$10 USD extra to visit the United States

Drop in overseas visitors to the US
$10 entrances fee
Travel Promotion Act
Visa Waiver Program
Country citizens liable for the $10 entrance fee
Uproar over the new legislation & fee

Since the 2001 New York terrorist attacks international visitors to the United States has dropped remarkably. With an aim to reverse these dwindling numbers the US congress passed legislation last week to create a non-profit organizations aimed at promoting the United States as a travel destination.

The new legislation is entitled the Travel Promotion Act which was tabled last year, passed by congress this week and soon to be signed off by President Obama – it has gained a fair amount of criticism from many international countries including many from Europe and also Japan.

There will be an extra new $US10 fee on visas for a majority of international visitors in order to fund this new promotional organization, which could raise approximately $US200 million a year for the organization.

In 1986 the US first introduced the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) which was introduced in order to entice travel to the US by many international foreigners. Now however, whilst the VWP has not been removed, the US have found a way through the passing of the Travel Promotion Act to charge visitors and raise revenue by hitting all visitors from countries who are a part of the VWP to pay $US10 on entry.

The countries which are a part of the VWP and which visitors from these countries will incur the $UD10 fee include the following:

Andorra,
Australia,
Austria,
Belgium,
Brunei,
Czech Republic,
Denmark,
Estonia,
Finland,
France,
Germany,
Hungary,
Iceland,
Ireland,
Italy,
Japan,
Latvia,
Liechtenstein,
Lithuania,
Luxembourg,
Malta,
Monaco,
the Netherlands,
New Zealand,
Norway,
Portugal,
San Marino,
Singapore,
Slovakia,
Slovenia,
South
Korea,
Spain,
Sweden,
Switzerland, and
the United Kingdom.

Amongst many of the goals set by the new legislation is to provide visitors with more information as to the strict US procedures that are in place throughout the country.

The new $US10 fee proposed by the new legislation will apply to some 35 European countries amongst many more nations around the world. The European commission have claimed that the fee is discriminatory since returning US citizens do not have to pay nor do visitors who have to pay for a visa that are not citizens of a country that is a part of the VWP.

It will be very interesting to see whether this bold move by the United States pays off.

Obviously the cost of flying to the US will increase and subsequently this may very well result in fewer visitors coming to the US which may go against the very goals and aims of the new legislation.

Time will tell I guess but for now just so that you know you may be hit with a $US10 fee when you decide to travel to the United States. It is advisable that you do some more research if you wish to know more about these new fees which are very soon to be implemented.

Josh Boorman

Editor-in-chief

Backpacking Addictz

admin@backpackingaddictz.com

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