“In order to strengthen the relationship between Argentina and the United States of America, the Argentine Government has resolved to suspend the collection of the reciprocity fee from US passport holders who visit our country for less than 90 days, for tourist or business purposes.”
Argentina Visa Reciprocity Fee Suspended for American Citizens
That is the announcement posted at the official Internet web site of the Embassy of Argentina in the United States of America, which is effective immediately — more specifically, as of Thursday, March 24, 2016 — and is excellent news for any American citizen who wants to visit Argentina.
If you are an American citizen who has already paid the Argentina visa reciprocity fee, you might be able to get a refund.
Originally $131.00 when the visa reciprocity fee was first instituted back on Sunday, December 20, 2009 in response to a similar visa fee which the United States was charging visitors from Argentina, the fee eventually increased to $160.00 when the United States increased its fee for a non-petition-based non-immigrant visa to $160.00 on Friday, April 13, 2012.
The new rule does not alter visa charges or reciprocity fees for citizens of other countries.
Brazil temporarily waived its visa reciprocity fee for citizens of the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan effective between Wednesday, June 1, 2016 and Sunday, September 18, 2016 for the 2016 Olympic Games in the city of Rio de Janeiro. As of Wednesday, February 26, 2014, citizens of the United States became exempt from paying the visa reciprocity fee of $160.00 to visit Chile.
The wording of the official announcement reads like it could be interpreted that the Argentina visa reciprocity fee has been suspended indefinitely; but the confusion lies that it can also be interpreted as that it has been suspended for only 90 days — meaning that it is once again effective as of Friday, June 24, 2016. Most reports state that the Argentina visa reciprocity fee has been suspended indefinitely until further notice.
Summary
Regardless of the reason as to why the Argentina visa reciprocity fee for American citizens was suspended, this is welcome news…
…and it would really be nice if the United States of America would reciprocate the favor for citizens of Argentina who want to visit by suspending its fee for a non-petition-based non-immigrant visa indefinitely.
In fact, I still believe that other countries — including the United States — should follow the leads of Brazil, Chile and Argentina for the reasons cited in this article…
Photograph ©2005 by Brian Cohen.
