The US Visa-waiver Program for European Citizens is about to Go under Review

In an attempt to prevent future terrorist attacks on US soil, the Trump administration is considering changes to the US visa-waiver program that is in place for most European travellers right now. John Kelly, Secretary of Homeland Security, made this intention of the new government clear during his visit to the George Washington University. He mentioned that although the visa-waiver program will likely not be cancelled, they will still be looking “very hard” at it. Taking a deeper look at the situation reveals the scenario as it stands now.

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The US Visa-Waiver Program

The US visa-waiver program that is currently in place, allows citizens from 38 nations to travel to the US without a visa for tourism or business purposes. This applies to European nations mainly (including the UK), but it also includes Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Chile and a few other non-European nations as well. Citizens of Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Croatia and Cyprus are, however, not a part of the program, in spite of being a part of the European Union. The visa-waiver program is only applicable for a period of 90 days and no more.

The Purpose Behind the Change

It isn’t a secret that over 30,000 people from other countries have joined ISIS in Iraq and Syria to fight for the terrorist regime and as it stands, a large number of those people actually flew in from European countries such as Russia, Turkey, France and Germany. Many of them have since travelled back to their country and some are still fighting in the conflict-stricken regions. Therefore, it doesn’t seem like an unlikely possibility that some of these extremist European citizens might be used to carry out a terrorist attack on American soil, by taking advantage of the visa-waiver program.

An alternative theory suggests that this could be a response from the US, in reply to the earlier decision of the European Union to cancel visa-free travel for US citizens. As it will still take a while before any changes to either of the visa-waiver programs are made, it is suggested to take advantage of the program while it is still in effect if you had any plans to visit the US or Europe anytime soon.

Possible Repercussions

The European Union has already cited exemption of Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Croatia and Cyprus from the US visa-waiver program to be the main reason behind their decision to cancel their own visa-waiver program for US citizens. If the US does not change its policies towards the aforementioned nations in the Union, the EU will go ahead and revoke the visa-waiver program for US citizens by May. While this may make a strong statement, it will not bode well economically or politically for either of the two parties. The recent Trump administration and its multiple restrictions against international tourism have already severely affected the tourism industry in the US and this could add a lot more to that.

While the threat to security as stated by Kelly is understandable, this sudden declaration does raise the question; why now? The timing of the statement heavily indicates that this is more of a response to the EU’s decision to cut US citizens off from their visa-waiver program than anything else. We will find out more about the ongoing visa war as it develops before coming to a conclusion in May.