US Citizens Will Need Visa to Travel to Europe in 2024

I once had to go in a business trip to Australia, together with some coworkers, because we were employed by an Australian company, for a meeting at the headquarters of the company.

We were supposed to travel visa-free to Australia (at that time, meanwhile it seems that Australia has introduced visas for all countries). Nevertheless, Australia required some kind of electronic approval without which we could not enter the country, for which you had to apply exactly like for any visa.

After a few months of satisfying extremely invasive requests for documents from the Australian authorities, e.g. with complete details about all operations from our banking accounts for several months, the delays for issuing the "non-visa" travel approval have been so great that we missed the deadline and we had to cancel the trip.

If there would have been an official requirement for visas, it could not have been worse than the "visa-free" travel. Of course, while the Australian authorities did all they could to discourage foreign visitors, the Australian citizens were able to really travel visa-free, because the other states fulfilled their obligations, according to the agreements signed with Australia.

Now, when everybody requests visas, at least all are treated equally, without special privileges for the citizens of countries like USA or Australia, which have never fulfilled their promises to treat the foreigners in the same way as their own citizens are treated.

I remember traveling to European countries in the early 80s and needing to cross immigration at each border, but not having to secure a Visa ahead of time for most if any. You were given 30 to 90 days depending on the country.

Remember though, the US is one of only three countries (Eritrea, Myanmar are the other 2) that taxes its own citizens even if they have not lived in the US for years. I lived in SE Asia over 6 years. I've also worked in KSA and other areas, so I know. Amazingly, you can get a tourist's Visa to KSA online in like a half hour if that as a US citizen. A working Visa is a bit more difficult.

On another note, I believe Europe is in for a big downwards economic spiral worse than for the US, and does not have the geographic isolation or resource richness and flat, free land availability of the US, so this is just another dent to their future income via tourism. The war in Ukraine is not helping that to be sure. I live overseas for years and had to deal with US immigration for my wife, so I know it is lop-sided, but per Hillary Clinton and others with the same viewpoint, it is because the US Passport is the most valuable in the world. It was argued that the advantages bestowed upon US citizens needs to be met with things like FATCA, pressures on foreign countries to report US citizens banking/financial information to the US, and the once-nominal fee for rescinding your US Passport is now more punitive should you choose to give up your US citizenship.

Given the dominance of the US in NATO over the past several decades, where Europe could save money on military spending to boost their own economies, all the while having the world's largest superpower be there to step in when needed, or so goes the theory, maybe wishing to include the US and its tourists in the general Visa rule is not a great idea at this time? We've got millions of illegal immigrants coming to the US every year[1] with Germany, the UK, France, and Italy receiving the lion's share of the EU (sans UK).

[1] https://cis.org/Report/Estimating-Illegal-Immigrant-Populati...

Painless solutions like email/phone call where you explain why you are extending your stay?

Or painful solutions where you need to go to an office, find somebody who gives a shit about actually doing their job?

It makes my blood boil that I have to endure a disproportionate burden of proof on myself:

- demonstrate good financial status, have already booked tickets and accommodation (which might end up becoming a sunk cost because a bad visa result came too near to my travel date, making refunds impossible) even though visa isn't guaranteed

- a very long list of paperwork to complete and sort

- wait for multiple years to boot for an appointment where my application can get rejected, sometimes for really frivolous reasons

just to ensure I am there for, say, my brother's graduation, a moment which will come only once in my lifetime. Meanwhile, people from other countries and with a way worse profile than mine can walk into the same country, no questions asked. They don't have to demonstrate that they're really great people with absolutely no intention of staying there for ever. In fact they can even make that decision on a whim; what's there to stop them from staying permanently in the other country even if it's not for a "good" cause?

Don't treat people as criminals/paragons of virtue solely based on the country they come from.

The concept of visas may not have existed at that point in time, but you were at the mercy of those in power. If they didn't like you, they'd banish you from their lands or worse.

The modern rules are entirely based on statistics. How many overstay their visa. How many get denied a visa. Are compromised passports swiftly dealt with. India doesn't live up to the rules for easy visas.