EU-US Visa Reciprocity Review Not to Immediately Impact Travellers

EU delegation to the US spokesman James Barbour said that the EU report on the bloc’s visa-free travel arrangement with the United States set to be released on April 12th is part of semi-annual review and will not immediately impact travel policies.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The EU report on the bloc’s visa-free travel arrangement with the United States set to be released on April 12th is part of semi-annual review and will not immediately impact travel policies, EU delegation to the US spokesman James Barbour told Sputnik on Friday.

"It is not like Americans are going to suddenly wake up on the thirteenth of April and suddenly find they need visas to go to Europe," Barbour said.

The review is merely the latest step in a process that began in 2013 when a handful of EU member states raised concerns over the fairness and reciprocity in the visa-free travel arrangement, Barbour explained.

The European Union maintains visa-free travel arrangements with dozens of countries who are able to visit any of the 26 member states in the Schengen Area with regular passports.

Under the US visa waiver program, five EU member states are still exempted from visa-free travel to the United States.

The five countries, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Croatia, registered a complaint with the European Commission over the lack of US reciprocity and discriminatory treatment.