The announcement comes two days before the first round of Romania’s re-do presidential election.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance criticized Romania in February for canceling last year’s presidential round over allegations of illegal campaigning and Russian interference after little-known ultranationalist Călin Georgescu won the first round.
While the DHS did not tie Romania’s visa waiver removal to the canceled election, some perceived it as such. Hard-right presidential candidate George Simion, who has styled himself as a Trumpist, predicted that the visa requirement for Romanians to travel to the U.S. will be withdrawn again soon, “as soon as we go back to democracy.”
Simion, who is expected to win the first round of the do-over vote on Sunday, was in Washington last month, where he met with DHS officials.
The DHS said Romania “may be reconsidered” for the visa waiver program “in the future should they meet the statutory eligibility criteria,” according to its statement.
The Romanian foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday that it regrets the U.S. decision, given that Romania complies with all the requirements for its citizens to be able to travel to the U.S. without a visa. Those include having low visa refusal rates, issuing electronic passports that are machine-readable, and increasing counterterrorism, law enforcement and immigration enforcement cooperation with the U.S.