If we had done what the UK wanted we'd still be under their control.
And then we would be one of the countries uprising now.
And then we would be one of the countries uprising now.
Why should i pay $14 to enter the US?
- Thread starter nacelle
- Start date
Exactly. The UK and US are separate entities and can pretty much do whatever they want. If the US wants to charge foreigners a fee to enter the country, too bad for the foreigners.
And I agree with those that have that if $14 is really an issue, you probably shouldn't be planning this kind of a trip in the first place.
Peru - $31
Chile - $131 reciprocity fee
Brazil - $131
Get over it
Chile - $131 reciprocity fee
Brazil - $131
Get over it
But that isn't the American way! If I want to start having children at age 11 and have one every year the country should pay for that! If I want new needles for my drugs the government should pay for that! If I want to be a fat ass lazy fucker who lays on a couch all day, never working, collecting money so I can afford a 60 inch 3D blu-ray TV with a PS3! That's my right! It's the American way!
So in other words, you resent that your own over-officious and expensive country is not charging people in the same way as this over-officious and somewhat less expensive country...when normally they do.
RAMA
Because we are America, and we are AWESOME!
A
Amaris
Guest
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:
Why should i pay for a visa waiver?
Apparently the $10 is to promote tourism. WTF! Like how is it going to promote tourism when they charge tourists a fee to enter the country?
What happens if you dont have a credit card? Not everybody does.
Its more likely to keep people away especially when flights and such cost so much now people just dont need any more expense added to a well deserved holiday/vacation.
Un f-ing believable.
The UK or any other country for that matter doesnt charge US citizens to enter their country. But i really do think the UK should start charging US citizens to enter the UK.
If they are going to pull this crap on us then we need to return the favour and bring some much needed tourism money of our own.
Maybe we could call our fee a tourist tax! Everything else gets taxed here, why not the visitors?
Unless your a so called asylum seeker of course. Then you get a massive free house and thousands of pounds in benefits!
Serioulsly pissed off and needed to rant.
$14 for authorization to enter another country that's an entire continent away from where you are now? A country where the average cost for a traveler from the UK is half of your native country? Do you realize that you'll make back your $14 the first day of your visit?
As for principle, what principle? That there's an authorization/security fee when you're entering a foreign country? A country you don't have to visit? I mean, I'm glad you want to visit the U.S., but if your budget can't handle a $14 fee, then you're going to really hate Las Vegas. A friend and I traveled to Chicago, Illinois from Cincinnati, Ohio to visit the Chicago 2010 Trek Convention. We paid $15 just to park our car in the hotel parking lot. We didn't get upset because we expected small fees, and neither of us is made of money.
You have to prepare to pay fees and tolls. You will be nickel and dimed to death no matter where you go. You have to budget for it. If you don't like that, well, you're not going to travel very often, because most countries have fees like that, in one form or another. I know that when I visit the UK in the next handful of years, everything will be twice as expensive as it is here. Should I rail against them for having their own economy, and all the taxes and fees associated with that economy? No. That would be absurd.
Plan smart, and you'll be fine.
You didn't bail out Iceland. You bailed out your own people who had invested in a private Icelandic bank. Why should the Icelandic taxpayers have to pay back money to those investors who decided to invest (in a private bank) outside of their own country?
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.
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.
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:
Why should i pay for a visa waiver?
Apparently the $10 is to promote tourism. WTF! Like how is it going to promote tourism when they charge tourists a fee to enter the country?
What happens if you dont have a credit card? Not everybody does.
Its more likely to keep people away especially when flights and such cost so much now people just dont need any more expense added to a well deserved holiday/vacation.
Un f-ing believable.
The UK or any other country for that matter doesnt charge US citizens to enter their country. But i really do think the UK should start charging US citizens to enter the UK.
If they are going to pull this crap on us then we need to return the favour and bring some much needed tourism money of our own.
Maybe we could call our fee a tourist tax! Everything else gets taxed here, why not the visitors?
Unless your a so called asylum seeker of course. Then you get a massive free house and thousands of pounds in benefits!
Serioulsly pissed off and needed to rant.
So many issues to deal with here.
I'll start by saying that I actually agree with you that charging a fee for tourists entering the country seems counterproductive when the goal is promoting tourism. It might discourage some people from traveling (though not many, since it's a pretty small amount given what most people spend on an international trip) and it often prompts other countries to understandably charge what are called reciprocity fees.
It all comes down to whether the international tourist advertising the fees pay for will cancel out or outweigh the number of people who refuse to travel due to the fee; and I think it will, easily. As I said, in comparison to what the average traveler spends on an international trip, $14 isn't much. Plus, at least it's an up-front fee and not an exiit fee you're surprised with on the way out of a country, which many places do. You have advanced warning and can anticipate or prepare for how the costs will fit into your travel budget.
The tourism industry was pretty hard hit due to a combination of 9/11, subsequent terror attempts, the (excessive, IMO) security measures put in place to combat those attempts, and the global recession of the past couple of years. So, while their heart is in the right place and they're trying to come up with solutions to solve the tourist decline issue, I think the fees send the wrong message. Plus, despite the decline in tourism, we still had 61 million international tourists last year, second only to France, so we're not doing badly.
Now that we've gotten the part I agree with you on out of the way...
Your hyperbole and hysterics on the issue do you no favors. Obama the simultaneous mastermind and puppet didn't come up with this, he just signed it into law. The House passed it 358-66, and the Senate followed with a vote of 78-18, so it had pretty overwhelming support.
If you're taking an international trip without a credit or credit/debit card, I sure hope you have traveler's checks instead of just cash, because if you've only got cash and your wallet is lost or stolen you're screwed. Besides which, since you know about the fee in advance, how hard is it to apply for a regular credit card or a credit/debit card to take with you before you go?
We aren't the only country that charges entry or exit fees:
http://www.gate1travel.com/departure_tax.aspx
https://faq.orbitz.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12600/~/country-entry-%2F-exit-fees
Traveling into other countries is not a right, it's a privilege. One I think we should make as open, easy, and cheap as possible (with security concerns), but not a right. You seem to have a bit of a sense of entitlement.
Again, while I agree with you in principle about the fees, as others have said, if a fairly minor $14 fee seriously affects your travel budget and makes you this upset, maybe you should wait until you're better able to afford the trip. It sounds like you're not prepared for unseen costs or emergencies. What if something came up and you needed some extra money? If you can't cover $14 bucks you're going to be in trouble.
At the moment I would rather pay something in US dollars because $US60 is only worth $AUD55.80. If I had to pay $AUD60 that would be $US64.51.
I wish I could pay in NZ dollars. $NZ60 is only $AUD44.70 (or $US48.07).
I wish I could pay in NZ dollars. $NZ60 is only $AUD44.70 (or $US48.07).
Give me some knowledge of buying some shoes, Mr. Wendell.
To enter Turkey you need to pay €10 or £10 (don't know how much in Yank$) - they won't take YTL for the entry fee. Lots of countries charge some kind of visa/entry fee; I wouldn't be surprised if you see reciprocity from the EU in less than a year's time.
I'm a US citizen so presumably I wouldn't have to pay the fee, but what annoys me more is I have to enter on a US passport and that I had to get my daughter registered as a US citizen rather than leave it for her to decide when she got older. I'd rather pay the fee and not hold a US passport, but then I'd have to go through the rigamarole of giving up my citizenship. The endless requirement to file a 1040 is bad enough!
I'm a US citizen so presumably I wouldn't have to pay the fee, but what annoys me more is I have to enter on a US passport and that I had to get my daughter registered as a US citizen rather than leave it for her to decide when she got older. I'd rather pay the fee and not hold a US passport, but then I'd have to go through the rigamarole of giving up my citizenship. The endless requirement to file a 1040 is bad enough!
The US want you to pay $14 to get into their country. If you want to go, pay it. If you don't want to pay it, don't go. It irritates me when people who are guests in other countries or who want to be the guest of other countries start bitching about those countries.
