EU Mulls Requiring Visas For Americans And Canadians
by Daniel McCarthy /Flags outside the European Union in Brussels. Photo: Thijs ter Haar.
The European Union (EU) is considering game-changing legislation that will make it more difficult for Americans and Canadians to travel to Europe.
According to reports, if the United States and Canada don’t add more EU countries to their visa-free travel list, their citizens may have to apply for a visa the next time they want to visit across the pond.
The United States currently requires visas from citizens of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland; Canada requires them from Romanians and Bulgarians.
The EU will make the decision this week. If the United States and Canada don’t agree to timetables to include more EU countries in its visa-free program, the EU could start to impose the changes within six months.
The news comes at a time of national debate on immigration and visa-free travel, following terror attacks that devastated Paris and Brussels.
Since then, the United States made changes to its visa waiver program that went into effect in January, blocking travelers who have visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria after March 1, 2011, or hold citizenship in one of those four countries, from coming into the United States without a visa.
But these broader changes from the EU, if implemented, would inevitably slow down transatlantic travel.
Ireland and the United Kingdom already have opted out of the EU’s common visa policy, so travelers there will not be affected. But those headed to Italy, France, Germany, or another EU country will find themselves waiting for yet one more travel document before they leave home—and their travel professionals will have one more thing to keep track of for them.