Open Jaw

I am an American and I have been planning a trip around South America. I know that some nations require people to pay an extra fee to enter and/or exit each nation (not included in the airfare.) I have contacted several embassies to inquire about these fees but I only get incomplete information. Thus, I decided to ask the FTers here for help. Thanks for any help you may provide.

As of right now the trip will include the following countries:

Colombia
Ecuador
Peru
Bolivia
Chile
Argentina
Uruguay
Brazil

bruceba

Peru $31.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Argentina has an exit fee of US$28 (which can be paid with credit card). Brazil has no entry/exit fee but does require a visa for US citizens. The cost is $130 assuming that you are applying in person (since you are NY base you can apply at the local consulate on 6th ave near Rockfeller Center). The visa is typically (but not always) then good for five years from the date of issue.

Queenofdenial

Chile has a reciprocity fee for US citizens of about $100 USD good for the life of the passport.

Enjoy the trip.....

Skyline

Just an update that this was $131 in April 2009 payable with Visa/MC or US$

Queenofdenial

Wow, it was just a dollar ot two over $100 IIRC when I was there in November. Glad my passport had just been reissued and it will last me the full ten years!

Eastbay1K

I'm on year 8 of a passport with a $61 fee and about 13 entries so far. I will cry in 2 years.

Brazil - $131 (or so) visa
Chile - $131 reciprocity (no visa)
Argentina - Reciprocity Fee slated to start at any time, but has already been delayed for months with no known start date. On all newly issued tickets, the exit airport tax is part of the ticket.

galeaoguy

Brazil is $36 US to exit at an airport... I have no idea about land crossings... It is added on to a Continental ticket price, along with the other taxes and fees

U.S. Security Service Fee: 7.50
Brazil Embarkation Tax: 36.00
U.S. Passenger Facility Charge: 12.00
U.S. Customs User Fee: 5.50
U.S. APHIS User Fee: 5.00
U.S. Federal Transportation Tax: 32.20
U.S. Immigration User Fee: 7.00

Efrem

The Chilean fee and the Brazilian visa charge both track what the U.S. charges for a visa and will therefore be the same at any given time. That said, the processes differ:

Chile: pay on arrival, take cash and recently credit cards, instantaneous (unless there's a rare long line at the window), hassle-free, good for the life of the passport you use to enter.

Brazil: get in advance, requires either in-person visit to consulate or extra charges for mail service, rules can be rigid and vary from consulate to consulate, payment only by US Postal Service money order (some consulates reportedly also accept cash), takes at least a week, usually good for five years but some have reported getting 90-day visas, cannot be obtained more than 90 days in advance. (This last point is important: DO NOT get your visa more than 90 days before you will enter Brazil; it becomes void if not used for the first time within 90 days of being issued.)

Open Jaw

Thanks everyone for the info. If there are updates please post them here because I will be checking often.

huntejm

It might be important (depending on how you're travelling from country to country) to remember that Chile only charges the entry fee on arrivals by air (and I think only on arrivals by air to SCL). If you come in by land or sea, you're good to go.

Due to reward flight availability, we had to fly into SCL and out of EZE so had to pay the fee. If we could have reversed our trip (we took a bus over the Andes which is a fun thing to do if the weather's good), we could have saved $200 in entry fees ($132 Cdn, $61 Aus).

deniah

bolivia has airport taxes

Gaucho100K

Wirelessly posted (Nokia N97: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D050; Blazer/4.3) 16;320x448)

Argentina is not charging the fees as was announced.

ElvisNYC

In Ecuador

At GYE it's $27.75
In UIO it's $40.80

villeradieuse

In Chile, if paying by cash make sure the bills are in good shape. I had one $20 with a little tear in the corner that the supremely bored-looking agent at the desk refused to take. She pointed to the credit card icons applied to the desk window, but didn't understand what I was trying to say when I asked her if it would be treated as a purchase (paying the exit fee from Costa Rica on a Visa treats the transaction as a CASH ADVANCE (!!!) and I'd rather not start my vacation that way).

In other words, have crisp, new bills and exact change if you can. US dollars are widely accepted as payment in many places in Latin America so it never hurts to have some extra on hand anyway.