United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday invited Croatia to join the Visa Waiver Program, an important step towards abolishing visas for Croatian citizens entering the U.S.

“Today I nominated Croatia to enter the Visa Waiver Program. This step towards visa-free travel recognizes Croatia’s tremendous progress to meet the rigorous standards for participant countries. We look forward to an even stronger U.S.-Croatia relationship,” Secretary Blinken wrote on Twitter.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic thanked Blinken for the invitation via Twitter.

“I thank U.S. Secretary of State Blinken for inviting Croatia to the Visa Waiver Program, which is one of the last steps to abolish visas for Croatian citizens,” Plenković wrote.

The Croatian prime minister said that with the “intensive work” of the government and the ministries of foreign affairs and the interior “one of the foreign policy priorities” would be realised.

“We confirm the partnership between Croatia and the U.S. and the abolition of visas will bring the greatest benefit to Croatian citizens who will be able to travel freely to the U.S. We look forward to further developing economic cooperation and business ties!” Plenkovic said.

Early this year, it was officially announced that the number of denied U.S. visa applications by Croatian citizens in 2020 had dropped below 3%.

A visa refusal rate of below 3% was the last precondition for the abolition of U.S. visas for Croatian citizens.

Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus are the only EU member states whose citizens still require a visa to travel to the U.S.