Why should i pay $14 to enter the US?

[Count Zero]

I do think it's perfectly legitimate to 'bitch' about other countries if there's something you don't agree with. The usual rules of common sense, politeness and sense of scale apply, of course - e.g. if you stay with someone, you probably shouldn't complain about their country too much, although I personally wouldn't mind.
As for this fee, well, if all these things (you mentioned other stuff as well) bother you so much, you shouldn't go. Maybe, if more people did that, those things would change.

 

[Holdfast]

One of the perks of having a US as well as a UK passport means no entry charge for me.

One of the downsides is having to file with the IRS.

The universe has a weird sense of humour.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

Considering your disrespect for the President of the United States of America, we do not need you here. Stay where you are and complain about wherever you live instead.

Disrespect! He has not done anything to earn my respect.
That goes for the airport porn scanners and the sexual assault searched people have to go through now just to travel in the US a well.
Charging me to enter the country doesnt do any thing to earn my respect.
Seems to me it violates my right to travel freely throughout the world.

Have a nice visit to North Korea.

 

[Captain Ice]

Seems to me it violates my right to travel freely throughout the world.

And herein lies your problem. Having the ability to travel throughout the world does not make said travel a right. Traveling at all is a privilege, not a right.

One of the perks of having a US as well as a UK passport means no entry charge for me.

One of the downsides is having to file with the IRS.

The universe has a weird sense of humour.

The ninth level of hell is an audit from the IRS. I'd pay the entry fee just to NOT have to deal with them. Is there an equivalent of the IRS over there?

 

[clint g]

I probably pay more in tolls going from DC to NYC. $14 isn't that big of a deal. If it bothers you that much, don't come. Or fly to Canada and sneak over the border in the middle of the night, I don't really care. It depends on how much of an inconvenience you really view this.

And it's not like charging money is restricting some natural right. You can talk about the principal all you want, but the truth is, you're complaining about voluntarily engaging in something that isn't free and the other side wants to charge you.

For christ sake it costs 14 dollars to cross one BRIDGE between one part of New York City to another part of New York City. It blows my mind that a 14 dollar entry fee into the US is an issue.

If you can't afford it, DON"T come here. If you do, you'll die of a heart attack at the realization that we ALSO tax road usage in our country.

 

[Holdfast]

One of the perks of having a US as well as a UK passport means no entry charge for me.

One of the downsides is having to file with the IRS.

The universe has a weird sense of humour.

The ninth level of hell is an audit from the IRS. I'd pay the entry fee just to NOT have to deal with them. Is there an equivalent of the IRS over there?

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs, aka HMRC, aka "those thieving gits".

 

[Jonas Grumby]

Seems to me it violates my right to travel freely throughout the world.

There is no such right. And, frankly, the naivete betrayed by that statement makes me suspect you might be woefully unaware and unprepared for what awaits you in Las Vegas.

 

[Naira]

Well, every country has its laws. However, you are right about not everyone having a credit-card. What if you don't? You'll have to go back to where-ever you came from?

I had to get a visa when I came to the USA. I had to pay 130 euros plus more than that to travel to Athens because I had to personally go to the embassy to get it. The process was something like that:

- Here are my photos for the visa.
- Are they newer than 6 months old?
- Yes
- Hmm, we can't be sure madam. Go to our photographer and get some new photos for 10 euros.
- OK.
- Are you a terrorist?
- No.
- Do you plan to blow up anything?
- No.
- OK, here is your visa. 130 euros please. Oh, and 20 euros to have your visa sent to you. No, you cannot pick it up yourself.

That was the entire process! All about money... They even had one if those high-rate phone lines of you needed to call for information! All other services here have toll-free lines...

 

[iguana_tonante]

nacelle, I don't know who you are but this thread is hilarious. Thanks for the laugh.

 

[Tulin]

I just found out theres a charge now for the ESTA.
I am totally furious. Apparently obama is behind this. Thanks so much for voting in a mindless puppet!
This is from the ESTA website when you click apply:

The Travel Promotion Act of 2009
On March 4, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Travel Promotion Act (TPA) of 2009, Pub. L. No. 111-145. The Act directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a fee for the use of the ESTA system, comprised of $10.00 for each VWP applicant receiving authorization to travel to the United States and $4.00 for the processing of the ESTA application. Applicants who are denied authorization to travel to the U.S. under the VWP will only be charged $4.00. The fee may only be paid by credit card.

Why should i pay for a visa waiver?

Have you seen how low the yank dollar is going for now?!?

When I visited in 2001 I got US50c to $AUS1.00.

Now one Aussie buys you almost $US1.08!!!

Their economy is SERIOUSLY in the shitter so I am in NO WAY surprised they have become the Ferengi of the international community - $10.00 to enter the country, $5.00 to use our toilet......


Their dollar SERIOUSLY SUCKS right now, while our economy is going fucking GANG BUSTERS!!!!!!!

 

[Tulin]

Unless your a so called asylum seeker of course. Then you get a massive free house and thousands of pounds in benefits!

Oh so I see it's the same in the UK as in Australia?

I keep telling my 89 year old nan(on a widow's pension)that I am going to paint her in black face, put her in a row boat, and tow her a mile off Cottesloe Beach, here in Perth. We'll alert the coast guard to bring her in and then my entire family will be set up FOR LIFE!!!!!

Free house, free white goods, social welfare payments and all manner of assistance!!!!


The Weakening West fucking SUCKS.

 

[Tulin]

I don't see the problem in having you bear that cost, rather than US taxpayers.

Haha, what the hell, why should foreigners/non citizens pay the debts the US made?

Exactly my point re:tipping in the US.

I don't like doing it(we don't tip here in Australia)and I very rarely did it when there.

I didn't vote to create the economic system whereby food service staff are paid less then minimum wage in Australia and have to prop up their pay with gratuities from customers, so why should I pay that and be a part of that gauging?

And frankly, I know lots of Americans who DO NOT tip as well!

 

[Myasishchev]

I don't see the problem in having you bear that cost, rather than US taxpayers.

Haha, what the hell, why should foreigners/non citizens pay the debts the US made?

Exactly my point re:tipping in the US.

I don't like doing it(we don't tip here in Australia)and I very rarely did it when there.

I didn't vote to create the economic system whereby food service staff are paid less then minimum wage in Australia and have to prop up their pay with gratuities from customers, so why should I pay that and be a part of that gauging?

And frankly, I know lots of Americans who DO NOT tip as well!

If you don't want to be part of it, it's easy: you don't go to a restaurant. You don't opt into the system by buying the employer's food, then stiffing your server.

This attitude is pretty much why we didn't cotton to tourists in the service industry. It's what they call "cognitive dissonance," folks.

I keep telling my 89 year old nan(on a widow's pension)that I am going to paint her in black face, put her in a row boat, and tow her a mile off Cottesloe Beach, here in Perth. We'll alert the coast guard to bring her in and then my entire family will be set up FOR LIFE!!!!!

This post is like a school in the summertime.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Unless your a so called asylum seeker of course. Then you get a massive free house and thousands of pounds in benefits!

Oh so I see it's the same in the UK as in Australia?

I keep telling my 89 year old nan(on a widow's pension)that I am going to paint her in black face, put her in a row boat, and tow her a mile off Cottesloe Beach, here in Perth. We'll alert the coast guard to bring her in and then my entire family will be set up FOR LIFE!!!!!

Free house, free white goods, social welfare payments and all manner of assistance!!!!

The Weakening West fucking SUCKS.

Keep your angry, bigoted commentary to yourself and out of the forum. I'm tired of talking to you about it. You get an infraction for trolling.

And learn to use the multiquote function before you go on your next rambling rant full of non sequiturs.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

$10.00 to enter the country, $5.00 to use our toilet......

Interestingly enough, the only places I've ever been charged to use the bathroom were in Europe.

 

[Myasishchev]

Wow, that's just inviting some creative vandalism. Pretty much any place that charges to use the toilet deserves a nice brown present in their merchandise. That's probably the most anti-human business practice I can imagine that doesn't actively involve slavery.

Is a contract like that even enforceable? Because that's duress dripping down your pants leg.

 

[MANT!]

When I travelled in West Germany, (yes it was THAT long ago) one didn't have to pay for the toilet..just the paper


Charges when travelling are part and parcel of international tourism..

Remember, if you piss off the wrong person in Vegas, your body is likely to never be found... so, get any idea of 'principle' out of your head...

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Hell I have to pay $16 every time I travel between Long Island NY and New Jersey and I'm not going anywhere great.

 

[CaptainStoner]

I opened this thread and was charged $14. What the fuck.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I opened this thread and was charged $14. What the fuck.

Sorry guys, gotta pay for my coke habit somehow.