Moldova is not ready yet for US visa lifting
Republic of Moldova is far from being lifted visas by the United States of America under Visa Waiver Program (VWP). This program entitles the foreigners to travel to the USA for tourism or business purposes for up to 90 days without applying for a visa.
The Press Office of the US Embassy in Chisinau told Moldova.ORG that the country needs machine-readable passports with biometric identifiers in order to qualify for this program. Another important criteria is to register a low non-immigrant visa refusal rate.
“To qualify for inclusion in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), countries must meet a number of criteria, such as having machine-readable passports that have biometric identifiers in accordance with international standards. Countries also must have a very low non-immigrant visa refusal rate,” the press office of the American Embassy reported.
The B1/B2 visa rejection rate has to be fewer than 3%. In 2011, Moldova had a rejection rate of 34.7%, quite high compared to other countries in Europe. Its neighbor, Ukraine had a rejection rate of 29%, while the Western neighbor, Romania – 22.4%. The nationals of 36 countries can currently travel to the United States without a visa for a stay no longer than 90 days.
The VWP non-immigrant visa refusal rate is based on the total number of visa requests submitted worldwide by the citizens of that country.
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