Dual citizens, whether or not one of their citizenships is Argentine, are not subject to this entry fee so long as one of their citizenships is that of a country whose citizens are not being subjected to this fee. And provided they show that passport to Argentine Immigration. If you are a national of a country whose citizens are required to pay this fee and also a national of another whose citizens don't have to pay it, produce the passport you were issued by the latter country when you enter and leave Argentina. That 'other' passport does not have to be Argentine, though in some cases it will be.
Argentina's Interior Minister is dreaming when he says that the new entry fee will not deter visitors. I cannot afford $300. entry fees for my husband and me. That sum is 1/4 of our monthly temporary rental in a one-bedroom apartment in Recoleta. One whole week's rent! I cannot continue to return to Argentina and pay 1/3 more again for my basic expenses of apartment and tango privates. And I am not poor. I spend more money while there than the foreigners I run into there in a 5-week period. (I don't know any Hollywood movie stars though.) That Minister must be thinking that we stay in hotels there @ $300./night up. No one I meet there does that and I meet a good cross-section of visitors.
Another problem with this entry fee is that its cost is tied to the expiry date of each visitor's passport. This creates financial anomalies that make no sense and that discriminate between people merely on the basis of a happenstance that has nothing to do with Argentina -the issue date of each passport. One person will pay the fee once over 2 years because his passport is new while another will pay the fee twice over 2 years because his current passport happens to expire next year. This is wrong and disrespectful. The Interior Minister should act in conformity with that Argentine expression that says "We all live under the same sky."
While I appreciate that Argentine businesses are complaining about what this fee will most surely do to their incomes, it is wrong for foreigners to blame Argentina for imposing it. To blame Argentina for this is akin to how we stripped our forests to pull profits from them and then pointed our holy fingers at Brazil and Malaysia for later depleting theirs for the same purpose. No longer do many countries see themselves as needing to play second fiddle to the powers we were. There is a more level playing field now.
We travelers and cross-residents should be complaining to our own governments, the ones that devised and first imposed entry fees. We need to tell them that without travelers, there will be no innovation, no customers and no cross-cultural understanding. We should remind them how many solutions to apparently insoluble problems come to us through travelers who bring home ideas and share them with our fellow citizens - eg.; safer taxis; bus systems that respond to people's real needs; cheaper garbage removal systems. Out there lie new architecture that stimulates the heart and encourages street life across social strata; cheaper and more nutritious meals; comprehensive health and dental care; and children who do not scream in public.
These fees, regardless of which country is launching them, penalise us for our interest and curiosity about life beyond our doorsteps, and thus, for utilizing the very qualities that made our regions successful. They also ignorantly assume that if you travel, you are rich. In fact, most travellers scrimp for chances to experience our world. We should lobby our own countries to end these fees.
