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.

EU states on Thursday cleared Bulgaria and Romania to become full members of the borderless Schengen zone from the start of next year following a more than 13-year wait for the two eastern European nations.

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.