FOURTH CONFERENCE OF ROMANIAN AMERICAN PROFESSIONALS
VESTED IN WEAVING SOCIAL COHESION
Visa Waiver Program, Visa Regime Update Impacting Professionals’ Mobility,
Opening Plenary Session, Dec. 2nd 2022
As in previous years, the opening session of the annual conference featured a US visa regime update impacting skilled professionals and researchers’ mobility. Romania’s honorary consul to Connecticut, attorney Dana Bucin, a partner, and Chair of the Immigration Group at Murtha Cullina LLP provided an overview on the prospect of Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver program. Statistically an outlier year with regards to meeting the low threshold of visa denials as criteria for inclusion, it is still not clear how much the regional instability has caused an application spike. Though no such information exists, it would not be wrong to infer that citizens of Moldova or Ukraine holding dual citizenship may have increased the number of denied visa applications submitted in Romania. Actionable information on the main causes of denial or generic profiles of applicants being denied is still missing. We don’t know if it is skilled IT workers or grandmas seeking to reunite with their families that are being denied or why. Given the lack of information it is unclear how public or private stakeholders can help intervene and create informational, awareness and sensitization campaigns that would prevent denials on technical grounds. What is clear is that Romania has proven to be a reliable partner in receiving Ukrainian refugees during the prolonged crisis and Romanian Americans sought to assist in the settlement of Ukrainian refugees in the United States as sponsors or hosts. Please listen to Dana Bucin’s presentation of the work done in Connecticut to assist Ukrainian refugees. The platform Ctukraine.org provides matching and legal assistance for American families seeking to help refugees. Here is how you can help:
➡️ If you live in Connecticut, offer to welcome Ukrainian refugees in your home (or facilitate housing anywhere else) for their first 3 months until they can get accommodated in the US and secure a job; to do so fill out the pre-screening form for sponsors at ctukraine.org
OR
➡️ donate generously to help Ukrainian refugees resettle to Connecticut under the Connecticut for Ukraine Refugee Matching Program: https://ctukraine.org/donate/ . Your donations made to the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Românul are tax deductible and will go 100% towards plane tickets, living expenses (including rent) and any governmental filing fees for the refugees. The program brought over 88 refugees to CT and they have 250+ more refugees on their list!