Entry Fees

jpm2004

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Hello, I'm wondering if anyone has more updated information on entry fees the Argentine government is going to start charging U.S. passport holders (among others) starting January 1. Apparently it's going to be $134 "reciprocity fee" to offset (retaliate against?) the fees the U.S. government charges Argentinians to apply for a visa to come to the U.S. But there's quite a bit of confusion as to whether this fee would be charged every time you went to Colonia, for example, or whether one fee would last for a total of 5 or possibly even 10 years. Anyone know what's up about this?

BTW, you can find some info about this here. http://www.argentinepost.com/2008/10/visa-fee-to-hit-tourists-starting-jan-1.html
 
chile has a similar type of visa charge reciprocity too but they charge it once and a paper gets put in your passport and its good for the life of the passport

i doubt this is so much reciprosity as another way to get money
 
this visa charge on top of the exorbitant air fares to get to buenos aires some days on lan.com
$1200, $1800 usa or $2200 the other day - round trip economy coach from miami or nyc to ba etc should put a real damper on tourism to buenos aires and argentina and unfortunately contribute to more economic hardship
 
Ah, "diego", you see the bigger picture! Clearly, you're no politician.
 
I sent off an email to the email address that was in the article posted above...this was his response...not what we want to hear I am sure...but as he said...nothing has been put in place yet...
***on the first question I asked if it was a one time fee..good for 10 years as I had heard.

The system has not been implemented yet, so this is what we understand as per the regulation:

1- The fee is valid for each entrance into Argentina***
2- If you are a resident you would not be required to pay the fee. It is only for tourist and business visas.
3- If you have dual citizenship they will not request you to pay as long as you enter Argentina with your Argentina passport.


Should you have any other query, please let me know.

Best regards,

Javier Canosa
 
@diego7david

Agreed. Argentina is currently experiencing a tourism boom due to the weak peso and the free, and hassle-free, visas that they offer to tourists. Flights here are not cheap from the US, but American tourists are willing to come because they've heard that they'll get great value for their dollars once they get here.

$134 may not be much to the solo traveler/expat, but to the folks just looking to take a vacation with their spouse or family, that $134, in addition to the already expensive flights, adds up quickly. And there are plenty of cheaper vacation options, with beaches, closer to the US.

Argentine tourism has also benefited from the strong Euro. Argentina has been able to market itself as a cheap alternative to Europe for those looking to stretch a few thousand dollars into as long a trip as possible. But now the Euro is dropping and flights to Europe have always been cheaper than flights to South America. And there are no tourist visa fees or hassles for Americans heading to Europe.

It's unwise for the Argentine government to tamper with the current steady flow of tourism dollars coming into their country. Around $4 billion dollars a year at moment, I think. The entire world is going into a recession; it's not the right time to start charging visitors more for the opportunity to step foot in your country. Let them in and let them spend their money at Argentine businesses and on Argentine products.
 
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.
 
Interesting points, SH, and well-put. Do note, though, that imposition of the fee by the American federal government had less to do with discrimination against other nations (if we may still term the United States a "nation" -- probably not) than with the push some years ago to make governmental actions pay for themselves ("user['s] fees") instead of increasing the taxes that Americans pay.
 
Word is that the entry fees have been postponed until March 2009. I can confirm that coming through the airport today, we were not charged.

We sailed right through customs - they did not even x-ray our bags.
 
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