Why Romania hasn’t been invited to Visa Waiver Program yet

According to the US Department of State – Bureau of Consular Affairs, Visa Waiver Program enables most citizens or nationals of participating countries* to travel to the United States for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa. 

Romania hasn’t been invited to Visa Waiver Program yet and so far no American ambassador or Romanian official has been able to explain to the Romanian citizens why. In Romania this subject is quite a national debate, taking into consideration the fact that the United States emphasize the “strategic partnership” between the two countries.

On top of that, Poland has just received the formal invitation to enter the Visa Waiver Program and the Poles will be able to travel to the United States up to 90 days for business or leisure purpose.

Only now, the new American ambassador to Romania, Mr. Adrian Zuckerberg, a Romanian born American, explained the situation in an interview to a regional Romanian publication: the American law says the rejection rate of the state applicants for Visa must be under 3% for the state to be invited in the Visa Waiver Program. So far Romania has around 10% rejection rate.

Apart from being so straightforward and speaking for everybody to understand what is really going on, the American ambassador encourage Romania to continue its fight against corruption and its struggle for economic development, these two being circumstantial conditions for any country to lower the rate of the American visa rejection.