5 ms·

Parliament asks EU Commission to press for full US-EU visa reciprocity

63 points by mantesso 10y ago

jasode 10y ago
>Citizens of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania still cannot enter US territory without a visa, while US citizens can travel to all EU countries visa-free. The submitted article is more like a newswire bulletin rather than an explanatory story. Therefore, many readers (especially those in USA) will not have the background on why those particular countries don't have visa exemptions. One link I found has a little more info. E.g. USA wants more data exchange (ostensibly to screen terrorists) and those countries haven't complied. https://www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/eu-gives-us-six-months-to-come-clean-on-visa-policy/ https://www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/e...
- gambiting 10y ago
  The reason why Polish citizens still need visas to US is that in the 90s, right after fall of communism in the country, a LOT of people went to US on tourist visas and simply stayed. By the time US was reconsidering whether to grant visa-free travel to certain European countries, Poland was above the arbitrarily chosen % of people who traveled to US on tourist visas and stayed, so it was decided that visas for Poles would remain a requirement. Fast forward to now, and it's almost silly - I don't know any young Poles who would want to work in the US, literally any EU country is a better choice, and I know loads of people working in France, Spain, Germany, UK, Italy, Austria and Sweden, to name a few. US was a massive thing 27 years ago when people got passports for the first time and US was the big world, but nowadays? With its difficult job market, expensive healthcare, barely any employee protections, why would we go there? I'd still love to visit to see all the touristy places in the US, but the idea of spending hundreds of dollars just go get to a nearest embassy, have to talk to a consul, prove to them that I am definitely not going to US to work, pay to get a visa, and then have to stress over whether TSA agents are having a good or a bad day and whether they will want to search my phone/laptop or not - no, thanks.
  - MichaelGG 10y ago
    >why would we go there? Not a general response, but at least for tech jobs, salaries in the US are excellent. Money isn't everything but from what I see, you take a huge pay cut working anywhere but the US. Even Canada doesn't come close to competing.
    - krzyk 10y ago
      If you take into account the cost of living (and taxes), some other countries might look more interesting.
      - 234dd57d2c8dba 10y ago
        I take one look at the dumpster fire of the high taxes, refugee crisis, housing costs of most European countries and I know that taxpayer supported system is not long for this world.
    - gambiting 10y ago
      Well yes, obviously tech jobs are "worth it" but they are an exception, not a rule. And most Polish people went to work physical jobs which at the time paid a lot better in the US than the top-skilled professions in Poland, but that's no longer the case.
    - Daishiman 10y ago
      I think the question is why would you go there illegally?
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- krzyk 10y ago
  The link you provided writes about 4 countries (not named), but the list contains 5 countries (higher in the article). So one of the countries complied with the data exchange. Another issues is that US data protection laws are less strict then EU ones, so transferring EU citizens data to the US is not considered safe, and EC is not happy that some countries do that (and I'm sure citizens of those countries are not happy either). From my point of view visas should be symmetrical, if you force me to get visa to get to your country, then your citizens need it to get to mine - very clean solution.
- drinchev 10y ago
  As far as they say in our media ( Bulgaria ), the reason for not allowing visa-free travel is that the amount of declined visa in my country (15%) is way above the required one (3%).
tuna-piano 10y ago
Very curious to see what will happen. My sense says that US citizens won't need a visa for European travel... it would be very inconvenient for both Europe and the US (and also bad for the politicians). My biggest question is who will give in, Europe or the US? If I recall, the US keeps good records of the percent of people from each country that commit crime, overstay their visa, etc. There has been some kerfuffle that we require citizens of one of the US' best friends, Israel, visas. But the US backs up that requirement showing the percentage of Israelis in America engaged in various activities. I'd imagine the same is similair for Romania / Bulgaria. So the US has good reasons. At the same time, Europeans have a lot of pride and don't like thinking America controls them. My uneducated guess: the Europeans strong need to not be controlled by America will mean that Europe will either implement, or give one last ultimatum and then implement. US citizens will start calling their congress people when they realize they need a visa for their trip to Rome. I'd guess the congress people will give in and make the change, as there aren't so many Bulgarian / Romanian people causing trouble compared with angry travelers wanting to travel. If the rule does get implemented, then the question would be, who is the greater political force: the European tourism industry losing revenue or the American traveling citizenry dealing with hassles?
- inetsee 10y ago
  Do you have any opinion as to the time line? My wife and I have plans to go to Europe (transiting Britain, going to Spain, Yugoslavia, France) in May 2017, and I was wondering if we need to look into getting visa(s) now?
  - grep4master 10y ago
    Not anytime soon. You're most likely good to go. As a US citizen, you wouldn't need a visa to travel around the EU. Yugoslavia doesn't exist anymore, by the way. Some people from the Balkans might get mad at you ;)
    - dragandj 10y ago
      Yugoslavia does not exist any more, but it's still in the same place :)
thrillgore 10y ago
As someone who really wants to return to Europe in the next couple of years for vacation, this really complicates matters.

63 points by mantesso 10y ago

>Citizens of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania still cannot enter US territory without a visa, while US citizens can travel to all EU countries visa-free. The submitted article is more like a newswire bulletin rather than an explanatory story. Therefore, many readers (especially those in USA) will not have the background on why those particular countries don't have visa exemptions. One link I found has a little more info. E.g. USA wants more data exchange (ostensibly to screen terrorists) and those countries haven't complied. https://www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/eu-gives-us-six-months-to-come-clean-on-visa-policy/ https://www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/e...

gambiting 10y ago
The reason why Polish citizens still need visas to US is that in the 90s, right after fall of communism in the country, a LOT of people went to US on tourist visas and simply stayed. By the time US was reconsidering whether to grant visa-free travel to certain European countries, Poland was above the arbitrarily chosen % of people who traveled to US on tourist visas and stayed, so it was decided that visas for Poles would remain a requirement. Fast forward to now, and it's almost silly - I don't know any young Poles who would want to work in the US, literally any EU country is a better choice, and I know loads of people working in France, Spain, Germany, UK, Italy, Austria and Sweden, to name a few. US was a massive thing 27 years ago when people got passports for the first time and US was the big world, but nowadays? With its difficult job market, expensive healthcare, barely any employee protections, why would we go there? I'd still love to visit to see all the touristy places in the US, but the idea of spending hundreds of dollars just go get to a nearest embassy, have to talk to a consul, prove to them that I am definitely not going to US to work, pay to get a visa, and then have to stress over whether TSA agents are having a good or a bad day and whether they will want to search my phone/laptop or not - no, thanks.
- MichaelGG 10y ago
  >why would we go there? Not a general response, but at least for tech jobs, salaries in the US are excellent. Money isn't everything but from what I see, you take a huge pay cut working anywhere but the US. Even Canada doesn't come close to competing.
  - krzyk 10y ago
    If you take into account the cost of living (and taxes), some other countries might look more interesting.
    - 234dd57d2c8dba 10y ago
      I take one look at the dumpster fire of the high taxes, refugee crisis, housing costs of most European countries and I know that taxpayer supported system is not long for this world.
  - gambiting 10y ago
    Well yes, obviously tech jobs are "worth it" but they are an exception, not a rule. And most Polish people went to work physical jobs which at the time paid a lot better in the US than the top-skilled professions in Poland, but that's no longer the case.
  - Daishiman 10y ago
    I think the question is why would you go there illegally?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
krzyk 10y ago
The link you provided writes about 4 countries (not named), but the list contains 5 countries (higher in the article). So one of the countries complied with the data exchange. Another issues is that US data protection laws are less strict then EU ones, so transferring EU citizens data to the US is not considered safe, and EC is not happy that some countries do that (and I'm sure citizens of those countries are not happy either). From my point of view visas should be symmetrical, if you force me to get visa to get to your country, then your citizens need it to get to mine - very clean solution.
drinchev 10y ago
As far as they say in our media ( Bulgaria ), the reason for not allowing visa-free travel is that the amount of declined visa in my country (15%) is way above the required one (3%).

tuna-piano 10y ago

Very curious to see what will happen. My sense says that US citizens won't need a visa for European travel... it would be very inconvenient for both Europe and the US (and also bad for the politicians). My biggest question is who will give in, Europe or the US? If I recall, the US keeps good records of the percent of people from each country that commit crime, overstay their visa, etc. There has been some kerfuffle that we require citizens of one of the US' best friends, Israel, visas. But the US backs up that requirement showing the percentage of Israelis in America engaged in various activities. I'd imagine the same is similair for Romania / Bulgaria. So the US has good reasons. At the same time, Europeans have a lot of pride and don't like thinking America controls them. My uneducated guess: the Europeans strong need to not be controlled by America will mean that Europe will either implement, or give one last ultimatum and then implement. US citizens will start calling their congress people when they realize they need a visa for their trip to Rome. I'd guess the congress people will give in and make the change, as there aren't so many Bulgarian / Romanian people causing trouble compared with angry travelers wanting to travel. If the rule does get implemented, then the question would be, who is the greater political force: the European tourism industry losing revenue or the American traveling citizenry dealing with hassles?

inetsee 10y ago
Do you have any opinion as to the time line? My wife and I have plans to go to Europe (transiting Britain, going to Spain, Yugoslavia, France) in May 2017, and I was wondering if we need to look into getting visa(s) now?
- grep4master 10y ago
  Not anytime soon. You're most likely good to go. As a US citizen, you wouldn't need a visa to travel around the EU. Yugoslavia doesn't exist anymore, by the way. Some people from the Balkans might get mad at you ;)
  - dragandj 10y ago
    Yugoslavia does not exist any more, but it's still in the same place :)

thrillgore 10y ago

As someone who really wants to return to Europe in the next couple of years for vacation, this really complicates matters.