The reciprocity fee which citizens of the United States were required to pay in order to visit Argentina has been eliminated by Presidencial Decree No. 959/2016, published on Tuesday, August 23, 2016, according to this brief announcement posted at the official Internet web site of the Embassy of Argentina in the United States of America.
Reciprocity Fee Eliminated by Argentina for United States Citizens
As of Thursday, March 24, 2016, “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” in order to strengthen the relationship between Argentina and the United States of America.
The wording of that official announcement earlier this year read like it could be interpreted that the Argentina visa reciprocity fee had been suspended indefinitely; but the confusion lies in 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; but confirmation that it has indeed been permanently revoked eliminated whatever confusion may have still existed.
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.
Summary
Last month, Argentina celebrated 200 years of independence from Spain; and now Americans can celebrate independence from paying reciprocity fees whenever visiting Argentina.
That the Argentina visa reciprocity fee for American citizens was permanently eliminated is indeed welcome news — but the reciprocity fee is unfortunately still in effect for citizens of Canada and Australia.
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.
I still believe that other countries — including the United States — should follow the leads of Chile and Argentina for the reasons cited in this article…
Photograph ©2005 by Brian Cohen.
