The European Union may soon require visas from Americans and Canadians traveling to Europe — a move that would come in retaliation for restrictions imposed by the U.S. and Canada on some EU countries, according to officials.
The European Commission is planning to discuss the issue next week, ahead of an April 12 deadline the EU had imposed for the U.S. and Canada to lift restrictions on travelers from five EU countries. The EU has tried for two years to get the U.S. and Canada to ensure visa-free travel for all the bloc’s citizens, but has set no firm timeline on when a new reciprocal ban would take effect.
“Achieving full visa waiver reciprocity for citizens of all Member States is a priority for the EU,” a Commission spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said Canada currently imposed visa requirements on citizens of Bulgaria and Romania. The U.S. does so for citizens of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania — countries it says do not meet its strict requirements for visa-free travel.
If the EU imposes the restrictions, the U.S. would respond automatically under its own reciprocity clause, triggering visa requirements for other countries. The U.S. makes visa waiver agreements with each country, not with the EU as a whole.
Canada has a different approach, according to a spokeswoman for the country’s embassy in Brussels. “Canada also determines visa requirements on a country-by-country basis but reciprocity is not an element of our visa policy framework,” she said.
The U.S. mission to the EU declined to comment on the possible change.
The Commission discussion, first reported by Reuters, will come at an awkward time, just one week before U.S. President Barack Obama arrives in Europe on a visit that will include discussions on an EU-U.S. trade pact.
The U.S. adopted extra security measures for its visa waiver program in December 2015, following the terrorist attacks in Paris. Under the new rules, anyone who has traveled to Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan in the past five years, or has dual nationality including one of those countries, needs a permit to visit the U.S.