Visa waivers tops agenda of US official’s visit

The US State Department on Friday announced that Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Carl Risch will travel to Nicosia and Athens later this week to discuss easing entry requirements for travelling to the United States.

Risch will be in the two countries between January 12 and 16.

“The Assistant Secretary will underscore our deep and sustained commitment to the protection of US citizens overseas and the facilitation of legitimate travel to the United States,” the State Department said in an announcement.

Earlier in the week, Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides said the competent deputy minister of the US government was expected in Cyprus to discuss visa waivers for Cypriot passport holders.

During the visit, joint meetings will take place with himself, the interior and justice ministers to discuss how to achieve this goal.

“Our aim is to have developments towards that direction within 2020,” Christodoulides said.

Only citizens of 39 countries are currently eligible for visa-free entry into the US under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Most EU member states are part of the programme except Cyprus, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania.

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.