Visiting the US will soon require a $250 'visa integrity fee'
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Source: CNN
The United States will require international visitors to pay a new visa integrity fee of at least $250, added to existing visa application costs, according to a provision in the Trump administrations recently enacted domestic policy bill.
The fee will apply to all visitors who are required to obtain nonimmigrant visas to enter the United States. This includes many leisure and business travelers, international students and other temporary visitors. In fiscal year 2024, the US issued nearly 11 million nonimmigrant visas, according to State Department figures.
Tourists and business travelers from countries that are part of the Visa Waiver Program, including Australia and many European countries, arent required to obtain visas for stays of 90 days or less.
Payment will be required at the time visas are issued, and there will be no fee waivers. Travelers who comply with their visa conditions can have their fees reimbursed after the trip is over, according to the provision.
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/21/travel/visa-integrity-fee-usa-international-travelers
So, if people coming from countries where visas [much of Europe, Australia, Israel, Japan, Qatar, etc] are not required do not pay the fee then it will be levied on people from countries the Administration does not necessarily want to encourage - Africa, South America/Caribbean, South and Southeast Asia, etc.
Only white tourists, and those from select few other countries, are welcome with open arms. The Visa Waiver program already says that. This fee just puts a price on the US's disapproval of people from the rest of the world.

SickOfTheOnePct
(8,007 posts)with what other countries charge, as well as which countries are charged. And this does something I'm not aware of other countries doing, which is refunding the fee if they leave when the visa expires.
I don't see a problem with it.
Vthestate
(24 posts)I do not travel due to being blue collar and never confident that I can make if back.....now back seems kinda like a trajectory toward a gulag. As other dream bits the dust, some folks say....I have not problem with it....you don't need to know why or how or who made the decision...other countries finance racism (terror) why not the US state department . + great for tourism!
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,007 posts)...are financing terrorism with their visa fees?
Bernardo de La Paz
(57,199 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(57,199 posts)It will just further depress tourism and investment in the USA. Which are already down. It will even discourage tourism from places that don't need visas due to the complications visitors might fear, not knowing if it applies or not. Or feeling it is not worth the bother figuring it out plus the ICE risk.
progree
(12,103 posts)Omaha Steve
(106,380 posts)DUPE of https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143498085 also OVER 12 HOURS OLD when posted: Updated 17 hr ago
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