ZAGREB, 23 Oct 2021 - As of Saturday, 23 October Croatians can travel to the United States for business or tourism purposes without visas, after obtaining approval via the online Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, the US Embassy in Zagreb said.

In a statement to the media, Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy, Mark Fleming, expressed satisfaction that Croatians now have the opportunity to travel to the USA without visas.

Croatia has entered the Visa Waiver Programme, a comprehensive security partnership between the United States and participating countries that enable travel to the USA for business or tourism purposes in the duration of up to 90 days, with national security being protected in the process.

''To America without Visa, Croatia is in the Visa Waiver Program: Find out more: esta.cbp.dhs.gov'' (U.S. Embassy in Zagreb)

This was a long process but it was worthwhile and we congratulate the Croatian government on successfully meeting the strict conditions of entry into the Visa Waiver Programme, Fleming said, expressing satisfaction that this would deepen the ties between the United State and Croatia.

For a country to enter the VWP, it must meet criteria regarding the fight against terrorism, law enforcement, immigration, document security, and border management, and the percentage of rejected visa applications must be below 3%, which Croatia met only recently.

Application via ESTA is possible any time before travel but the US Homeland Security Department recommends that travelers apply as soon as possible, and 72 hours before travel at the latest, the US Embassy says.

Čestitke Hrvatskoj ?? on officially joining the #VisaWaiverProgram! Croatians traveling to the #USA ?? for business or tourism can now apply for ESTA approval at https://t.co/UmnueGuKRb

FAQ: https://t.co/qIsVYyPoAP pic.twitter.com/S4G8108KqR

— U.S. Embassy Zagreb (@USEmbZagreb) October 23, 2021

Passengers from VWP countries and Croatians qualify as of today, do not have to present a specific travel itinerary before applying via ESTA.

Application via ESTA is generally valid for two years.

Passengers with valid B1/B2 visas should continue using their visas when traveling to the USA, the embassy notes.

 For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

September 20, 2021 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković also confirmed USA Visa-free travel for Croatians, and that a decision should be made in the next few days.

Andrej Plenković said that the USA should abolish visas for Croatia in a few days, reports Index.hr.

"We are about to abolish US visas for Croatian citizens. This should happen in the next few days. We have been working on it for a long time. I think that finally this obstacle, which has slowed down trade and investment flows with the US, is soon behind us," the Croatian prime minister said.

Recall, visas for the United States should be abolished no later than September 30 - the end of the US fiscal year.

During the summer, signals came from the US that this should be the case.

In early August, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken nominated Croatia for the Visa Waiver Program.

"Today, I nominated Croatia to join the Visa Waiver Program. This step towards a visa-free regime signifies Croatia's tremendous progress in meeting strict standards for participating countries. We hope for an even stronger US-Croatian relationship," Blinken wrote on Twitter in August.

Croatia has been working on visa-free travel since 2007. And while abolishing visas has often been linked to the rate of refusals, there has been - and continues to be - intense communication and work to meet strict security criteria.

In the last few years, the Ministry of the Interior has been cooperating intensively with the US Department of Homeland Security on strengthening security capacities, such as border security, migration, and international protection, collecting and analyzing data on cross-border passengers and air passengers, fighting terrorism and terrorist fighters and information exchange.

The abolition of visas has been an unresolved diplomatic issue in relations between the two countries for almost 30 years. To enter the visa-free regime, several preconditions need to be met, and the last that Croatia had to meet was less than three percent of rejected applications.

Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Cyprus are the only EU members whose visas have not yet been abolished by the United States. In 2014, the European Commission asked the United States to cancel visas for Croatia and other EU countries whose citizens still had to have the document to enter the United States. They even threatened reciprocal measures, but that did not happen.

Poland was excluded from the regime late last year after conducting a campaign to encourage business people and officials who were almost sure to obtain a visa to apply.

A similar campaign was conducted this year by Croatia, which already on September 30 last year, when the fiscal year in America ended, lowered the number of rejected requests to four percent and was no longer far from achieving the goal.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

September 17, 2021 - MUP confirms that visa-free travel for Croatians to the USA should be possible by the end of the year.

A decision on Croatia's entry into the US Visa Waiver Program should be made by the end of the US fiscal year, while Croatian citizens could travel to the US without visas by the end of this year, the Ministry of the Interior reported on Index.hr.

Interior Minister Davor Božinović met with US representatives on an evaluation visit to Croatia from September 12 to 18 to enter the US Visa Waiver Program.

Božinović pointed out that this evaluation visit, despite the coronavirus pandemic, is a critical moment in Croatia's accession to the Visa Waiver Program and expressed satisfaction with the intensive cooperation over the past years, which significantly helped Croatia reach this advanced stage of the accession process.

The Croatian government is committed to meeting all political, legal, and security preconditions for accession. These preconditions, among other things, included reducing the rate of rejected visa applications to a minimum and creating conditions for better cooperation in law enforcement between the two countries, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

They add that the intensification of interstate and interdepartmental cooperation has led to the fact that in May 2019, Croatia submitted answers on 176 pages. After verifying the submitted answers, which indisputably show significant progress of Croatia in meeting the security requirements, significant efforts have been made to lower the level of rejected visa applications.

The rate of rejected visa applications was lowered below three percent in 2020, which the State Department officially confirmed on February 16, 2021. Meeting that condition has been a major challenge for years.

In the process of joining the Visa Waiver Program, several security requirements also had to be met, with the Department of the Interior working intensively with the US Department of Homeland Security for the past four years.

Most of the security conditions were related to strengthening the capacity and providing technical conditions for collecting and analyzing biometric data of passengers entering Croatia, security of travel documents, strengthening the capacity to fight terrorism, exchanging information on foreign terrorist fighters, and a range of other relevant security information with the relevant U.S. services, primarily those in the Department of Homeland Security, and then the FBI, the Terrorist Surveillance Center, and the DEA.

Minister Božinović reminded that during this process, Croatia and the USA concluded important international agreements and arrangements aimed at improving security and data exchange between the two countries while at the same time working on building the highest security standards.

A pre-evaluation visit by a delegation from the Ministry of Homeland Security to Croatia was held earlier this year, from June 14 to 18. A draft report submitted to the State Department by the US Department of Homeland Security following a visit was followed by a formal invitation from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to include Croatia in the program, one of the last steps before a formal visa waiver decision.

Minister Božinović emphasized that the Government of the Republic of Croatia was also working on Croatia's accession to Schengen and that all preconditions had been met in that field.

"Croatia is determined not only to meet all the requirements for access to the visa waiver program but also to maintain compliance with these requirements. This determination stems from our deep conviction that this compliance will further improve cooperation between Croatian and US authorities and increase the security of our citizens," said Božinović.

As part of the evaluation, from September 12 to 18, the US delegation visited, among others, the Port of Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik Airport, the Karasovići and Bregana border crossings, and the Ježevo Reception Center for Foreigners.

Following this week's evaluation visit, the US Department of Homeland Security will submit to the State Department a final report on meeting all the necessary conditions and a proposal for a final decision on Croatia's accession to the US Visa Waiver Program.

The members of the American delegation clearly underlined that due to the seen readiness and equipment of the Croatian police, their earlier optimism for fulfilling the conditions turned into satisfaction, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

Accordingly, the US expects that the decision on Croatia's entry into the US Visa Waiver Program should be made by the end of the US fiscal year, more precisely by September 30, 2021, while Croatian citizens could travel visa-free to the US by the end of this year. 

For more, check out our dedicated travel section.

September 16, 2021 - Will there be visa-free travel for Croatians to the USA by the end of the year? Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is making the final decision on Croatia's readiness to join the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). 

Croatian citizens could travel to the United States without visas as early as the end of this year, said a US Homeland Security official who is in Croatia this week to make a final assessment of Croatia's readiness to enter the visa-free regime, reports HRT.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will make the final decision on Croatia's readiness to join the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). A US ministry delegation is in Croatia this week to prepare a final report.

Serena Hoy, the ministry's international affairs secretary, told Hina that Mayorkas would make the decision by the end of September.

If everything goes according to plan, we believe that Croatia will be in the VWP by the end of the year, she said, adding that the delegation of the relevant ministry is optimistic that this will be the case.

After abolishing visas for travel to the USA for tourist and business purposes, Croatian citizens will apply through the Electronic Travel Authorization System (ESTA). Passengers will apply no later than 48 hours before the flight, and it will cost $14.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken officially nominated Croatia for VWP in early August, and the US embassy announced in February that Croatia met less than 3 percent of rejected visa applications - 2.69 percent at the time.

Hoy pointed out that this criterion is one of the most demanding and that there are many countries that want to join the visa-free regime, but it is difficult for them to overcome this obstacle.

Currently, VWP has all EU member states except Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Iceland, Norway, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Monaco, New Zealand, Switzerland, Singapore, and Taiwan.

Membership in the regime is assessed every two years, and exclusion is possible, which happened to Argentina in 2002, and Uruguay in 2003, according to the pages of the Congress.

A prerequisite for VWP is strengthening security cooperation and the mutual sharing of information between candidate countries and the United States.

The US delegation, among other things, assessed Croatia's security readiness by visiting airports and border crossings, and ports, and this week it will visit a reception center for migrants and have several meetings with representatives of the Croatian authorities.

In recent years, the Croatian side has also met with representatives of the US Attorney's Office, the Terrorist Investigation Center, and the FBI.

In August, Interior Minister Davor Božnović emphasized that Croatia's accession to the VWP would be important for Croatia's accession to the Schengen area.

For more, make sure to follow our travel section.

August 2, 2021 - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced that he has nominated Croatia for the Visa Waiver Program.

"Today, I nominated Croatia to join the Visa Waiver Program. This step towards visa-free travel recognizes Croatia’s tremendous progress to meet the rigorous standards for participant countries. We look forward to an even stronger U.S.-Croatia relationship."

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković responded with two tweets:

"We confirm the partnership between Croatia and the United States, and the greatest benefit of abolishing visas will benefit Croatian citizens who will be able to travel freely to America. We look forward to further developing economic cooperation and business ties!"

"I thank Secretary of State Blinken for inviting Croatia to the Visa Waiver Program, which is one of the last steps to abolish visas for citizens. With the intensive work of the Croatian Government, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and Ministry of Internal Affairs to fulfill the conditions, we will realize one of the foreign policy priorities." 

Recall, visas for the United States should be abolished no later than September 30 - the end of the US fiscal year, reports Index.hr.

Croatia has been working on the visa waiver since 2007. While the abolition of visas has often been linked to the rate of refusals, there has been - and continues to be - intense communication and work to meet strict security criteria.

In the last few years, the Ministry of the Interior has been cooperating intensively with the US Department of Homeland Security to strengthen security capacities such as border security, migration, and international protection, collect and analyze data on cross-border passengers and air passengers, fight terrorism and exchange data on foreign terrorist fighters and information exchange.

Before the evaluation visit to Croatia, the Ministry of the Interior is conducting virtual pre-evaluation meetings with the US Department of Homeland Security to exchange information.

The abolition of visas has been an unresolved diplomatic issue in relations between the two countries for almost 30 years. Several preconditions need to be met to enter the visa-free program, and the last that Croatia had to meet was less than three percent of rejected applications.

Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Cyprus are the only EU members whose visas have not yet been abolished by the United States. Back in 2014, the European Commission asked the United States to abolish visas for Croatia and other EU countries whose citizens still had to have the document to enter the United States. They even threatened reciprocal measures, but it did not happen.

Poland was excluded from the regime only late last year, after conducting a campaign to encourage business people and officials who were almost certain to obtain a visa to apply.

A similar campaign was conducted this year by Croatia, which already on September 30 last year, when the fiscal year in America ended, lowered the number of rejected requests to four percent and was no longer far from achieving the goal.

For more on politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.