Responses abroad to new U.S. entry rules have been low-key

The recent dispute between the U.S. and Brazil over our stricter entry rules has generated rhetorical heat and hassles for U.S. tourists, who at one point waited for hours to be fingerprinted and photographed at the Rio de Janeiro airport.

But so far, Brazil’s retaliation is the exception, not the rule, in world reaction to new U.S. security strictures affecting foreign visitors, experts say.

Although Americans going abroad face higher visa fees and more inconveniences in some countries than they did two years ago, most changes are modest.

“It’s getting a little tougher to travel around the world,” said Dale Patterson, chief executive and chairman of Zierer Visa Service Inc. in San Ramon, Calif. “But I thought there would be a harder response.”

Stuart Patt, spokesman for the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, went further.

“We haven’t seen any pattern of retaliation or response,” he said, although he added: “Naturally we’ve heard some grumbling.”

The grumbling is understandable. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. has imposed new entry requirements and higher visa-application fees on foreigners, causing confusion and resentment in many quarters.

In 2002, the U.S. increased the visa-application fee from $45 to $100. This fee is nonrefundable, even if the application is denied. There also may be another fee for the visa itself, depending on the country.

In May, the U.S. began requiring more visa applicants to appear for an interview, and those applicants were advised to expect delays.

In August, the U.S. began requiring visas from foreigners who were only stopping at U.S. airports on the way to another country. (Citizens of more than 20 visa-waiver countries, mostly in Western Europe, who don’t usually need tourist visas to enter the U.S., are exempt from this rule.)

Last month the U.S. began fingerprinting and photographing most foreign visitors entering on visas at 115 airports and 14 seaports. On Oct. 26 the U.S. plans to require citizens from visa-waiver nations to have machine-readable passports or else get visas.

U.S. government officials say these policy changes are needed to prevent another Sept. 11-style attack. Increased application fees also were fallouts from the attacks, the State Department’s Patt said, because security costs increased and revenue from visas dropped 30% as fewer foreigners visited.

Congress, he said, requires that the fee cover the cost of the service.

Regardless, the hardships for foreign visitors are real.

Brazil, a country nearly as big as the U.S., has only four cities where citizens can go for a visa interview, so many incur substantial travel costs, said Rubens Barbosa, Brazil’s ambassador to the U.S.

Barbosa said Brazilians regretted imposing the tit-for-tat fingerprint-photo requirements on American visitors, but he added: “These measures ... are very popular because of the frustration of the Brazilian middle class who would normally travel to the United States.”

Brazil also charges Americans a $100 nonrefundable visa-processing fee.

Even so, the confrontation has lately cooled, and Brazil is installing electronic equipment to speed processing.

Chuck Hobin of Santa Barbara, an American citizen traveling with his Brazilian wife, Monica, said he cleared customs and immigration at the Rio de Janeiro airport in less than 30 minutes last month. The federal police even apologized for putting him through the photo-fingerprint ritual, he added.

“People are very courteous, very efficient,” Monica Hobin said.

The subdued, worldwide response to stiffer U.S. entry rules, experts say, has to do with money and the machinations of diplomacy. Americans are the world’s top spenders among international tourists, contributing $58 billion in 2002, according to the World Tourism Organization.

Traveling recently in Europe, Zierer’s Patterson said that although he encountered resentment of U.S. entry policies among Europeans, “they do like the American dollar, and I don’t think they’re going to do anything to put the squeeze on it.”

The principle of reciprocity, which has long governed visa policies, also discourages over-retaliation. Countries that restrict entry or raise fees for visitors risk having other countries do the same to their citizens.

Entry policies frequently shift. Among recent changes affecting American tourists:

* China on May 1 stopped accepting visa requests by mail. The applicant or a representative -- for instance, a friend, family member, travel agent or visa service employee -- must go to the consulate or embassy to apply. A single entry visa costs $50, up from $30. The fee increased because the U.S. raised its application fee, says a spokeswoman for the China National Tourist Office. Hong Kong is an exception; no visa is required.

* Chile charges a “reciprocity fee” of $100 for American visitors, imposed after the U.S. raised its application fee. Formerly payable only in cash, it can now be paid with a credit card.

* Russia on June 1 raised its lowest single-entry visa fee for Americans from $70 to $100, citing U.S. fee increases. Men ages 16 to 45 must fill out a new form inquiring about their military service.

* Thailand on Aug. 26 increased tourist visa fees from $15 to $25. The fees, which have been unchanged for years, increased worldwide and were “not at all” in response to U.S. fee changes, according to a spokeswoman for Thailand’s embassy in Washington, D.C.

A foreign nation’s embassy or consulate is the best source of up-to-date information on entry requirements for American visitors; the website www.travel. state.gov has general guidelines. Information on what the U.S. requires of visitors from other nations can be found at unitedstatesvisas.gov.

Jane Engle welcomes comments and suggestions but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, or e-mail jane.engle@latimes.com.