European Parliament ends visa-free travel for Americans

[dnoblett]

An interesting wrinkle for Europe... If you are thinking about traveling to the European Union Countries anytime soon you may want to know this.

 

Sounds like if and when you apply for a schengen visa for your LPR spouse you will need to also get one for yourself as a US Citizen.

 

Then again, this is politics and may blow over, this would cause all sorts of travel problems that Europe cannot afford.

 

 

The European Parliament has voted to end visa-free travel for Americans within the EU.

 

It comes after the US failed to agree visa-free travel for citizens of five EU countries—Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania—as part of a reciprocity agreement. US citizens can normally travel to all countries in the bloc without a visa.

 

The vote by the parliament's civil liberties committee means Americans will have to apply for extra documents for the next 12 months.

 

The European Commission discovered three years ago that the US was not meeting its obligations under the reciprocity agreement but has not yet taken any legal action.

 

Australia, Brunei, Japan and Canada were also failing in their obligations, but all four have lifted, or are soon to lift, any visa restrictions on travel for EU citizens.

 

Following the committee's vote the Commission must act to suspend the visa waiver for Americans, but the European Parliament or the Council of the European Union may object.

 

In December, MEPs pressed for the move in order to "encourage" Washington to play its part, according to a statement by the Parliament.

 

But Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos warned of "consequences", including potential "retaliation" and a drop in visitor numbers precipitating substantial losses for the continent's tourism industry.

 

MORE:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/europe-visa-free-travel-americans-european-parliament-vote-a7609406.html