To be eligible for a visa waiver under the current version of the program, a country must have a visa refusal rate no higher than 3%. This rate is 20% or higher in Romania’s case, said the ambassador.
Changing the program’s conditions of eligibility to the overstay rate (i.e. the share of people staying in the USA for longer than allowed by their visa) could be to Romania’s advantage, said Gitenstein, while pointing out that there are still numerous “ifs” to the issue.