U.S. to lift visa requirement for Baltics

Oct 18, 2008
TBT Staff in cooperation with BNS

WASHINGTON – U.S. President George W. Bush has announced that the country will lift the visa requirement for the three Baltic states.

Bush said that travelers from the Baltics, Slovakia,Hungary, the Czech Republic and South Korea would no longer need visas to travel to the United States.

"Today's announcement means that a new chapter between the US and these countries has been opened, proving our close friendship ties. It is an important achievement," the U.S.president said in a televised address Friday.

"I am thankful that both parties have supported the initiative at the Congress to adopt the law that would allow joining of new countries to the visa free program... I am thankful to the representatives of theUS and our allies, who have worked hard to conclude these agreements and to fulfill the new requirements," he said.

Spokesmen from the Baltic states have said that the visa free regime would most likely be implemented sometime in mid-November.

The Baltics have long struggled with meeting the requirements laid out by the U.S.in order for the country to establish a visa free regime – particularly the stipulation that the visa refusal rate is less than 10 percent.

Baltic leaders praised the announcement and said that it symbolized strengthened ties between the countries.

“The introduction of a visa-free regime will further strengthen transatlantic ties and strategic partnership and promote cultural and business contacts between our two countries and their people,” Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said in a statement issued shortly after Bush’s announcement.

"It should be understood symbolically, politically and practically. I believe that President Bush stated his sympathy to the Central European countries and their progress. Bush is a person, who in essence speaks his mind. He says what he feels. What he said was not a diplomatic politeness or a symbolic gesture," Latvian Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins said.

Citizens of those countries that have joined the U.S. Visa Waiver program are eligible to stay in the U.S.for up to three months without visas. Those, however, who want to go to the U.S.to work or study, still need a visa.

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