Foreign affairs minister: US visas for Romanians, maintained due to high refusal rate

The high refusal rate is the main reason why Romanian citizens still need a visa to travel to the US. According to Romania’s foreign affairs minister Bogdan Aurescu, the refusal rate for Romanian candidates should drop from the current 9-10% to below 3% for the US visas to be lifted.

“It is, after all, the result of American legislation, which is quite strict and provides a series of requirements. We met all these requirements provided by the US legislation, except for the one referring to the refusal rate. The refusal rate limit under US law - that is, the percentage of visas that are not granted when applying for these short-stay visas in the United States - is three percent of the total number of applications. […] At the moment, we stand at around 9-10 percent,” minister Aurescu said at local Prima TV, Hotnews.ro reported.

The Romanian minister also said that he discussed the subject of visas with American officials, and that the two sides will work together to “find out exactly what are the reasons for the 9-10% refusal rate for Romanian citizens.” Based on this, the authorities will launch an information campaign for Romanians who want to apply for a US visa. This way, the Romanian candidates will know precisely the conditions for entering the US and not apply if they do not have a chance to obtain a visa. And this will most likely lead to a drop in the refusal rate.

“Then, if every Romanian citizen knows exactly where he stands, he knows not to apply for such a visa if there is no chance of being accepted, and thus the refusal rate will decrease,” Bogdan Aurescu said.

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