Thanks. Seems the Canadian DFAIT website more up to date than the Argentine Embassy website.

Alex, last week there was a message on a private Yahoo/Argentina forum from a US citizen who said they'd received an email from the US Embassy in BsAs describing the delay in implementation.

However, nobody else on the forum (of which there are many US citizens) responded to the posting, nor did the original poster cut and paste from the message they said they'd received.

As I'd posted upthread describing one BsAs reporter's attempts to figure out the exact details of the tax, there seems to be confusion among Argentine government departments as to the state of the (impending) law. So depending on who the US Embassy talked to on the Argentine side, it may not have been correct, so I decided not to post this to FT until it could be confirmed.

However, on an unrelated public BB for Argentina expats, a US family reported arriving at EZE on Jan01 without there being any tax imposed, so I felt safe in posting, and this was subsequently confirmed by Eastbay1K.

As you'd already noted, the law can only come into effect after it has been gazetted, and that had not taken place before Jan31, and there was no mention of it on Timatic (and there still isn't).

So much for NK's un país en serio. Los K needs to quit running the country by the seat of their pants, and stop formulating policy over the dinner table in Olivos. Just my 2 centavos.

John

Thanks for the update. I have to go to EZE next week.

I hope you also want to go. ;)

It's been a couple of years since I've been, but sure. Any excuse to eat lots of grilled meat. ;)

Thanks for the update John.....

I want to comment on the un pais en serio slogan, but Im afraid that I will be banned from FT for using language more suited for a XXX site.... :mad:

Tranquilo! Tranquilo! :D

For some multi-/dual-nationals, it might be cheaper to get a fee-free visa with a non-US passport than to use the US passport.

For an example of this, Moroccan-Americans -- permitted to hold dual-nationality by the government of Morocco and not prohibited from holding dual-nationality by the US -- could get Argentine tourism visas at an Argentine consulate without a visa fee. If such a person were to use their US passport, then the Argentine reciprocity fee applicable to US nationals would be due on arrival when this goes into effect; however, use the Moroccan passport and get a visa in advance, no fee.

[I also know that Indians could get Argentine tourism visas without a fee, but dual-nationality is a violation of Indian law .... and so I am not using Indian-Americans as an example.]

Just to confirm from my recent experience - entering via AEP from Uruguay last week, no fee.

I will be going to GRU for a few days this week, and certainly hope that on return to EZE things are the same for now.

Once all this gets sorted, I really don't mind terribly which way it goes, unless Argentina decides it wants to collect $130 from me every time I come in... which would quickly add up... As a one-off or once every five years charge, I think it's not unreasonable (although perhaps not a great PR move right now). As an every-time fee... well, I might reconsider my temporary base here, and rethink whether I really want to develop a tourism product oriented towards repeat tourists to Argentina - who would obviously get hit hardest if this were the case.

On a recent trip (through last week) we skipped Brazil because of the visa fee.

Guess Argentina would be skipped too on next trip to S.America if they put in the same fee.

American fee is out of line, but, hitting tourism with a visa fee doesn't make sense for a country like Argentina (doesn't mean they won't do it, of course).

By the way, we arrived in B.A. Dec. 31st. No visa needed.

Still no word on when the fee is going to be implemented, or any other details, but the policy has been reaffirmed in a recent meeting between Florencio Randazzo, the minister of the Interior, and Earl Anthony Wayne, the current US ambassador:
http://www.infobae.com/contenidos/42...-La-Argentina-

Reader's comments are always interesting ... (the article was published this morning and over 650 comments have been posted by early afternoon ). A flame suit may be required clothing :cool:

John

John beat me to posting this.... but I guess the bottom line is that this is going to be implemented.

I thought this article was interesting. Brazil admits their visa fee is hurting tourism, best guestimate is about 40 percent. Forty percent more tourists will bring in more money than this proposed visa fee. If you thing about it, a family of four traveling to Argentina will have to pay $520 just for this one fee. It will be enough to detour travel plans somewhere else.

http://www2.camara.gov.br/agenciaint...ocity-in-visa/

Yeah, but the K government will never admit that even the $130 fee will therefore not be spent later in a restaurant, clothes shop, etc.

I wouldn't blame them for doing so, but it might keep me away.

If there's 20 other countries I still want to visit that don't charge a fee, I don't see a reason to visit Argentina until I visited all the ones that don't charge.