We are one step away from eliminating visas for the USA

Our country is "very close to meeting all the technical criteria for the elimination of visas", announced Andrei Muraru, Romania's ambassador to Washington. Visa waiver means our country's inclusion in the Visa Waiver program, which allows citizens to travel to the US without a visa for short stays.

Andrei Muraru had a recent meeting with the US Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, during which the two officials discussed the next steps to complete the process of admitting our country to the Visa Waiver program. This was the last meeting between the two officials before the end of the US fiscal year, which runs from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024. This fiscal milestone is crucial as Romania aims to achieve a visa rejection rate of May less than 3% by the end of the current fiscal year, an essential criterion for admission to the Visa Waiver.

According to a post made on the official Facebook page of the Romanian Embassy in Washington, Andrei Muraru said: "Romania is very close to meeting all the technical criteria for the elimination of visas. We're a few weeks away from ticking off the last technical requirement - bounce rate - before we consider this project complete. Then follows a technical process that begins in October and extends over several months, during which there will be evaluations from the American authorities and a visit at the level of experts to confirm the positive results for which a lot of work has been done in the last almost three years. We want as much as possible for the bureaucratic procedures to be completed by the American side by the end of the mandate of the current Biden administration, with the actual entry into the program taking place next year."

To be included in the Visa Waiver program, a country must meet a number of technical requirements. In addition to a visa rejection rate of less than 3%, other conditions include a high degree of cooperation in security and information sharing, as well as a passport system that provides a high level of biometric security.

Once Romania is admitted to the Visa Waiver, Romanian citizens will be able to travel to the United States without a visa for periods of up to 90 days, either for tourism or business purposes. This will represent a significant opportunity for Romanians who wish to visit the US without going through the laborious and sometimes expensive process of obtaining a travel visa.