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Travelers to the U.S. must pay a new $250 'visa integrity fee' – what to know
- xhkkffbf 1y agoSo it seems like you get the $250 back if you honor the terms and leave by the end. It's an interesting monetary incentive, not unlike the bottle deposits.
- avs733 1y agoits like any other monetary fine projected on to all people - it hurts poor people more. As it stands it isn't an incentive, its just a disruptive and opportunistic approach to take money from a politically disfavored group. THe CBO, as quoted, is clear that until they figure out the reimbursement process they are still just going to colelct the fee and keep the money: >, “CBO expects that the Department of State would need several years to implement a process for providing reimbursements. On that basis, CBO estimates that enacting the provision would increase revenues and decrease the deficit by $28.9 billion over the 2025‑2034 period.”
- snvzz 1y ago"Poor people" shouldn't be traveling to the US. They are bound to cause trouble, and a major VISA overstay risk.
- Moomoomoo309 1y agoExcept they have no idea how it will be implemented, and as the article points out, few people will seek the reimbursement, meaning it isn't automatic and isn't returned when you leave, you must seek it out after you leave the country.
- jabjq 1y agoIs it a fee if you always get it back? It’s more like a deposit.
- mindslight 1y agoIt's a "deposit" you're giving to a government ruled by an autocrat who is notoriously famous for stiffing people when he can get away with it and whose policy platform is based around harassing foreigners. I would consider the money gone.
- xhkkffbf 1y agoI had a similar experience in Europe. The store told me that VAT was refundable, but they didn't mention that the process was so convoluted that few actually did it. I persisted and they sent me a check that could only be cashed in Europe. Unfortunately many countries pull stunts like this.
- mindslight 1y agoGreat - so we're in agreement that this is an unfortunate development for our own country, and thus another way we're unnecessarily destroying our position of global leadership.
- snvzz 1y agoSeems reasonable. For most people, it'll be returned as they leave. For people who really shouldn't be there, it serves as a filter; If they can't afford to loan the US $250, it is unlikely they will be able to afford theirlife necessities once in the US. Such a person should solve their issues BEFORE traveling to the US. For visa overstayers, it funds their deportation.
- jplrssn 1y agoFor someone intending to overstay their visa, is the loss of $250 really going to serve as much of a deterrent?
- snvzz 1y ago$250 is better than $0 for sure. We can argue what the amount should be, but that's a separate discussion.
- AlotOfReading 1y agoIt's pretty clear that it won't be returned as they leave if you read the article. The government would need several years to implement reimbursement and in lieu of providing them the CBO estimates a $29B windfall for the government.
- snvzz 1y ago>It's pretty clear that it won't be returned as they leave if you read the article. What is clear is the bias of the article. The US administration would have to be extremely incompetent to not be able to organize this much. Yet the article pushes this idea.
- alistairSH 1y agoExcept there are no details on how the refund process works... So, family of four saves up to visit NYC for vacation, now they need to find an extra $1000 to take the trip. And it's unclear when they get that money back (is DHS going to post somebody at international departure terminals to issue them - unlikely).
- briandear 1y agoMeanwhile, in Australia, they’re raising student visa fees to $1279 (USD.) US student visas, after all fees are roughly $500 (USD.) UK skilled worker visas are about $1660. The H1B is about $1700. The U.K. multi entry visitor visa for 10 year validity is about $1200. The U.S. version: $185 I understand it’s popular to post articles that sensationalize how “bad” the U.S. is, but reasonable people probably should have some perspective. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australias-ruling-party-hike-student-visa-fees-again-pre-election-pledge-2025-04-28/ https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australias-ruling...
- malinens 1y agoYou do not sound very genuine. It does not say it is multi-entry fee enywhere. For tourists very few countries ask more except visa fee (and many do not require visa at all). For UK this fee is only 16GBP for 2 years and not 1200 USD: https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/electronic-travel-authorisation-eta-factsheet-april-2025/ https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/electronic-travel-author...
- cjs_ac 1y agoAustralia and the UK have their own particular immigration crises. In Australia, overstaying a student visa is the most common way of becoming an illegal immigrant, and so the increased fee is part of a larger suite of reforms designed to reduce this. In the UK, the government wishes to reduce the number of skilled worker visas to deal with a pay compression issue: the average salary for a new graduate in the UK is the same as the minimum wage. This visa integrity fee seems to be a much blunter instrument.
- SV_BubbleTime 1y ago> In Australia, overstaying a student visa is the most common way of becoming an illegal immigrant, This may be due to the difficulties with border crossings.
- testing22321 1y ago> This may be due to the difficulties with border crossings. It’s no harder getting out than it was getting in.
- bamboozled 1y agoSounds great, good job all.
- mindslight 1y agoOne has to love how it's two weeks after the big ugly spendthrift bill was passed, and its actual contents are still being dissected. Not just small details, but entire topics. Where's the time for us citizens to be informed? And the time to write our senators and representatives so they know what their constituents think? Of course that's idyllic, and we haven't had that in decades. At least things like the (anti-) "PATRIOT" act were bipartisan, despite selling out the people. But the sheer speed this barge of incoherent trash was wholesale rammed through really shows how utterly feckless Congress as a whole has become. It seems like they need to watch more of those 90's "Just say no" ads.
- GuinansEyebrows 1y agoMany politicians who voted for the bill publicly admitted they hadn't read it before passing it.
- beart 1y agoThe more interesting (and depressing) aspect of congress is not how few of them read the bills, but the entities that actually write the bills. Most of the laws today have almost nothing to do with all of the lawyers in congress. They are written by lobbyists and industry groups.
- hiq 1y agoAnd then you have things like https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/gambling-tax-trump-big-beautiful-bill-9d01bbbd https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/gambling-tax-trump-big-b... which no one seems to have wanted and made it through anyway.
- hilbert42 1y agoHuh! The US isn't the only country where laws are written by lobbyists and industry groups. I'd maintain it's one of the biggest problems facing democracy these days. People everywhere know their voice hardly counts when lobbying, big business and money are involved.
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- andy_ppp 1y agoI was prepared to be scandalised but it seems fine…
- CaveTech 1y agoThere are border towns where some workers do daily crossings. Without refund infrastructure in place it looks like this would add $250/day fee for all of these individuals
- WesolyKubeczek 1y agoIs it per visa or per entry? Do the workers need to get a visa a day?
- tssva 1y agoThe fee is per visa and not per entry. Non-immigrant work visas usually are valid between 12 - 36 months depending upon the type of visa.
- xnorswap 1y agoThe article says it, "Cannot be waived", so does that mean that the thousands of people who travel under the ESTA visa waiver will suddenly need to find $250 (each, so $1000 for a family of four?), and to have the headache of potentially more forms at the end to get their money back again? That seems like a lot of hassle if so, and will cause people to think twice about visiting the US.
- thepaulmcbride 1y agoI wonder how this will work for visa waiver programs like the ESTA. I have family visiting next year and if they have to pay an extra $1k, it won’t happen.
- pyb 1y agoNo fee according to TFA
- xnorswap 1y agoWhere does it say that? ESTA doesn't appear and searching waiv only turns up: > The fee applies to all visitors who need nonimmigrant visas to enter, and cannot be waived. Which sounds like the opposite of "no fee"?
- dmurray 1y agoESTA is not a visa. It's specifically the process to enter America for people who do not need a visa.
- rwmj 1y agoIt's called a visa waiver, but it's effectively a lightweight visa process. Look at what it involves, not what it is called.
- dragonwriter 1y agoIt is a lightweight pseudo-visa process, but it does not involve anything which is actually legally a visa, so a program that is attached to non-immigrant visas does not apply to it. What things are called in law matters quite a lot.
- rwmj 1y agoFor sure, I'm not disputing this.
- hobofan 1y agoSeems like half of the comments here have only skimmed the article. There doesn't seem to be an intent to implement reimbursement of the fee from the time it is implemented, and clear incentive to be as slow with it as possible. > On that basis, CBO estimates that enacting the provision would increase revenues and decrease the deficit by $28.9 billion over the 2025‑2034 period
- pjc50 1y agoSkimming the article only enhances the vagueness. It remains unclear whether it's just for visas which must be explicitly applied for, or visa waivers with the reference to I-94.
- alistairSH 1y agoFrom what I can tell, visitors with visa waivers (German tourists, for example) are exempt from this fee. So, just another way to discourage the "wrong" sorts of people, who may visit for any number of valid (and profitable) reasons. White European vacationer? Great, welcome to the USA. Everybody else? Get fucked.
- lenerdenator 1y agoPeople complained about American policies and actions for years. Well, now you get to look back upon those policies and actions fondly.
- oceansky 1y agoWhat are you talking about specifically?
- avs733 1y agonot having sterile international transit and forcing everyon to clear US immigration and customs even if you are connecting to another international flight would be a good place to start.
- michaelt 1y agoThe French felt there was little evidence of Iraq having WMDs, or working with Al-Qaeda, and refused to back George W. Bush's US-led invasion in the UN. The US responded with a wine boycott, renaming French Fries to Freedom Fries on the congresesional cafe menu, and some WW2-related insults on TV. At the time, a lot of people would say GWB was one of the worst ever US presidents, that cutting taxes while spending a bunch on a costly war was irresponsible, etc. But looking back? That guy had no signs of dementia, no major convictions, hadn’t been credibly accused of rape, and nobody was heiling hitler at his inauguration. I for one now look back on his presidency fondly.
- lenerdenator 1y agoName it. US desire for oil, troops being stationed abroad, supply-side economics, "lack of culture", gun politics. Those are off the top of my head.
- lordleft 1y agoI feel like an under-discussed consequence of the current administration is how deeply these choices will harm tourism. Travel is a big part of our economy. A 250 dollar fee is yet another reason to choose Europe or Asia or your own country over the US.
- x86x87 1y agoit's almost like they don't want tourists.
- oceansky 1y agoThen why host the World Cup?
- pjc50 1y agoAgreed under a previous administration. Besides, oligarchs like football, that's why it was hosted in Qatar previously.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- ebiester 1y agoFIFA is looking at moving our matches to Canada. I don't think this administration was that interested in hosting a global event.
- keyringlight 1y agoAnd the Olympics in 2028
- hobofan 1y ago... from "certain" countries. Many "desirable" countries have visa-waiver programs where I would assume they would be unaffected.
- testing22321 1y agoSeems like they’re trying hard to deter tourists. Don’t want those commies talking about universal healthcare or maternity leave or Americans might start getting ideas. I gave a talk in Montana last week and I could hear a pin drop when I said my wife got 18 months maternity leave so we travelled the world with our little one.
- betaby 1y ago> my wife got 18 months maternity leave With 100% of salary, 50%? I know some countries 'hold' your place of employment up to 5 years, although one gets only symbolic money during all that time, think like 10% of the salary.
- testing22321 1y ago100% for the first 12 months, then 50% for the next 6. We could have shared that too, but chose not to. By law they must hold her position.
- briandear 1y agoWho paid for that 18 months? Your wife’s lower salary did.
- CyberMacGyver 1y agoIf lower salary means they won’t go bankrupt, and won’t have to sell their house or live paycheck to paycheck from a small medical issue it’s a Great trade off. US adults have the shortest life span among the richest countries so it sucks even more, even your high salary and zero medical issue still means you are living inferior life.
- testing22321 1y agoIf more money made for a better life, you’d think the US would rank higher in quality of life measures, rather than often being dead last among its peer OECD nations. That line of thinking has very much been proven wrong by decades of facts.
- linotype 1y agoMy wife was forced to pay about $200 to Canada at the border because she had a DUI five years prior. Somehow those shakedowns aren’t mentioned in the news. Edit: I’m a Democrat but for each downvote to this post I’m donating $1 to the Republican Party. Y’all are crazy if you think other countries aren’t doing this. Current tally: $2 for downvotes $5 for a comment made without any knowledge of the situation $7 total
- piva00 1y ago> Edit: I’m a Democrat but for each downvote to this post I’m donating $1 to the Republican Party. Y’all are crazy if you think other countries aren’t doing this. That's an absurd amount of butthurtdeness coupled with pettiness, lol. Sucks for your wife, she could've chosen to not drive drunk though.
- linotype 1y ago[flagged]
- alphabettsy 1y agoIf she was driving with a blood alcohol content over the legal limit, then she was by definition, driving drunk. I don’t necessarily agree with the way that Canada handles people with past drunk driving convictions in the US, but that’s not the same thing as a blanket fee.
- linotype 1y agoYes, by definition, you’re right. But she was in no way incapacitated by any reasonable measure.
- piva00 1y ago> $5 for that comment lol. I live in Sweden so kinda couldn't care much less about it, lol. Over here drinking and driving is not tolerated, no amount is considered safe exactly because giving any leeway lets a lot of people to think "I'm not incapacitated enough to not drive", killing people. It's shameful to drunk drive here, glad our traffic is not murderous like yours. > But hey, who cares about facts? Looks like you, since the fact was she was drunk driving by legal definition.
- AnonC 1y agoThe article says that this fee will be refunded after the visa expires. For many people who have had B1/B2 visas, they usually get a 10-year multiple entry visa (during subsequent applications). For this group, it means they may get the refund after the 10-year period. That’s a very long interest free loan to the government of another country. As stated a few times in the article, most of this money isn’t getting back to the people who paid it.
- akmarinov 1y agoHopefully the EU wakes up and starts enforcing its laws. There’s a law saying that if one country requires visa against any of its members, the whole of EU will require visas for that country. Currently the US requires visas for Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus and the European Commission has refused to follow that law, regardless of how many times the European Parliament votes for it to be followed, since they don’t want to impact France’s and Italy’s tourism sectors. With this $250 fee, this refusal of theirs becomes even more egregious.
- dontlaugh 1y agoAs a Romanian, I am indeed still upset about this. Not that I’d want to visit the US, but it’s clear we’re second class EU members.
- oliwarner 1y agoI used to visit the US every few years, both as a child and young adult but a lot less recently. 9/11 broke you. I'm sure Trump hasn't helped, but the border experience is so thoroughly uncivilised, the policing so militarised, your peoples so divided and angry, I can't see why I'd risk myself, my family, or the thousands invested in a holiday there. You have whole generations to heal before that's viable again and honestly you haven't even started.