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I'm an Indian citizen and I'm interested in travelling to Romania in late August.

Romania requires that you submit an invitation letter to apply for a tourist visa (odd!). This letter is usually provided by the university/ business inviting you or a travel agency. I am travelling on my own, without a travel agency....

In order to confirm this bizarre requirement, I called up the Romanian consulate several times this week. There was no response. I emailed them to confirm this requirement, and I got the following response in return (the responder was quite curt). enter image description here

On opening the link to view the list of countries, whose visa if one holds, is not required to have an invitation letter, I found USA on it. enter image description here I hold a valid USA visa and I was instantly glad!

However, I continued reading more and reached this webpage: http://mae.ro/en/node/2040 and found an English version of this document (screenshot below)

List of countries whose ***NATIONALS*** do not require a visa.

If I was to go by the English translation of the document on http://mae.ro/en/node/2040, I assume I cannot apply for a Romanian visa on the basis of my USA visa.

So, my questions is: Has anyone (Indian citizen) tried applying for the Romanian visa without an invitation letter and solely on the basis of the USA visa?

There are some horror stories (e.g.: https://www.travelure.in/romania-visa-for-indians-all-the-best/ and https://www.quora.com/Is-it-tough-or-easy-to-get-tourist-visa-for-Romania-from-India) out there on applying for a Romanian tourist visa and being rejected, so any help is much appreciated. I wouldn't be asking for advice on this forum if the Romanian consulate in New Delhi was responsive, and not so rude. (Their email response to my questions began with this: Dear Madam / Dear Sir, We recommend you to read this entire response, we will not resume the emailing for your further questions for which we have already answered.). They NEVER answer the phones and now email correspondence is also not an option!

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  • I don't understand why the English translation is concerning you. Both of those lists are the countries whose passport holders do not need a regular tourist visa to visit. The US is on both lists.
    – Roddy of the Frozen Peas
    Commented Jul 5, 2019 at 14:54
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    @Roddy of the Frozen Peas The OP is an Indian national with a US visa (type unspecified)
    – Traveller
    Commented Jul 5, 2019 at 17:05
  • @Traveller - So? The two lists are the same, but OP only got concerned when they saw the English translation. The list of 'countries whose passport holders do not need a visa.' The email said if you have a visa from a country on this list, you do not need a letter of invitation. The US is on both the romanian version and the english version.
    – Roddy of the Frozen Peas
    Commented Jul 5, 2019 at 17:30
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    @RoddyoftheFrozenPeas the email says that there is an exemption for people holding visas from the listed countries (which includes OP), but the document only says nationals of those countries (which does not include OP) are exempt.
    – Chris H
    Commented Jul 5, 2019 at 20:28
  • Or it could mean that individuals holding valid visas from that list of countries are exempt from the invitation letter requirement, like the email says. Which still doesn't answer the question about why the OP only got confused when looking at the English version of the page when the original literally says the exact same thing.
    – Roddy of the Frozen Peas
    Commented Jul 5, 2019 at 20:33

2 Answers 2

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First of all, I think the person you are speaking to is a bit lost, as the list you opened is:

List of third states the citizens whose nationals, holders of diplomatic, service/official and special passports are exempt from the visa requirement in order to enter Romania

Not:

People with visas from these countries are exempt from an invitation

On the The list of countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when traveling to Romania list, India is listed with The states whose nationals must be in possession of an invitation endorsed by the Inspectorate General for Immigration from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, that they must submit when applying for a short-stay visa.

You will need an invitation.

Alternative options:

You are a family member of a Romanian citizen

You hold a residence permit issued by the UK or Ireland

Family members of a citizen of the European Union, of the European Economic Area, or of the Swiss Confederation

View this website for more information and alternatives.

Another source, while unofficial, that you need an invitation is here.

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I'm not sure if you have found an answer to your question. I traveled to Romania this April/May. You either have to get a Romanian visa which is painful or have a multiple entry Schengen visa. The latter is easier. To my knowledge having a US visa is irrelevant. It doesn't allow you entry into Romania.

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    With respect, the original question doesn't ask if having a US visa exempts the holder from Romanian visa requirements; it only asks for confirmation that having a US visa exempts the holder from the requirement to produce a letter of invitation as part of the Romanian visa application.
    – MadHatter
    Commented Aug 2, 2019 at 6:25

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