Ask the Consul

June 2004

Since Hungary is now a member of the European Union, why do I need a visa to visit the United States? After all, British, French and German citizens can travel to the U.S. visa free.

The U.S. Congress established the Visa Waiver Program some years ago to allow citizens of certain countries to travel without a visa to the United States for 90 days or less for business or pleasure. To participate in the program, a country has to meet specific criteria, such as:

• A refusal rate of less than 3%.
• A low rate of visa abuse. In other words, citizens who obtain visas should not be working illegally in the U.S. or living there on tourist visas.
• Economic and political stability.
• Effective border controls for all its territory.

These requirements are applied to countries on an individual basis, not to trade or political groupings of countries. So the European Union as a body was not invited to participate in the Visa Waiver Program; individual countries were. As such, new members of the European Union would not automatically be granted visa-free travel to the United States. Each country would have to show that it met the requirements as set forth by U.S. law before it could be considered for the program.

While the great majority of Hungarian applicants are issued U.S. visas, the refusal rate is somewhat higher than 3%. In addition, there is continuing evidence that some Hungarians are using their tourist or business visas to work illegally in the U.S. or to immigrate there permanently. It is difficult to predict if or when Hungary would be eligible for the Visa Waiver Program.