The Cypriot government is in the final stages of negotiating the cancellation of visas for citizens of the United States of America.
This was announced by Cypriot President Nicos Christodoulides on Wednesday 19 June.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting, he stressed the importance of friendly relations between the two countries and urged officials to resolve the visa issue as soon as possible.
Cooperation between the US and Cyprus covers many areas, including energy, security, trade, investment, research, technology and culture. We hope that in the very near future our fellow citizens will be able to visit this country without visas, - said the President.
Cyprus is the last EU country whose citizens need a visa to visit the United States.
The other 26 EU countries have already joined the US Visa Waiver Programme (VWP). It allows Europeans to visit the US for tourism, business or transit for up to 90 days without a US visa. The Cypriot authorities are working on lifting the visa regime by 2021 and are also studying the possibility of launching direct flights to the US. It should be noted that there have never been direct scheduled flights between Cyprus and the US. The Cypriot authorities have long expressed their interest in launching direct flights and the Ministry of Tourism is working on this task. Airports in New York, Washington and a number of states in the central part of the US are being considered first. The Cypriot authorities are taking into account the presence of Cypriot communities in these cities who, together with American tourists, will be able to use these flights to visit their homeland.
Following the election of a new leader, Nicos Christodoulidis, in 2023, the government said that lifting the visa requirement for Cypriot citizens travelling to the US was on its list of priorities. Prior to this, Cyprus and the US signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen cooperation on border security issues, while reaffirming the common determination to continue working towards full visa reciprocity. The agreement was pledged by the then Foreign Minister and the Acting Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security a day after they both attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Cyclops training centre in Larnaca.
Barring force majeure, Cypriots will be able to travel to the US without a visa by the end of 2024.