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.

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.

Checks at land borders with Bulgaria and Romania will stop from Jan. 1 after Austria dropped a veto it had maintained on grounds they needed to do more to stop illegal immigration. While air and maritime checks for Romania and Bulgaria with other nations in the travel zone were lifted,