March
5 th

Americans visiting the EU – Visa requirement

Visa_traveL_214_2The Honorary Consul’s of Poland Office has recently received a lot of e-mails and phone calls regarding visa requirement for the Citizens of USA to obtain a visa when traveling to the EU countries.
On March 2nd, 2017 European Parliament voted to temporarily suspend the visa-free travel for Americans to the EU Countries. In order to become the law it has to be enacted by the Executive body of EU, the European Commission. As for now Americans can still travel to Europe for 90 days without obtaining a visa.

 

 Here is a note found in The Economist on that issue.

On March 2nd, the European Parliament voted temporarily to suspend visa-free travel for Americans visiting the EU. The vote is not binding—it will be up to the European Commission, the body’s executive arm, to decide whether to implement the recommendation. Nonetheless, the decision marks a sad state of affairs.

The main reason for the vote is the way that travellers from some EU countries are treated by America. While most citizens of EU countries can travel to the United States without a visa, those from Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania must still obtain one. Because the EU demands equal treatment of all its citizens in such matters, it says it is legally obliged to fight back.