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Romania’s ambassador to the United States, Andrei Muraru, has stated that Romania will enter the US Visa Waiver program in March or April of 2025.
The ambassador made these remarks during a live interview and pointed out that the current government will likely make the announcement in January. The US presidential elections will be held on November 5, and the handover is possibly to happen by next year, Schengen.News reports.
By joining the US Visa Waiver program, Romanians will be permitted to visit the US visa-free for a period of up to three months. This could boost employment opportunities for Romanians and also allow them to explore all 50 states.
Romania Finally Eligible for US Visa Waiver Programme Accession
Romania has been in the process of joining the US Visa-Free programme for years now, working to meet the requirements set by the US.
The country made progress in several fields, including data exchange with the US and combating crime. However, one requirement that Romania struggled to meet was visa rejection rates.
According to the rules, a country needs to have below three per cent visa rejection rates to be eligible for joining the US visa waiver programme. This percentage rate would indicate that the candidate country does not pose threats to irregular migration to the US.
In October, ambassador Muraru announced that Romania had reached a visa rejection rate of less than three per cent threshold.
In 2023, US authorities issued 60,000 visas to Romanians, while the rejection rates stood at eight per cent.
Cyprus & Bulgaria Are Also in the Process of Joining the US Visa Waiver Scheme
Cyprus, Bulgaria, and Romania have been in the process of joining the US Visa Waiver programme and are on the road to Schengen Area accession. While Bulgaria and Romania have partially entered Schengen, Cyprus has yet to meet all the requirements.
In July of 2024, Cyprus officially submitted a bill for the US Visa Waiver scheme and has revealed plans to join the programme by 2025. Some of the aspects that Cyprus needs to work on in order to be eligible for joining the visa-free programme include travel information, among others.
As per Bulgaria, Ivan Kondov, representing the Foreign Affairs Ministry, previously met with the US Ambassador to Bulgaria, Kenneth Merten. He revealed that by the end of the year, a campaign to raise awareness about joining the US Visa Waiver programme would be launched. Bulgaria intends to reduce the visa rejection threshold as soon as possible.
Source: https://schengen.news/romanians-wont-need-visas-for-us-starting-in-march-2025-ambassador-says/
