By Keely Coxwell
On March 2, 2017 the European Parliament voted to end the visa waiver program with the U.S., which would mean that Americans would need to have a visa to travel to certain countries in Europe according to Reuters. This new rule could be enforced as early as May, according to Reuters.
“It sounded like [the vote] passed but it doesn’t really go into effect,” Roy Robinson, Director of Study Abroad atthe University of Puget Sound, said.
“There’s no way of knowing what it would be like if we do need visas to go to Europe,” Robinson said. “But I think that if it does go in, you would have to get it online five days in advance and they would give you a visa for all of the countries so you wouldn’t have to get an individual visa for each country.”
Robinson believes that if Americans ever need to have a visa for travel to Europe the price would be fairly inexpensive.
“Visas can vary in prices depending on where you are going and what class you get. A lot of times a student visa is longer so they might charge $100 or more, but if you are doing a short tourist one it is often not as much,” Robinson said. “It also depends on what the U.S.’s relationship is with the country and vice versa.”
According to Travel and Leisure, this vote is in response to the U.S. denying to a request from the EU to lift the visa requirement for five EU member states: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland, and Romania. U.S. nationals have been able to travel throughout Europe without needing a visa for stays less than 90 days.
Some news organizations have been describing the vote as a response to President Trump’s immigration policies, but the original request for the U.S. to lift the visa requirement was made in 2014 and wasn’t limited to the U.S. (Canada was also addressed) according to Money, an affiliate of Time Magazine.
“When I studied abroad, you would have to go through customs each time you entered a new country,” Robinson said. “Now you can be in Ireland and you can just drive to Northern Ireland and you wouldn’t have to stop or anything.”
“The tough thing now with a lot of students is a lot of countries require that you go in person to the consulate to get your visa,” Robinson said. “So say you’re in school in Tacoma and you’re going to study abroad in Austria. They might say the closest Austrian consulate is in Los Angeles so you have to fly into Los Angeles to be there in person to get your visa or at least pick up your stuff.
It can add quite an expense.”
“Some consulates from the same country have different requirements for different areas, so perhaps if you’re in Chicago you don’t have to do anything, but if you’re in somewhere else you may have to do something extra. It’s really hard to keep track of because it changes with each country and consulate,” Robinson said.
According to Money, the resolution is viewed as being symbolic rather than binding, especially considering how the decline in American visitors would hurt the European economy.
“Right now Americans don’t need a visa to go to Europe,” Robinson said.