Finally, after many years of hoping and trying, Romanians will be able to travel visa-free to US for tourism and business in 2025, Romania’s embassy in Washington announced.
The State Department confirmed that Romania has met the visa refusal rate to qualify for the Visa Waiver Program – 2.61%.
The State Department published on Wednesday the status of the B1/B2 visa refusal rate for October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2024. Romania has fallen below the 3% threshold mandated by US law, meeting the main criteria for joining the program.
During the 2024 fiscal year, Romanian citizens filed 80,596 B1/B2 visa applications, almost double the number of applications in the previous 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 Visa Waiver Program (VWP) allows citizens of participating countries to travel to the United States for business or tourism for stays of up to 90 days without a visa.
There are 41 countries on the VWP including Romania’s neighbors: Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia and the Czech Republic.
VIDEO | Finally. Romanians expected to travel visa-free to the US from mid-2025, ambassador says
