Faroe Islands and The European Union - EU Relations

EU Relations

As explicitly asserted by both Rome treaties, the Faroe Islands is not part of the European Union. Moreover, a protocol to the treaty of accession of Denmark to the European Communities stipulates that Danish nationals residing in the Faroe Islands are not to be considered as Danish nationals within the meaning of the treaties. Hence, Danish people living in the Faroes are not citizens of the European Union (other EU nationals living there remain EU citizens). However, Danish citizens residing on the Faroe Islands, who hold a regular Danish passport are considered Danish citizens, and thus citizens of a Member State. One of the curious upshots of this is that the citizens can choose which passport they prefer, and thus switch between being EU or non-EU citizens.

The Faroes is not covered by the Schengen free movement agreement, so Schengen visas are not valid, but there are no border checks when traveling between the Faroes and any Schengen country since the Faroes are part of the Nordic Passport Union since 1966 and since 2001 there are no border checks between the Nordic and the rest of the Schengen area as part of the Schengen agreement.