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SOFIA - Bulgaria aims to meet all US requirements to join the visa-free travel programme as early as 2026, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry told Euractiv.
Bulgaria is likely to remain the only EU country where citizens need a visa to travel to the US. Last week, it was announced that visas would be abolished for Romania, while Cyprus is expected to be liberalised this year.
Data from the US State Department from the end of last year show that the percentage of tourist visas denied to Bulgarians in 2024 was 6.02%, the lowest level in the last 18 years. The percentage of refusals for Bulgarians in 2023 was almost twice as high - 11.61%.
If the number of visa refusals falls below 3%, Bulgaria will meet all the requirements to be included in the visa waiver programme with the US.
The ministry told Euractiv that, to reach this target, it has launched an information and training campaign to clarify the entire process of applying for a business and tourist visa to the US.
They added that this will ensure that the target is met by the end of the financial year 2025 and that negotiations are successfully concluded.
Since Bulgaria joined the EU, the issue of visa-free travel to the US has been a priority for Bulgarian diplomacy.
The ministry has also launched an information campaign with Bulgarian-born Hollywood star Maria Bakalova under the slogan “You don’t need an Oscar to get a visa for the US.”
The campaign has an informational and educational focus to familiarise the Bulgarian public with the different types of visas available for travel to the United States, as well as the requirements and specifics of the application process.
The idea is to give visa applicants advance information on whether they are likely to be refused a visa, with the aim of reducing the number of refusals to 3%.
EU institutions regularly call on the United States to abolish the visa requirement for all EU member states, as US citizens can travel visa-free to all 27 member states.
(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
