No US visas for some Romanian officials with corruption convictions

The US State Department has found that there are some Romanians who don’t qualify for the visas because of criminal convictions related to corruption, according to the US Embassy to Bucharest. No names were released as all files for granting US visas are confidential under the United States law. “The State Department has discovered that there are some Romanian citizens who don’t qualify for getting visas because of convictions for criminal activities, including involvement in corruption offenses or in obtaining benefits from corruption,” according to the US Embassy, cited by local Mediafax. Deputy Assistant Secretary Hoyt Brian Yee recently stated in the Congress that there are officials and former government officials from Romania and Bulgaria who are not allowed to travel to the US due to corruption allegations. However, Yee refused to give names of Romanian and Bulgarian officials banned from the US. The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Mediafax that it had no information related to the ban applied to Romanian citizens to enter the US. The Embassy communicates the refusal to offer the US visa only to the concerned persons, according to the ministry. Answering a question from a journalist, Prime Minister Victor Ponta also said that he has no information according to which government officials had interdiction on the US territory due to problems related to corruption. More Romanians ask for U.S. visas, rejection rate drops Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com