The European Commission, Romania and the Visa Waiver Program

Romanians might have to wait for two more years before they are allowed to travel without a visa to the United States.

Valentin Țigău, 07.02.2014, 12:30

The European Commission has required the United States to lift visa requirements on Romania and four other EU Member States whose citizens still need a mandatory visa to travel to the US. A regulation which came into force on December 20, 2013, requires that EU countries have a common response to visa matters, especially in cases where foreign countries “subject EU citizens to differing treatment”. According to the new regulation, the Commission can temporarily suspend the EUs own visa exemptions on foreign countries if they don’t lift their visa requirements within six month.

According to official EU information website Euractive.com, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Croatia have been asked to inform the Commission, by no later than Sunday, on the current situation of their citizens’ access to the US. Michele Cicerone, a spokesperson for the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, has said, however, that Brussels does not intend, for the moment, to officially ask Washington to lift visa requirements.

The Radio Romania correspondent has quoted Michele Cicerone as saying that, in keeping with the regulations, the Commission has two years to analyse the requests of the five countries. According to the Romanian news agency Mediafax, the Romaian Foreign Ministry has already notified the European institutions on the countries, including the US, that do not reciprocate on visa policy. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has announced it will continue to hold bilateral negotiations in order to solve the problem.

According to Bucharest officials, Romania has a constant and substantial dialogue with the United States, which includes the Visa Waiver program. For instance, the latest meeting of the Romanian-American Working Group on Consular Affairs, that approached the visa issue, was held in January 2014. The visa refusal rate for Romanian citizens, one of the prerequisites for including the country in the Visa Waiver program, has dropped significantly, from 17% in 2012 to 11.5% in 2013. Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Croatia are the only EU countries whose citizens still need an entry permit to travel to the United States, while Canada requires visas only for nationals of Bulgaria and Romania.