Romania taken off US visa-free travel list 

The Trump administration has removed Romania from the list of countries whose citizens can travel to the U.S. without a visa.

The decision was taken by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. State Department, the DHS said late Friday.

“DHS decided that Romania’s designation should be rescinded in order to protect the integrity of the [visa waiver program] and to ensure border and immigration security,” the department said in a statement.

The announcement comes two days before the first round of Romania’s re-do presidential election. 

U.S. Vice President JD Vance criticized Romania in February for canceling last year’s presidential round over allegations of illegal campaigning and Russian interference after little-known ultranationalist Călin Georgescu won the first round.

While the DHS did not tie Romania’s visa waiver removal to the canceled election, some perceived it as such. Hard-right presidential candidate George Simion, who has styled himself as a Trumpist, predicted that the visa requirement for Romanians to travel to the U.S. will be withdrawn again soon, “as soon as we go back to democracy.”

Simion, who is expected to win the first round of the do-over vote on Sunday, was in Washington last month, where he met with DHS officials.

The DHS said Romania “may be reconsidered” for the visa waiver program “in the future should they meet the statutory eligibility criteria,” according to its statement.

The Romanian foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday that it regrets the U.S. decision, given that Romania complies with all the requirements for its citizens to be able to travel to the U.S. without a visa. Those include having low visa refusal rates, issuing electronic passports that are machine-readable, and increasing counterterrorism, law enforcement and immigration enforcement cooperation with the U.S.

“However, this is a political decision that is at the discretion of the American authorities and reflects the administration’s priorities,” the ministry said.

The Romanian government said it wants to continue working with the Trump administration so that Romania could be reconsidered for the visa waiver program as soon as possible. The election of a new Romanian president “may represent the most important moment for our country to request that our American partners resume acceptance into the Visa Waiver Program,” the government said in a statement.

The Biden administration added Romania to the list of countries in the visa waiver program in January, just before Donald Trump began his second term as U.S. president. Romanians were scheduled to be able to travel to the U.S. without a visa starting in late March.

But the Trump administration decided to review Romania’s inclusion on the list, “consistent with the Trump Administration’s focus on securing the Homeland,” a DHS spokesperson told POLITICO in late March.

The country’s removal from the list means Romanians will continue to be required to apply for a visa, a process that can take months and costs $185 or about €164.