Mari Yagami
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- Oct 4, 2012
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Posting this to help anyone who might have found themselves in the same situation we did re: the "new" reciprocity fee.
TL;DR
My bf (american) and I had to make our 3-monthly trip to Colonia earlier this month to get his 90days rolling again so I called up Seacat Colonia and booked our tickets. As I told the person on the phone one of the people travelling was an American, she informed me that he would need to pay a new $160 fee online a couple of days prior to the trip. I told her that my bf had paid his reciprocity fee back in September 2012 when he entered the country and said that should cover it. I was told that no, we needed to pay again. I mentioned the fact that he has a sticker on his passport with the date of sept/2012 that says it is good for 10 years but was told, again, that unless I have the receipt for the original payment I am going to have to pay it again online, print out the receipt and show it when we enter the country again, otherwise he will be denied entry as it is no longer possible to pay it any other way than online. I put buying the tickets on hold at that time (was in the middle of work and wanted to make sure what was going on before calling again).
Ended up calling again couple of days later, this time ready to explain the situation properly, and bought the tickets. When informed (again) about the "new" fee, I explained our situation and about our sticker and all. This time the rep I talked to actually knew what sticker I was talking about (the previous one had been clueless) and yet he swore up and down that the sticker itself was not good for anything and I needed to pay again through the website OR, at most, find the receipt from when my boyfriend entered the country, anything else was no good and he would be denied entry.
I started trying to get in touch with immigration over and over while we looked all over for the damn receipt (but alas, it was lost during a move, it seems) and in the meantime, registered in the website, hopeful that the fee might show up as "paid" there? No such luck, it said I had no forms and to create one, I almost paid it but my bf stopped me at the last second, which was a good call, it turns out. Finally, after over 2 weeks of calling immigration, I got through to someone, 2 days prior to my trip, who transferred me to yet another someone who knew what the deal was and he assured me that the sticker on the passport is enough and that we did not need to pay the fee again until that sticker expires.
And sure enough, he was right. When we checked in at the port of Colonia the guy behind the counter looked at his passport, started muttering "We need proof of payment of the fee---" and found the sticker page and went "Oh, you have the sticker, all good" and on our way we went.
Short version:
If you have already paid your reciprocity fee and have the sticker on your passport you do not need to pay for it again even if they insist on it over and over (at least for maritime entry). And according to the US Embassy website, until June 30th you should not need to pay for it even if you don't have it, ONLY when entering by cruise ship.
TL;DR
My bf (american) and I had to make our 3-monthly trip to Colonia earlier this month to get his 90days rolling again so I called up Seacat Colonia and booked our tickets. As I told the person on the phone one of the people travelling was an American, she informed me that he would need to pay a new $160 fee online a couple of days prior to the trip. I told her that my bf had paid his reciprocity fee back in September 2012 when he entered the country and said that should cover it. I was told that no, we needed to pay again. I mentioned the fact that he has a sticker on his passport with the date of sept/2012 that says it is good for 10 years but was told, again, that unless I have the receipt for the original payment I am going to have to pay it again online, print out the receipt and show it when we enter the country again, otherwise he will be denied entry as it is no longer possible to pay it any other way than online. I put buying the tickets on hold at that time (was in the middle of work and wanted to make sure what was going on before calling again).
Ended up calling again couple of days later, this time ready to explain the situation properly, and bought the tickets. When informed (again) about the "new" fee, I explained our situation and about our sticker and all. This time the rep I talked to actually knew what sticker I was talking about (the previous one had been clueless) and yet he swore up and down that the sticker itself was not good for anything and I needed to pay again through the website OR, at most, find the receipt from when my boyfriend entered the country, anything else was no good and he would be denied entry.
I started trying to get in touch with immigration over and over while we looked all over for the damn receipt (but alas, it was lost during a move, it seems) and in the meantime, registered in the website, hopeful that the fee might show up as "paid" there? No such luck, it said I had no forms and to create one, I almost paid it but my bf stopped me at the last second, which was a good call, it turns out. Finally, after over 2 weeks of calling immigration, I got through to someone, 2 days prior to my trip, who transferred me to yet another someone who knew what the deal was and he assured me that the sticker on the passport is enough and that we did not need to pay the fee again until that sticker expires.
And sure enough, he was right. When we checked in at the port of Colonia the guy behind the counter looked at his passport, started muttering "We need proof of payment of the fee---" and found the sticker page and went "Oh, you have the sticker, all good" and on our way we went.
Short version:
If you have already paid your reciprocity fee and have the sticker on your passport you do not need to pay for it again even if they insist on it over and over (at least for maritime entry). And according to the US Embassy website, until June 30th you should not need to pay for it even if you don't have it, ONLY when entering by cruise ship.
