The European Union’s justice and home affairs ministers will meet on June 4 2009 to discuss a calendar for the admission of the UK, Ireland, Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus and Liechtenstein to the bloc’s Schengen visa system.
 
Currently, Bulgarian citizens are allowed visa-free entry into the Schengen system and there is eased access to Bulgaria for Schengen visa holders, but the country is not a full member of the system.
 
Initial estimates of when Bulgaria, which joined the EU along with Romania at the beginning of 2007, would be admitted to Schengen have faded into meaningless amid continuing problems both on the side of the country and the EU itself.
 
In February 2009, reports said that Bulgaria faced losing a large part of EU funds made available for the country in the run-up to its accession to the Schengen visa area.
 
In two years, Dnevnik reported at the time, Bulgarian institutions had managed to absorb as little as 1.4 per cent of the total 161 million euro assigned for the purpose.
 
Bulgaria submitted its formal declaration of readiness in September 2007 and has sent European authorities follow-up reports as a prequel to official checks of whether the country meets the criteria for admission to the system.

On January 6 2009, Bulgaria submitted to the EU Council's Schengen evaluation working group its answers to a questionnaire on the country's preparations.

In March 2009, Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry said that the plan was for Bulgaria to be admitted to Schengen in March 2011.
 
However, in April the award of a tender to produce biometric passports, an essential element for Bulgaria to be admitted to Schengen, was halted by the Supreme Administrative Court.
 
There is another complication, at EU level - the tardiness in making progress on the second generation of the EU’s Schengen Information System, more commonly known as SISII.
 
A report adopted by EU justice and home affairs ministers in February 2009 called for urgent work to be done on SISII to eliminate delays and bring plans back on track. It is expected that on June 4, ministers will be given an update on work on SISII.

The Schengen agenda item for the June 4 2009 meeting of EU justice and home affairs meeting notes that what is being discussed is the admission of the six states if "all requirements are fulfilled".