In May 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that Romania would be removed from the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). The VWP allows citizens of designated countries to travel to the U.S. for business or tourism for up to 90 days without needing to obtain a visa.
Although the U.S. administration cited security concerns as the basis for the move, Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the decision as “political.” The diplomatic tension stems from multiple points of contention: Romania’s detention of the Tate brothers–social media influencers with connections to the Trump administration–on credible human trafficking charges; the Romanian Constitutional Court’s controversial December decision to nullify presidential election results due to suspected Russian interference; and divergent approaches to regional security cooperation in Europe.
Romania’s brief tenure in the Visa Waiver Program—admitted in early January 2025 and removed in late May—illustrates a middle‑ground reality: its immigration metrics are strong enough to keep it on the Program’s shortlist, yet still shy of the bar current members clear. That liminal status created the conditions for both its swift inclusion and its equally swift removal, underscoring how Washington wields visa policy as a diplomatic lever.
The history of Romania in the Visa Waiver Program
Romania has been on the U.S. Visa Waiver Program aspirant list since 2005. For several years, it has been one of only three EU member states excluded from the program. In 2017, the European Parliament even considered a suspension of U.S. visa‑free travel under the EU reciprocity mechanism, though the measure was ultimately dropped.
Romania has received limited but bipartisan support for its VWP aspirations. Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) introduced the Romania Visa Waiver Act of 2023 which directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate Romania as a VWP country and encouraged Romania to continue working to implement U.S. recommendations on preventing human trafficking.
Although the bill stalled in committee, Romania was formally designated a VWP country on January 10, 2025 by the outgoing Biden administration. However, the incoming Trump administration paused the implementation of Romania’s participation in March and fully rescinded the designation in May.
Romanian Visa refusals and overstays
Romania’s chief obstacle to Visa Waiver Program membership is its visa‑refusal record. To qualify, a country must either post a refusal rate below 3 percent in the most recent fiscal year or keep its two‑year average under that mark. Romania cleared the single‑year bar in FY 2024, yet its two‑year average still exceeds the 3 percent ceiling, leaving it technically ineligible. On this metric, fellow aspirants such as Uruguay and Cyprus have a stronger case for admission.
Some analysts have argued that the U.S. government should use visa overstay rates instead of refusal rates to determine VWP eligibility. In FY 2023, Romania had a total overstay rate of only 1.01%. While this number is low, all but six current VWP countries (Latvia, Hungary, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Chile) had lower overstay rates.
Romania’s overstay rate has improved in recent years, but has nevertheless remained above the VWP average.
Immigration enforcement numbers
The administration revoked Romania’s VWP status on the grounds of “border and immigration security.” Because VWP rulings are largely discretionary, the evidence behind that judgment is opaque, leaving observers to infer how the decision was reached.
A plausible explanation is that the administration judged Romania’s anti‑trafficking efforts insufficient. Romania still holds a Tier 2 ranking in the latest State Department Trafficking in Persons Report–a status shared by several existing VWP members. Conversely, some aspirant countries—including Cyprus and Argentina—have already achieved Tier 1, underscoring that even the top trafficking designation is not, by itself, enough to secure Visa Waiver admission.
A second theory points to worries about unauthorized migration from Romania, which is not borne out by the data. After a brief uptick following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, encounters with Romanian nationals have consistently stayed below 200 per month; in March 2025, there were only 22. Numbers this small make it difficult to claim that Romanian migration poses a meaningful border threat.
However, Romania does perform poorly compared to other VWP countries in ICE arrest data. While only 112 Romanian nationals had been arrested by ICE during the first three months of FY 2025, over the past five fiscal years Romanians have had the highest total number of arrests of any European nationality at 2,025. This is likely due to the presence of minor Romanian crime rings that are particularly active in Texas. The only country in the VWP with a worse five-year total is Chile, which has a similar issue with transnational burglary groups.
This pattern is further supported by immigration court data. While Romanians were not even in the top 30 nationalities for new deportation proceedings in FY 2024, at 1,815 they logged more than any VWP country except for Chile.
Political considerations
Romania overperforms on immigration and security metrics compared to non-VWP countries but underperforms among the current VWP cohort. As a result, both the Biden administration and the Trump administration were likely motivated by subjective factors like the state and trajectory of the U.S.-Romania relationship in their respective decisions to include and remove Romania from the VWP.
In December 2024, the Romanian Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round of Romania’s presidential election after determining that the leading candidate, populist Călin Georgescu, owed his surprise victory to suspected Russian electoral interference. The outgoing Biden administration tacitly supported the annulment, and its last-minute inclusion of Romania in the VWP.
High‑profile Trump allies—Sen. J.D. Vance and entrepreneur Elon Musk—condemned the annulment as undemocratic. Relations soured further when Washington pressed Bucharest to release Andrew and Tristan Tate, pro‑Trump influencers jailed on human‑trafficking charges. The Tate brothers were eventually released despite facing credible charges and were allowed to travel to the U.S., a decision critics attributed to U.S. political pressure.
The timing of the Trump administration’s decision to remove Romania from the VWP is noteworthy as it came only a few days before the rescheduled Romanian run-off election on May 4th. While it is unlikely that the rescission had a significant impact on the election itself, it was a pointed symbol of the administration’s displeasure with the Romanian government.
While the administration has measurable justification to deny Romania’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program based on objective visa refusal rates and overstay statistics, the decision appears significantly influenced by diplomatic tensions with Romania’s current government. In the short term, the May 18 defeat of the Trump-aligned presidential candidate eliminates a key diplomatic incentive for the administration to reconsider Romania’s VWP status in the immediate future.
In the long term, Romania maintains favorable prospects for eventual VWP inclusion. Romania’s most effective strategy would be to focus on improving its quantifiable metrics—specifically reducing visa refusal rates below 3%, decreasing visa overstay percentages, and strengthening border security systems—thereby building a compelling and objective case that can withstand fluctuations in bilateral relations.