Visa fees are set mostly based on a concept called diplomatic reciprocity. Whatever regulations the government of your country imposes on our people, will be the regulations we will impose on the people of your country. Visas in Places like Bolivia and Brazil ($160 USD) are expensive because that’s how much citizens of those countries are charged for an American visa. But please remember that $160 is a lot more expensive for a Brazilian or a Bolivian to pay than for an American since the value of the currency of those 2 countries is worth way less than the American dollar. So at the end of the day South Americans pay way more and to undergo way stricter regulations than just just opening your wallet and paying a slightly inconvenient fee.

Yes, immigration officers do usually look for an empty page and then put their stamp right in the middle so it takes up the most room. Very annoying! Had never thought of sticking two pages together like this – great tip!

Hi Sebastian,
While I do agree that many Americans do have wealth, it’s certainly not true for all Americans. Just take a look recent poverty and income disparity statistics for the United States. What we are talking about here is the stereotype that ALL Americans are rich like Bill Gates or Brittany Spears, and the impression that the streets of the U.S. are paved in gold (something we heard a lot in Central Asia).

I agree that $12k/year is more than many people in the world earn, but it also depends on what the food, housing, and other costs are where you are living that goes into how you can actually live or support a family with that money. It would be very different to live on that amount in the U.S. than in India, for example.

And yes, we’ve talked with many people about how much they earn as we’ve worked on microfinance and NGO projects in countries like Bangladesh, Bolivia, India, Guatemala, etc. We also know from our travels and these experiences that money and wealth does not always equal happiness.

Reciprocity fees for American citizens is rather common around the world – Argentina and Chile do the same – and I can’t say I blame countries for implementing them. Unfortunately, however, it does sometimes mean that American citizens don’t visit those countries because of the fees. And then the local economy misses out on those tourism dollars. We only saw 2 American tourists in Bolivia in the course of almost 2 months because of the fee while Peru and Ecuador was full of Americans. Many people told us it was because of the fee and paperwork hassle.

Let’s hope one day we’ll have a smoother paperwork system for crossing borders!

As for my country China, Chinese visa for serbians cost 5USD I believe, because serbian visa for Chinese citizens also cost 5USD. US visa would cost 160USD for anyone of any nationality (which is definitely over-priced) therefore for many countries, when an US citizen applies for a visa, it will cost an equivalent of 160USD.

About Bolivia categorising US into “third-world countries”, I believe that is purely because…….they want the visa fee from the Americans because there are just simply so many!

Brazil and China do this in the most obvious way: Brazil directly charges US citizens for a “Reciprocity fee” of 140USD whereas China explicitly sets a 150USD fee for US citizens.

Brazil and China do this in the most obvious ways: Brazil directly charges US citizens for a “Reciprocity fee” of 140USD whereas China explicitly sets a price for US citizens. The guy working at the Chinese embassy probably just doesn’t know the actual reason of why it’s more expensive for americans…..and old people in China were taught to be “anti-americans”.

As you said, I guess bolivia categorises US into “Third-world countries” only due to the existence of a huge American population, which means they can collect more visa fees.

Even when non-visa nationals, like UK-citizens and French-citizens come to the US, we still need to get an electronic travel permission which costs 14USD or 9GBP. However when Americans come to Europe they get both “visa-free” and “free visa”.

Anyway blame US government for being so cheap to foreigners……..respect to America & Americans though cool country which I’d like to visit over again and again

Greetings from UK!