$ 250 fee for US visas. What does it mean for tourists and those traveling in business interest

The United States will require foreign visitors to pay a new “visa integrity fee” of at least $ 250, which will be added to the existing costs for the visa request, according to a provision of the draft law regarding the internal policy recently adopted by the Trump administration, reports CNN.

The tax will apply to all visitors who have to obtain non-unimagent visas to enter the United States. This includes many tourists and visitors for business purposes, international students and other temporary visitors, writes news.ro.

Tourists and business travels in countries that are part of Visa Waiver, visa exemption program, including Australia and many European countries, are not obliged to obtain 90 -day or less stays. Romania is not currently included in the Visa Waiver program.

The payment will be requested at the time of issuing visas and there will be no tax exemptions.

Travelers who respect the visa conditions can receive the reimbursement of taxes after the conclusion of the trip, according to the provisions.

In fiscal year 2024, the US issued almost 11 million non-unimagent visas, according to the figures of the State Department.

“Reimburable guarantee”

The lawyer specialized in immigration Steven A. Brown, a partner at Reddy Neumann Brown PC in Houston, characterized the tax as a “reimbursement guarantee” in a recent post about the new policy. The mechanism for obtaining the reimbursement is not clear yet, Brown stressed.

The Department for Internal Security, the agency that instituted the new tax, has not yet provided details about the reimbursement process or any other aspects of policy implementation.

“The visa integrity fee requires coordination between agents before implementation,” said a spokesman for the Department of Internal Security in a statement for CNN.

A spokesman for the State Department stated that the tax was established “to support the priorities of the administration to strengthen the laws regarding immigration, to discourage exceeding the residence period and to finance border security.”

The taxes that are not repaid will be “stored in the general fund of the treasury”, provides for the draft law.

The initial tax, for fiscal year 2025, is established at $ 250 or “the amount established by the secretary of the Department of Internal Security, by order”.

The tax is subject to annual adjustments according to inflation.

The spokesman of the State Department said that the details regarding the modification implemented by DHS will be published on the visa information page of the State Department.

“A huge step back”

The United States Tourism Association, a non-profit national organization that aims to increase the number of trips to and in the United States, has praised other parts of the draft law on internal policy that would invest in the modernization of customs and air traffic control, but qualified the new visa tax as “a huge step back”.

“This tax, which will be at least $ 250 and is added to existing visa taxes, creates an unnecessary financial barrier for international visitors,” said Erik Hansen, senior vice -president of the Association for Government Relations.

According to US Travel calculations, the tax would increase the “initial costs” of visits to the US by 144%. “Even if it is technically refundable, the complexity and additional costs will discourage visitors,” Hansen said.

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