Canders

I just coughed-up $130 USD for a VISA to Vietnam.
((GASP))
That's got to be a world record fee, right!?
Has anybody else paid more than for an entry VISA to any another country??

thursdaysd

That's pretty steep. I think my most expensive visa to date was Russia, at $100. However, I think this is a reaction to high U.S. visa fees. I see on the Indian U.S. embassy site that U.S. nationals are paying $20 more than other nationals applying at the same embassy.

rhkkmk

most countries peg their visa costs to what we charge their citizens to come here, i believe..

blgerber

Most visas are reciprocal. So if the USA charges 100 USD for Chilean to come to America, Chile will hike its visa fee for Americans to come to Chile. Its a whole lot of stupid buerarcrcy that you end up paying for out of pocket.

cruisinred

On the Africa board I've read that the visa fee for an American in Zambia is $100, even if just transiting from one side of Vic Falls to the other. The visa fee for EU citizens is $25....so yes, it has a lot to do with countries expressing their opinion of US policies by increasing visa fees.

thursdaysd

I don't think it has to do with "policies" if you mean foreign policy. It has to do with what it costs citizens of other countries to get a US visa.

thursdaysd

From (U.S.) travel.state.gov:

What are the Required Fees?

* Nonimmigrant visa application processing fee - Each applicant for a visitor visa must pay a nonrefundable US $100 nonimmigrant visa application processing fee.
* Visa issuance fee – Additionally, if the visa is issued, there will be an additional visa issuance reciprocity fee, if applicable. Please consult the Visa Reciprocity Tables to find out if you must pay a visa issuance reciprocity fee and what the fee amount is. If there is a fee for issuance for the visa, it is equal as nearly as possible to the fee charged to United States citizens by the applicant's country of nationality.

Canders

Interesting.
So how does the VN Embassy get away with charging more than Vietnamstay.com? Or a better yet, how does Vietnamstay.com charge LESS than their government's Embassy?
And, why aren’t more people squawking about this fee for VISA more?

thursdaysd

Canders - what kind of visa did you get, and where did you get it? Travisa says the consular fee for a single-entry tourist visa for Vietnam is $70, CIBT says it's $65. Of course, if you use an agency like that, you have to pay their fees on top.

mrwunrfl

No, what you bought was a two-entry visa.

The fee you paid was equivalent to the fee for two single-entry visas.

The visa fee link on the embassy webpage is supposed to launch a mail application, putting "[email protected]" in the To box and "visa fee?" (without the quotes) in the Subject box.

That link didn't work for me when I was doing my application, so I called. I figured out what the link does after your post the other day.

Send an e-mail to that address and with that subject (probably don't need an actual content in the mail) and you should get a replay within a day.

The e-mail explains it all, but you really need to know what "SINGLE ENTRY, ONE-MONTH" means for visa use (or find out).

mrwunrfl

btw, the embassy e-mail says a lot, including:
6) WHAT IS THE FEE?
WITHOUT A PRIOR AUTHORIZATION/APPROVAL:
-SINGLE ENTRY, ONE-MONTH:
- $65.00 (REGULAR SERVICE - 5-7 BUSINESS DAYS).
- $85.00 (RUSH SERVICE - 02-3 WORKING DAYS).

The "prior auth/approval" applies to business visas. Meaning those are the fees if you aren't getting a business visa.

If you click the link in my last post then it might launch your e-mail application and fill in the "To". In "Subject" just put:
visa fee?
and send it.

The e-mail is probably going to be replied-to automatically, with no human involved. But I'd like to think that an involved human would get 100 e-mail requests (not spam) from fodorites tomorrow and decide to just put the fee info clearly on their webpage. But they might want the e-mail, to count it, as a way to track interest in tourism.