What is the period of validity of the visa?

Not the smartest move for the economy IMHO.

It is relatively easy for me to visit the United States (I travel on a Canadian passport). But if I were to line up and pay for a visa, wait for approval, then get my ten fingers massaged for the privilege, I won't be spending one cent of my tourist dollar there.

1 year.

Those are exactly my feelings with Canada (My loss that is for sure), I get to pay 75 dollars for a single entry or something like 150 for multiple entries, I get to give them my passport for them to keep for a period of time that can be 2-4 weeks (unless I take a plane to GUA and then I can get same day service) and then on arrival I get to have my laptop inspected looking for pictures.

At least with the US I get my passport back in 1-2 days at most

My loss mainly (because I did visit Canada once before and I would love to see the Canadian Rockies) but every country can do whatever they want with their visa fees, they claim they dont get back the cost with the current fee so it makes sense to me that they at least break even.

Most people do not get a 5 year Brazilian visa. Of 20 people I know that have gone to Brazil in the last few years, less than 20% have gotten the 5 year.

I sorry to hear that. What are those people doing with my tax dollars!

What the heck is neo-liberalist? The philosophy you describe appears to be what passes for conservative--what with the Bushites raising fees to come to the not so friendly US.

In any event, based on this thread, apparently, on my next trip to China I will have to pay a hundred bucks for a multi entry visa--no single entry option. How many multi entries--unlimited?

Look it up at m-w.com. You have to go back a few hundred years to find liberalism as far as economics and business go (and not the more-popular social definition).

If I am not mistaken, Milton Freidman and infamous Chicago school were among the early proponents of neo-Liberalism. The found initial followings in Chile under Augusto Pinochet, and then in the U.K. under Thatcher and in the U.S. under Reagan. The "user pay" concept is part of that doctrine.

It's a really, really stupid move on the part of the U.S. With the weak dollar and all, tourism to the U.S. should be absolutely shattering records, but it can't even regain the 2000 level back when the dollar was strong. Having the ridiculously high fees might save the government millions but is costing the economy BILLIONS. Just the foregone tax revenue from the missed tourism would exceed any "savings" from having such a high fee many, many times over.

Many places could also use the tourism with the U.S. headed toward recession but the rest of the world economy holding up much better. I think there's some awareness in the most tourism-dependent states (Nevada, Florida and Hawaii come to mind) that the U.S. is really missing out. But with all the demagoguery about the WOT I think you'd need a careful political message. Maybe the best hope for change is if Congressmen from most-affected states attacked it as a waste and inefficiency issue, saying they're all for careful screening but the cost needs to be brought down.

The US visa system is an absolute cash cow. I had to apply for a tourist visa about 2 years ago, from the embassy in London. The process went something like this:

1. Call the information line, charged at £1.50 per minute, for about 15 minutes to find out how it works and what documents I need.

2. Call the appointment booking line charged at £1.50 per minute for about 10 minutes, to find no appointments available that I can attend (delay from booking to attending roughly 4 weeks)

3. repeat 2 above 3 or 4 times till a suitable appointment becomes available. This time the call takes about 20 minutes.

4. Wait for confirmation in the post, and a special bank deposit slip to pay the fee

5. Fill in various application forms, gather supporting documents over a period of about a week.

6. Go to the bank to pay the £60 fee, and get a stamp on the specially approved slip

7. Find one of the few places in London that do passport photos that meet the US standard (which no other country uses) - cost around £15 (normal passport/visa photos around £3)

8. Take time off work to attend the appointment, which consists of 2 hours waiting in line, and 10 minutes talking to an official & submitting paperwork.

9. Pay £10 to get passport couriered back to me (no alternatives offered)

10. Wait to receive passport back with visa.

Total cost = around £180.

If they hadn't given me a 10-year visa, there is no way I would go through that again, weak dollar or not!

-- Mike

In all fairness, Mike, the first 3 steps could have been avoided by checking the web. ALL the information regarding necessary forms and paperwork can be found online. If you know your availability well you also don't have to call several times to make an appointment. It's up to you to know your schedule well and be able to propose several alternatives. The person @ the other end of the line can just say "that's not good, that won't work either,... BINGO! We have a winner".

I feel that increasing the visa fee is rather hostile towards foreign visitors and I therefore disagree with it. I TOTALLY disagree with them having to break even. If they established more efficient (and friendly) visitor policy maybe this wouldn't be such a problem.

Well think of it another way. If I had pounds or Euros and considered visiting the US, $31 would mean hardly anything after factoring the drop in the dollar since the year 2000 you mentioned. (By the way, I've noticed several articles about a large increase in foreign holiday shoppers in NY this year.) Besides, doesn't the US issue 10-year visas, unlike many other countries with a "reciprocity" fee?

Some important points are missing from your description, owing to the fact that you live in a city with a consulate. For most people, steps 7b (take train or drive to city where consular office is located on day before interview, stay at nearby hotel to arrive in time for 7.30am appointment), and 9b (return by train or car) are necessary, often driving the cost for a visa to $500 or more.

I got my visa in 2003 and pretty much everyone I met in Brazil who was an American had a 5 year visa.

Only exception I've ever seen is if the visa is acquired out of the country, such as in Australia or Japan.

The first step could have been avoided, but the 2nd and 3rd couldn't - you can't book appointments over the web, nor can you talk to anyone - it is done via an automated system iirc.

To be fair though, similar (though less extortionate) systems are in place for Schengen visas too

-- Mike