The US Embassy: We are optimistic regarding a favourable decision to include Romania in the Visa Waiver

The representatives of the US Embassy to Bucharest state their “optimism” regarding a possible favourable decision to include Romania in the programme “ Visa Waiver” namelz the exclusion of visas for the Romanian citizens who want to travel to the United States of America. « We welcome the confirmation the refusal rate met the threshold for the programme and we appreciate the effort of all those who have applied for or renewed their visas for this year” show the representatives of the diplomatic mission.   They show that meeting the refusal rate for travel visas (type B) is only one of the numerous criteria which determine the eligibility of a country for the visa waiver program.   Romanians will be able to travel to the US without visas, for tourism and business purposes, from 2025, announces also the Romanian Embassy in Washington. The State Department says Romania has met the visa refusal rate criterion for qualification in the Visa Waiver Program – 2.61%.   The State Department published on Wednesday the status of the B1/B2 visa denial rate for fiscal year 2024 (October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2024). Romania has fallen below the 3% threshold imposed by US law, thus meeting one of the main criteria for joining the program.   During fiscal year 2024, Romanian citizens filed 80,596 B1/B2 visa applications worldwide, almost double the number of applications in the previous fiscal year. US diplomatic and consular offices granted over 78,000 B1/B2 visas, a record number for Romania, according to the Romanian Embassy in the US.   “Romania’s accession process to the Visa Waiver Program was extremely fair and transparent, and the US authorities’ assessment of Romania is almost complete. Romanians will be able to travel to the United States without visas from 2025, offering this generation the chance to make their friendship with the American people even stronger and the opportunity to build an even more prosperous partnership,” said Andrei Muraru, Romania’s ambassador to the United States.   “The technical process is almost complete and we want this process to end. The actual announcement is imminent. We anticipate that somewhere in early January, and the actual entry will be somewhere in March-April,” Andrei Muraru told Digi24.   After meeting the technical criteria, a process spanning several months follows, during which assessments by American authorities and an expert-level visit will take place.   According to US law, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, designates a country to join the Visa Waiver Program if it meets certain technical requirements. A mandatory condition for a country to be considered eligible is that the visitor visa (type B) rejection rate be less than 3% in the year preceding entry into the program. Romania has set a goal of achieving a visa rejection rate of less than 3% in the current US fiscal year (October 1, 2023-September 30, 2024). The rejection rate is calculated as the ratio between the number of rejections and the number of visa applications. If the number of applications with the highest chance of approval increases, then the rejection rate has the highest chance of decreasing. Historically, the rejection rate for Romanians has been around 10% year after year.