Bulgaria and Cyprus put US visa-free travel at risk

Bulgaria and Cyprus are jeopardizing their access to the US Visa Waiver program because of their respective so-called golden visa schemes. Currently, Bulgaria and Cyprus – along with Romania – are the only EU member states whose citizens still require a US visa to enter America for tourism purposes.

On March 3, US Congressman for Utah, Burgess Owens along with Congressman for Tennessee, Steve Cohen, presented a bill in Congress that seeks to deny or revoke access to the US Visa Waiver program for nationals of countries that operate a golden visa scheme.

The bill, which has been named the No Travel for Traffickers Act, claims that of the 40 countries participating in the US Visa Waiver scheme, there are several that operate programs that allow citizenship in exchange for investment in their countries.

Abused by human traffickers

In an official press release, Burgess Owens said: “Also known as ‘golden passports’, these schemes require little vetting and are notoriously abused by human traffickers, international criminals, and corrupt oligarchs. Russia is one of the world’s worst offenders when it comes to using these golden passport schemes as a back door into other countries.”

Three EU countries currently operate so-called golden passport schemes, including Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta. While Bulgaria and Cyprus face being denied access to the US Visa Waiver program, Malta faces expulsion from it.

However, in February, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov pledged to end his country’s golden visa scheme. Whether the scheme can be scrapped is a different matter, as this would not be the first time that Bulgarian officials have attempted to abolish it.

Owens claims that the No Travel for Traffickers Act aims to address the ‘severe security risks’ that come from schemes granting golden passports to foreign nationals, describing the bill as a ‘critical step in isolating the bad actors worldwide’.

Sell citizenship 

Owens said: “Many countries sell citizenship to traffickers through phony ‘investments’ such as real estate, and this must be stopped. I am proud to join Congressman Cohen in introducing the No Travel for Traffickers Act, which will help restrict this misuse of the legal process.”

Along with Bulgaria’s plans to drop its golden visa scheme, Cypriot officials have said that Cyprus will also terminate its so-called golden passport program. 

In February, the EU Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs backed a draft legislation initiative report, which among other things urged EU member states that are operating golden visa schemes to scrap them as soon as possible.

The committee also called on 12 EU countries to tighten up their rules for granting so-called golden visas to foreign nationals.

 The US has been considering granting access to its visa waiver scheme to several countries in recent months, including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania and Israel.

Each country has to meet a certain set of criteria before being welcomed into the scheme, most notably of which is a non-immigrant US visa refusal rate that is below 3%.

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