-000-0.html
) and is therefor a part of Schengen.
Citizens from these countries are free to visit Svalbard,
work and stay there according to the local regulations of the local
Norwegian sheriff in Longyearbyen: Norway, United States of America, Denmark,
France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Great Britain and
Irland and the British oversea Dependencies, Sweden,
Belgium, Monaco, Schwitzerland, China, Yugoslavia, Romania, Finland, Egypt,
Greece, Bulgaria, Spain, Germany, Hedjaz, Afghanistan, Domingo Republic,
Argentina, Portugal, Hungary, Venezuela, Chile, Austria, Estonia, Albania,
Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Soviet
Union.)
(I
realise that some of these countries does not excist anymore, but this is the
text of the official Norwegian internet law page "updated Aug. 30th
2002).
To
confuse the situation further the Nordic pass union anyhow still is in
force.
Jan
Mayen is Schengen, and «everyone is» according to the island's unofficial home
page ( http://home.no.net/janmayen/ ) «free to
visit the island», but to get here is the big challenge. The island has an
airstrip, but it is not open for commercial air traffic.
Jan Mayen has no
harbour either, so there are no shiparrivals at regular basis. The only possible
way to get here as a tourist, is in a private yacht.
For everyone that are
not Norwegian citizens, there are a few restrictions, specially implemented for
Jan Mayen.
- If your stay is shorter than 24 hours, you need permission from
the station commander on Jan Mayen.
- If your stay is longer than 24 hours,
but shorter than a week, you need permission from the police office in Bodoe.
I have
asked the Bodø police what it means that «everybody is free to visit». The
island is currently populated by 21 persons operating a military
station.
More
about this (Norwegian only):
Additionally to the EU countries Andorra, Monaco, San Marino,
the Vatican, Norway (but not Svalbard) and Island has joint separately, but
of indepentant countries Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of
Ireland are outside.
Jan
Denmark, Sweden. Norway and Iceland have joined
Schengen.
Jesper