Support migrant centric journalism today and donate
New EU member states will not enjoy visa-free travel to the USA anytime soon unlike the "old" EU member states. Of the 15 current members, only Greek citizens must apply for a visa to travel to the US. On the other side of the continent, only Slovenia meets the criteria for visa-free travel to the USA out of the new member states.
Furthermore, the accession countries will not be able to invoke a law that would require support from other EU member states on the issue.
US under-secretary for border security Asa Hutchingson has responded to pressure from countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic to extend the visa arrangement to all 25 EU members from 1 May, by stating that such an assessment would be made on a 'country-by-country' basis, and that countries will not be granted these visa concessions just because they are members of the EU.
The criteria on which countries are assessed for visa-free travel include their record of visa denials and how they deal with the issue of stolen passports.
The law that may be invoked to require solidarity among all EU member states is part of Schengen legislation. If the so-called solidarity clause is invoked, then all EU member states would have to require visas from US citizens. Greece has decided not to invoke this clause to avoid creating problems for other member states, but it is feared that the new member states might not hold back from doing so. For example, countries like Poland who are strong allies of the US consider it unfair that their citizens needs to apply for visas to visit the US.
After a future assessment of new EU members' border management systems, it is expected that all EU internal borders will be open in 2006. Some consider that negotiations will take place with the US to also let all new ten member states join the US visa waiver programme during the same year.
