Starting with December 1, 2021, Croats will be able to travel to the US without visas. Travel for tourist and business purposes up to 90 days is accepted.
On September 28, 2021, Croatia becomes the 40th member state of the United States Visa Waiver program. The announcement was made by Homeland Security, which said in a press release that the final decision was made by US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas, in coordination with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.
Croatia is the 24th member country of the European Union (excluding the United Kingdom, now a former EU member) to become part of the VWP. The other three countries that are not yet part of the program are Romania, Cyprus and Bulgaria.
The four non-EU Schengen partner countries - Switzerland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Iceland - are also part of the VWP (Visa Waiver Program).
The US Visa Waiver Program is a system administered by the US Department of Homeland Security in cooperation with the State Department. It allows travelers from 40 countries to enter the US for purposes such as tourism or business and to stay in the US for a maximum of 90 days without being required to obtain a visa before traveling.
To become part of the VWP, a country must meet several requirements, mainly related to counter-terrorism, document security and border management, as well as have a non-immigrant visa denial rate below three percent. Unfortunately, Romania still does not meet all these criteria, especially the visa refusal rate being over 3%.