US To Charge Visitors

[dforeigner]

IMO, other countries will reciprocate and U.S. travelers will pay fees to travel elsewhere..... not that I blame them.

 

What about countries such as Dominican Republic and Aruba that assess exit fees for foreign travelers? Is that not a tax charged for visiting their countries? We paid that tax to Aruba as long ago as at least 15 years. You have to pay in order to exit.

 

 

 

 

 

Mexico does this as well, but it is now added (a hidden fee) to the price of your airline ticket. Initially, one had to pay this fee before leaving the country.

 

Recently, they were charging a tourist fee for each port you visited via a cruise line. Not sure if they still do.

[Zambini]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10899968

 

So now the US are going to charge to visit thier country, as far as I am concerned that is the final nail in the coffin. US imigration is bad enough already now they want us to pay for the privelage, maybe the rest of the worls should reciprocate.

 

What do you mean by final nail in the coffin?

 

Are you saying you won't travel to the USA anymore because of it?

[Putterdude]

Mexico does this as well, but it is now added (a hidden fee) to the price of your airline ticket. Initially, one had to pay this fee before leaving the country.

 

Recently, they were charging a tourist fee for each port you visited via a cruise line. Not sure if they still do.

 

Alaska has a head tax as well which they have just reduced somewhat.

[dforeigner]

Alaska has a head tax as well which they have just reduced somewhat.

 

Good point! I forgot about that one. And they do not discriminate. The tax is applied to everyone regardless of which country you are from. I believe Alaskan residents are excepmt.

 

But if we want to go there, then many cities also charge an additional hotel tax to their visitors.

[Putterdude]

and there is a fee charged by DHS on your airline ticket for pre-clearing you in various airports in Canada.

[MissRabbit]

Except that the article states: "The fee has been introduced to fund a programme which aims to promote tourism in the US and attract foreign spending."

 

I'm not sure on what planet that makes sense -- we want to encourage people to visit so let's start charging them to do so?

 

I found that part of the article very funny as well. "Hi, we're going to tax you and use your money to promote ourselves, in the hopes that more of you will come, and thereby, get *more* taxed money..."

 

*shakes my head*

 

I really hope this doesn't apply to ground traffic cause i'm headed to the states in Oct.

[smeyer418]

yep its a fee....and its pretty common although hidden in many places. Most states(like Florida) charge an extra tax on hotel rooms. Florida has the single highest car rental tax in the US. ....and they expect that their own citizens own a car. Almost every country charges a fee when leaving some its an airport fee and it gets hidden in your airline ticket.

Making others pay for this service(a service fee although technically not a tax is of course a tax)...is done more often than not.

 

most countries in South America now are charging a reciprocity fee the fee the US charges their citizens to process a visa application(currently $130)...and they charge it whether they issue the visa or not. Argentina, Chile and Brazil charge that fee(once every ten years).

British airports on all flights leaving charge a pollution fee based on the length of the flight from I think 20-80 English pounds(sterling)...but again that is hidden in the fare.

 

http://www.abcprague.com/2007/01/10/double-taxes-on-flights-leaving-great-britain

[Watson's aunt]

Wow what about a tax to enter England, A tax to leave Canada. I have paided Give me a break all most all countries charge a tax.. Also the large tax they put on hotel bills

[smeyer418]

most countries in South America now are charging a reciprocity fee the fee the US charges their citizens to process a visa application(currently $130)...and they charge it whether they issue the visa or not. ...

 

just to be clear, its the US that charges whether the visa is issued or not, the three countries mentioned just collect the fee. Although now you need to get the one for Brazil in advance. The others just collect the money. Brazil for a while just issued it when you arrived took your picture with a Polaroid(the US now takes pictures of everyone entering) and threw them into a box-I am told...

[sailinglisa]

perhaps if you were to experience the non-uk, non-eu lines (and the personnel staffing them) at heathrow, the way i have to on my annual visits to england, you might realize that the us is not the only country that is less than warm, courteous and welcoming to foreign visitors.

 

amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[moniquet]

I don't have a particular problem paying £10 for the ESTA - if that is, that is all that is required for travel. However, I travelled to the US in May and despite having an ESTA I still had to complete the green visa waiver form. So, what exactly is the point of it?

 

That, and hours spent clearing US immigration - complete with their very unpleasant attitude- makes me really think twice about visiting America again any time soon I'm afraid.

 

The ESTA is so the computer can flag up any "undesirables" before they fly, the green card (1-194) is your permission to stay in the USA for a limited amount of time, you arrival recorded on computer and the date you left.

 

Not really a big deal a Tenner, most countries have hidden departure and other taxes In Kenya it costs about £30 to get in. Years ago we went on a private Boat to Albania under the old regime. Police boarded the boat, gave us a badly printed form to fill in. For a payment of around £28 we were given a "Visa" written out on a page torn from a notebook:rolleyes:

 

Americans are getting ripped off all the time in Europe by overinflated prices and taxes!

[cruisemom42]

All this flap over such a small fee?

 

Turkey charges $20 for their "visa" obtained at the airport on entry. Egypt similarly charges $25 for the same thing.

 

It's just the cost of travel. If I want to visit Egypt, I'm not going to let $25 stand in my way.... :rolleyes:

[Dorset Cruiser]

Unfortunately, cuts have to come from somewhere as long as the demand to reduce the deficit is pushed by politics. Since there are people who have to process the paperwork and the money to pay these people has to come from somewhere. I guess the politicians feel it will be easier to push the cost onto the people visiting the US than through the taxes on the US citizens. Remember, we have one of the lowest tax burdens in the developed world and therefore, the costs are passed on to others, fair or not. I don't like it either but as long as we want lower taxes than people in the UK and other places than we have to accept extra costs here and there. Sad that it has to be passed on to people in other countries though.

 

 

It has been said by the US that this tax is to encourage tourism in the US and is not meant to help reduce any deficit.

[rian90]

Except that the article states: "The fee has been introduced to fund a programme which aims to promote tourism in the US and attract foreign spending."

 

I'm not sure on what planet that makes sense -- we want to encourage people to visit so let's start charging them to do so?

 

Then I guess in the long run, the sales tax paid by the people who pay for the visa and are attracted by the tourism promotions will help the states. I have traveled and paid for visa's to other countries and it did not stop me from traveling, and I was a poor college student at the time. With the lower dollar in the states I can't imagine it putting that much of a damper on tourism..and as one who lives in Florida, at certain times of the year, Florida is like another country or I should say like several different countries. :) I will be shocked if people stop coming to the US and going to outlet malls and spending money on our cheap hotels due to a visa charge.

 

The US is sort of like that...we pay for things that people in other countries have included in their taxes. I guess they decided to pass that along to other people in other countries, good or bad. Again, I am not saying this is a good thing, but it really doesn't surprise me and I really don't think its going to affect tourism that much. The drop in the Euro seems to affected tourism more. Of course, none of us know so we will have to see and people will have to get used to this.

[Travelcat2]

This is indeed a very difficult subject to wrap our heads around as there are so many taxes, fees, visa costs, etc. implemented by most countries of the world. If any of this will go towards security, I'm all for it.

 

An interesting side note. . . . . we live 21 miles from Canada. Due to the devaluation of the U.S. dollar and the high taxes in Canada, there are 600,000 - 700,000 Canadian's crossing the border into WA state-- mostly to shop in our city of 100,000 (We love Candians -- not a complaint -- just a fact). We recently learned that in many provinces of Canada (Alberta is one), they do not have to pay sales tax in the U.S. when they shop (although we do pay tax when we visit Alberta). This law was going to be applied to visitors from British Columbia last month. . . until it was taken to court in an emergency session. The jury (so to speak) is still out on this issue.

[Putterdude]

An interesting side note. . . . . we live 21 miles from Canada. Due to the devaluation of the U.S. dollar and the high taxes in Canada, there are 600,000 - 700,000 Canadian's crossing the border into WA state-- mostly to shop in our city of 100,000 (We love Candians -- not a complaint -- just a fact). We recently learned that in many provinces of Canada (Alberta is one), they do not have to pay sales tax in the U.S. when they shop (although we do pay tax when we visit Alberta). This law was going to be applied to visitors from British Columbia last month. . . until it was taken to court in an emergency session. The jury (so to speak) is still out on this issue.

 

Glad you love Canadians, we owned a home on Lummi Island for 22 years and spent a lot of money in Bellingham and Ferndale.:)

I am aware of the WA state initiative to not have sales tax levied on purchases made by BC residents while shopping in WA. However Alberta like Oregon does not a sales tax at all so you as a WA resident would not pay sales tax in Alberta but they certainly would on purchases made in WA.

[Keith1010]

As others have said, we pay fees in many countries we visit.

 

And fees have been added at different times and for different countries.

 

And we have waited on long lines in many countries.

 

And hopefully people realize that it is better to have a thorough process to screen people entering the USA along with all countries around the world.

 

After all we know what can happen if this is not done right.

 

Keith

[Moeve]

Many of you are missing the point here the Visa Waiver Prog. was a contract instituted for participating countires to allow entry for the others citizen without a visa or cost. The USA has steadily been moving away and breatching this contractsince 9/11 - first it was this business with the airlines having to close manifests 24 hours prior to departure then governments had to hand over 23 point of information including CC details and Relgious details before the doors were closed in the departing airport. Then came the ESTA which allows 43 point of information to be stored by the US and to be passed on the other countires without the travller ever knowing what is really happening to all his personal details (many of which no sane person would part with these days) Now to add insult to injury the traveller is going to have to pay for this all the while he is still not afforded the right to entry nor the right to appeal since he can be denied entry for no reason and doesn't even have the right to ask why.

 

While at the same time all US citizens visiting our countires are afforded the right to enter without even filling in a scrap of paper. Not even military fathers of kids in the EU are allowed to be stopped for not paying allamony. So yes why shouldn't US citizens be subjected to the same treatment when visiting other VW countires.

 

Americans being treated badly in the UK well I wounder who gave them THAT idea in the first place!