EU may force Americans to get visas

Brussels is poised to force United States citizens to apply for visas for travel to Europe, in response to Washington’s refusal to allow all Europeans to enter the US visa-free.

The European Commission this week considered whether Americans should require additional travel documents, a move motivated by the stricter regulations the US imposes on some European citizens.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said it is urging the European Parliament and Council “to urgently take a position on the way forward”, given the “nonreciprocity” in visa requirements.

While most EU citizens are able to travel to the US without a visa under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), Washington imposes different rules for some European member states, including Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania.

In 2014, Brussels gave its American counterparts two years to broaden its VWP to include the excluded European countries, but to no avail. Now, it is considering imposing its own bureaucratic restrictions on the US.

Canada and Brunei are also targets of the EU’s ire over visa requirements.

Dimitris Avramopoulos, home affairs, migration and citizenship commissioner, said: “The commission has assessed the legal, political and economic consequences of a possible temporary suspension of the visa waiver for the US, Canada and Brunei and has asked for positions on the way forward from the European Parliament and Council.”

The EU strives for a common visa policy, which, for example, asks for visitors from China or Russia to obtain a visa before travelling, but not travellers from the US, Canada or Australia. Britain and Ireland have opt-outs of the EU’s visa policy.