June 15, 2021 -  The US Department of Homeland Security officials in Croatia will continue to work in strengthening diplomatic relations with Croatia and ensuring visa-free travel between the two countries situated on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

Officials from the US Department of Homeland Security are currently in Croatia on a weeklong visit. As reported by US Embassy on social media, the visit is in regard to Croatia's progress towards Visa Waiver Programme Membership.

If Croatia joins the programme, Croatian citizens will not need a visa to travel to the USA for tourism, transit, or even for work as long as they don't extend the 90 day limit placed on their stay in the country.

As TCN reported earlier this year, The American Embassy in Croatia formally confirmed back in February that Croatian citizens will be able to finally enjoy the right to travel to the USA without the need for a visa later this year, by the 30th of September 2021 at the very latest, as was reported by Večernji list.

The final prerequisite for the removal of visa requirements was the issuing of 2000 further visas before the end of November 2020. Back then, sources inside the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed this criterion had been met, and thus the annual level of rejected applications will be less than 3%. That final bar was set by the USA to Croatia.

''Our two governments are continuing their close cooperation on meeting the requirements for the Visa Waiver Programme participation. US Department of Homeland Security officials are currently here, working with their Croatian Government partners on further advancing our shared goals, as well as addressing any remaining technical and policy requirements. People-to-people ties between the United States of America and the Republic of Croatia are robust,'' says the press release by the US Embassy in Zagreb.

They added that the US Embassy is continuing to focus on strengthening ties between the two countries and that Croatia is a trusted partner, and these new travel arrangements will also contribute to deepening bilateral relations.

This bit of news comes as a refreshment when taking into account some other recent events. Croatia and the USA enjoy a close connection thanks to their NATO membership, and recently, Croatian president Zoran Milanovic stated that he would not accept a NATO closing declaration if it failed to mention the Dayton agreement and Bosnia and Herzegovina's three constituent peoples.

That statement was criticised even by Željko Komšić, the Croatian member of the tripartite BiH Presidency, saying that ''the concept of constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina is obsolete.''

Additionally, a bit of challenge can be seen with the fact that while the US Embassy has a diplomatic mission in Croatia, there is no appointed Ambassador to Croatia at the moment. But nevertheless, cooperation and friendly relations between the two nations remain tight.

As TCN reported back in May, Croatia participated in a military exercise of transporting American military supplies, before that, in March, the US donated the GeneXpert Machine to Zagreb's Infectious Diseases Hospital and also invested $480,000 in the Upgrade of Rijeka's Offshore Emergency Response Centre.

In addition to their cooperation in terms of safety and health issues, the US additionally cooperated with the science-technology park - Step-Ri to bring entrepreneurship expertise to the Croats. With this diplomatic friendship evident and constantly being nourished, visa-free travel between the two countries is both fully deserved and now needed.

Learn more about visas in Croatia on our TC page.

For more about diplomacy in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

February 16, 2021 – It's official! The American Embassy in Croatia today formally confirmed Croatians USA Visa-free travel. Croatians will have the right to travel to the USA without a Visa from later this year.

The American Embassy in Croatia today officially confirmed Croatians USA Visa-free travel. Having met the final stipulation set by the USA in 2020, Croatians right to travel to the USA without a Visa will be open later this year.

Tweeting from the official account of the American Embassy in Croatia, the news of Croatians USA Visa-free travel was released at 16.49 on Tuesday 16 February 2021. This is the first time that official confirmation of Croatians USA Visa-free travel has come from America authorities.

The main precondition set by the USA for the abolition of visa requirement for Croatians visiting America was a drop in the number of denied Visa applications to below 3%. Croatia attained that result back in September 2020. Total Croatia News was the first English language media in the world to reveal the stipulation had been met, granting Croatians USA Visa-free travel.

It’s official! The final refusal rate for Croatian tourist/business visa applicants fell to 2.69% last year, an essential step forward in joining the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. We look forward to Croatians travelling to the United States visa-free in the near future.

— Chargé d’Affaires Taylor (@USAmbCroatia) February 16, 2021

"It's official! The final rejection rate for Croatian tourist / business visa applicants fell to 2.69% last year, an important step forward in joining the US visa waiver program. We look forward to Croatians travelling to the United States visa-free in the near future, ” wrote Victoria J. Taylor, Deputy American Ambassador to the Republic of Croatia. She went on to thank the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Interior Affairs of the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian government for their help in securing Croatians USA Visa-free travel.

Many thanks to @VladaRH, @mup_rh and @MVEP_hr for U.S.-Croatia teamwork and substantive progress on key Visa Waiver Program (VWP) requirements, from data sharing to border security. We will continue to cooperate closely with Croatia and complete all remaining VWP requirements.

— Chargé d’Affaires Taylor (@USAmbCroatia) February 16, 2021

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

.

ZAGREB, Oct 1, 2020 - The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will stop in Dubrovnik on Friday as part of his European tour, and he will be received by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlic Radman, and a few more senior officials.

The abolishment of visas for the Croatians traveling to the USA, Croatia's plan to purchase fighter jets, the LNG terminal off Krk, and Croatia's plans to introduce 5G network are likely to be some of the topics between Pompeo, who is the highest U.S. official to visit Croatia since the start of the Donald Trump presidency in 2016, and his hosts in Dubrovnik.

"The leaders will discuss opportunities for closer cooperation between the United States and Croatia in key areas of mutual concern, including defense cooperation, the growing U.S.-Croatia investment relationship, and Croatia’s strong efforts to advance Western Balkan integration," reads the statement on the website of the US State Department.

U.S. Visa Waiver Programme

After three decades of unsuccessful attempts to get the visa requirements for Croatian travelers to the USA abolished, Mike Pompeo is expected to announce in Dubrovnik that Croatia has met the last criterion to be added to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), and that is that refusal rate considering the rejected visa applications has fallen below 3%.

Currently, all but four EU member states are within the VWP. Apart from Croatia, those are Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Romania. 

The VWP is a program of the U.S. federal government that allows citizens of specific countries to travel to the United States for tourism, business, or while in transit for up to 90 days without having to obtain a visa.

On Wednesday evening, Foreign Minister Grlic Radman told the HRT broadcaster that he expected a "positive decision" by the USA in the months ahead about waiving visas for Croatian nationals.

"Various bodies in the US decide on that, with support from the American embassy. I think we can expect a positive decision in the months ahead," the minister said.

U.S. Ambassador to Zagreb, Robert Kohorst, has said recently that he is optimistic about the VWP for Croatia, however, he did not want to specify when the visa requirements could be abolished for the Croatians.

Procurement of 12 multipurpose fighter jets

The Croatian Defence Ministry in early September received bids for the procurement of 12 multipurpose fighter jets from Sweden, the USA, France, and Israel. Sweden has offered new Gripen C/D jets, the USA new F-16 block 70 jets, France used Rafale jets, and Israel used F-16 block 30 aircraft.

US Ambassador Robert Kohorst said on Wednesday that the aircraft offered by his country was an excellent plane and that his country hoped the procurement process would go in his country's favor.

When this topic is discussed, it is often mentioned that over recent years, Washington has donated military equipment, estimated at several hundred million dollars, to Croatia.

Croatia's interdepartmental commission will recommend the best bid by December 12.

Mike Pompeo and Defence Minister Mario Banozic are due to consider this topic.

5G network

During his European tour which started on 27 September, Pompeo first visited Greece and then Italy and the Holy See from where he is due to arrive in Dubrovnik.

International media have reported that while in Rome he delivered "warning to Italy over China's economic influence and 5G."

Pompeo "described Chinese mobile telecoms technology as a threat to Italy’s national security and the privacy of its citizens," Reuters reported.

"The United States also urges the Italian government to consider carefully the risks to its national security and the privacy of its citizens presented by technology companies with ties to the Chinese Community Party," he was quoted as saying.

The USA is seen to be mounting pressure on European countries not to use Huawei technology in the 5G networks.

Croatia plans to develop 5G networks and the first stage is to introduce this technology in a few cities: Osijek, Bjelovar, Karlovac, and Rijeka.

Croatia and China have stepped up their bilateral cooperation over the last few years, and the current biggest infrastructure project in Croatia -- the construction of Peljesac Bridge -- is being implemented by Chinese builders.

Croatia is one of the members of the China+16 platform for the cooperation between Beijing and central and east European countries.

 Therefore, it will be no surprise if  Mike Pompeo delivers similar warnings to Croatia as he did to Italy.

The Andrej Plenkovic government on Wednesday launched procedures to conclude the Convention between Croatia and the USA for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.

This convention is likely to be one of the topics of the Dubrovnik talks.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.