The Prime Minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu, has assured his citizens that in 2025 they will be able to travel to the United States without a visa, for tourism and business purposes.
The PM has made such statements during an interview for the Sinteza Zilei TV program, during which he also said that he is convinced Romania will be able to join the Schengen Area by land before the end of 2024, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
He also said that Romania will join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2026, calling it the most important projects of the three.
I guarantee you that, by the end of this year, Romania will enter Schengen land. Next year, Romania will no longer have visas with America, and in 2026, Romania will enter the OECD.
During a visit to the US in late December 2023, PM Ciolacu had also made the same statements, claiming that the formalisation of the visa-free agreement would be done this year.
Previously in September 2023, the Romanian Ambassador to the US, Andrei Muraru, had also said that Romanians will enjoy visa-free travel to the US by 2025, though emphasising the fact that this could be the “earliest date” for such a thing to happen.
We have no doubt that it will not happen. In the case of Romania, an official announcement is expected around February 2025, with the implementation taking place within the same year.
Unfortunately, no official statement in this regard has been made in February, contrary to Ambassador Muraru’s claims.
Romania Still Hasn’t Meet the “Below 3% Visa Denial Rate” Rule
Romania is currently one of the only three EU countries, along with Bulgaria and Cyprus, the citizens of which need a visa in order to travel to the US for tourism and business.
The country still hasn’t meet one of the conditions in order to join the US’ Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which is having a rejection rate of visa applications to the US lower than three percent.
In September last year, the US ambassador in Bucharest Kathleen Kavalec had also confirmed that the earliest possible date for Romania’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program would be in early 2025, because of this condition.
It can’t be earlier than 2025 because we have to measure the rejection rate annually, from October 1 to October 1. If everything goes well, probably be early 2025. It depends on many things, but I think we are on the right track.
Over 3,600 Romanians Have Obtained US Visas in January 2024 Alone
Data by the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the US Department of State show that in January 2024, 3,648 Romanians have obtained B1/B2 visas, to enter the US for either tourism or business. On the other hand, 1,284 Bulgarians and 508 Cypriots have also obtained such visas too.
The most recent country to join the US VWP is Israel. Before it, Croatia had joined the program in October 23, 2021.
