Chile's $100 Visa for Americans

I will be travelling to Argentina on business, flying into Santiago
only for the day before flying out that evening. Is there any way I can
(legally) avoid paying the ridiculous $100 entry fee to Chile?

Thank you.

To tell you the truth, I don't know, but I believe you can't as it is
in reciprocity of the ridiculous $100 US fee for every Visa application
to enter the US.


ksternberg1@yahoo.com wrote:
> I will be travelling to Argentina on business, flying into Santiago
> only for the day before flying out that evening. Is there any way I can
> (legally) avoid paying the ridiculous $100 entry fee to Chile?
>
> Thank you.

<ksternberg1@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1157733609.427289.249010@i42g2000cwa.******** o********...
>I will be travelling to Argentina on business, flying into Santiago
> only for the day before flying out that evening. Is there any way I can
> (legally) avoid paying the ridiculous $100 entry fee to Chile?
>
> Thank you.
>
I think that the only way to avoid payment of the fee is to enter and leave
the country by land; I entered and left by bus, and no fee applied.

Most such "reciprocal" fees are applied to U.S. citizens in an amount equal
to what the U.S. charges residents of those countries as a visa application
fee. Not all applicants are granted visas, of course; a Chilean who pays
$100 U.S. and is then refused a visa also loses his $100, because it is not
refunded. I don't know of any case where a U.S. citizen has been refused
entry at the Santiago airport.

<raluxs@netscape.net> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:1157738114.178161.266170@h48g2000cwc.******** o********...
> To tell you the truth, I don't know, but I believe you can't as it is
> in reciprocity of the ridiculous $100 US fee for every Visa application
> to enter the US.
>
>
> ksternberg1@yahoo.com wrote:
>> I will be travelling to Argentina on business, flying into Santiago
>> only for the day before flying out that evening. Is there any way I can
>> (legally) avoid paying the ridiculous $100 entry fee to Chile?
>>
>> Thank you.
>

there is a big difference
you will pay 100 us dollars for the application of a US VISA

if you do not get the visa..the 100 us dollars are lost in any case !!

Are you suggesting that even if I can't pay the fee there I probably
will still be allowed in?

John Cisarik wrote:

> don't know of any case where a U.S. citizen has been refused
> entry at the Santiago airport.

<ksternberg1@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1157745144.514629.303420@b28g2000cwb.******** o********...
> Are you suggesting that even if I can't pay the fee there I probably
> will still be allowed in?

In Ecuador, the fee is paid when you exit the country. They won't let you
on the plane if you don't have the cash. I almost ran into a problem last
time I was there in 2000 (before the dollarization)...When I left, I had
only a small amount of cash left, evenly split between Sucres and Dollars.
I had figured that I would use up the last of my Sucres to pay the $25 tax
to leave the airport, then I'd have the last of my dollars to get something
to eat in Miami during my layover. But I didn't know that the tax had to be
paid in cash, in Dollars only. So I ended up going home with about $30
worth of Sucres and not enough dollars to buy lunch in Miami.

I think that if I hadn't had the cash in dollars, they would not have let me
on the plane.

<ksternberg1@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1157745144.514629.303420@b28g2000cwb.******** o********...
> Are you suggesting that even if I can't pay the fee there I probably
> will still be allowed in?
>
> John Cisarik wrote:
>
>> don't know of any case where a U.S. citizen has been refused
>> entry at the Santiago airport.
>
No, I am not suggesting that you will be allowed into the country if you
can't pay the fee. I am comparing the situation of a U.S. citizen, for whom
it is a simple matter of paying $100 and entering Chile, with that of a
Chilean, who pays the same amount when he applies for a visa to visit the
U.S. yet risks being turned down and losing the $100.

On Fri, 08 Sep 2006 09:40:09 -0700, ksternberg1 wrote:
> Is there any way I can
> (legally) avoid paying the ridiculous $100 entry fee to Chile?

Just don't go and stop complaining!

Wow! What a concept.

Instead, I'll just bring 100 $1 bills. I don't understand those
Chileans. Don't they want a nice Imperialist Yankee freelance writer to
write nice things about their country?

One wrote:

> Just don't go and stop complaining!

<ksternberg1@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1157771607.247426.122450@e3g2000cwe.********* ********...
> Wow! What a concept.
>
> Instead, I'll just bring 100 $1 bills. I don't understand those
> Chileans. Don't they want a nice Imperialist Yankee freelance writer to
> write nice things about their country?

With that attitude, they would be well served to keep you out.