Always sticking it to the American...

Mr S · Post by **Mr S** » November 28th, 2009, 1:21 am

Why do almost all foreign countries charge Americans the most when applying for a visa? It's like they think we have the most money and we can afford whatever amount they can come up with. There are many other countries with higher living and economic standards than USA that get charged less. It's really annoying cause I have to pay an extra 20 bucks over every other nationality just to get a tourist visa to India. I think citizens of of the EU countries should be charged more cause their currency is higher than the dollar.

Repatriate · Post by **Repatriate** » November 28th, 2009, 2:10 am

Visas are all about reciprocity. The reason why India charges more is probably because somewhere down the line some state official decided to make it more of a hassle for Indian nationals to visit.

SNS · Post by **SNS** » November 28th, 2009, 4:02 am

Repatriate wrote:Visas are all about reciprocity. The reason why India charges more is probably because somewhere down the line some state official decided to make it more of a hassle for Indian nationals to visit.

I am inclined to agree. I think a lot of countries who allowed Americans to enter without a hassle are getting fed up with America's policies. A good example is Brazil where a gringo from the States never needed a visa to enter. But since 9/11 the United States government would finger print and photograph all Brazilian visiting America, so the Brazilian government now require any American to jump through some hoops in order to visit Brazil. And the Brazilian government now require that you provide a bank statement to prove you have enough money to visit and that you will not immigrate to their country. This sounds idiotic but the Brazilian authorities do this only because of the way U.S. Immigration treats the Brazilians.

Mr S · Post by **Mr S** » November 28th, 2009, 4:41 am

Yeah, they are probably getting back at Americans in the little ways they can, thus over charging them for visas. I'll have to pay $90 something for one while other nationalities only pay around $60 something or so.

BTW I can fly round trip from Manila to India for less then $400 using discounted airlines, but I have to switch airlines in Singapore. Hell, you can barely get a deal like that flying from the west coast of America to the East coast! Even if I use the regular priced airlines they only bump up the price to around $500, still using Singapore as a change over. If I use Bangkok or Hong Kong it adds another $100-200 depending on the airlines.

Cebu Pacific (Manila) to Singapore ----> Tiger Airways to Chennai, India & then the other way around. (I may fly out from another Indian city, still checking my options)

I'm going to do between 14-20 days or so there I'm thinking...

icarus · Post by **icarus** » November 28th, 2009, 9:21 am

SNS wrote:
Repatriate wrote:Visas are all about reciprocity. The reason why India charges more is probably because somewhere down the line some state official decided to make it more of a hassle for Indian nationals to visit.
I am inclined to agree. I think a lot of countries who allowed Americans to enter without a hassle are getting fed up with America's policies. A good example is Brazil where a gringo from the States never needed a visa to enter. But since 9/11 the United States government would finger print and photograph all Brazilian visiting America, so the Brazilian government now require any American to jump through some hoops in order to visit Brazil. And the Brazilian government now require that you provide a bank statement to prove you have enough money to visit and that you will not immigrate to their country. This sounds idiotic but the Brazilian authorities do this only because of the way U.S. Immigration treats the Brazilians.

No, you need a visa to enter Brasil as an American, although I've never had to show any sort proof of financial status to enter. The customs official gave my GF hell and put her through the third degree last month when she was here but I've never had any such problems in Sao Paulo.

ladislav · Post by **ladislav** » November 28th, 2009, 5:16 pm

Yes, the Indian embassy stuck it to me when I applied for the Indian visa. Oh well, maybe they were watching too many Hollywood movies and listening to Americans repeating over and over and over again that America is the richest country in the world.
The richest country in the world? Pay the highest fee then.
But look at the bright side. Filipina girls smiling at you. Flirting. Why? Well, because you are the richest in the world.
But while there is some reciprocal revenge, it will never be complete. A poor Indian has a snowflake's chance on the surface of the Sun to get a US visa while we, well, can pay a bit extra and be in their country ( or any other country) after putting up with some b.s.
And we do not need to marry an old Filipina to get a visa to stay in RP, do we? We can just breeze through. And as Americans we can make 60-100K pesos a month while Filipinos are lucky to make 10K pesos a month and there is a 16 year wait for most to get into the US. And those are with relatives there. Those without relatives will never get in. Unless they go as a nurse on a B1 visa.

globetrotter · Post by **globetrotter** » November 28th, 2009, 11:41 pm

ladislav wrote: And we do not need to marry an old Filipina to get a visa to stay in RP, do we? We can just breeze through. And as Americans we can make 60-100K pesos a month while Filipinos are lucky to make 10K pesos a month and there is a 16 year wait for most to get into the US. And those are with relatives there. Those without relatives will never get in. Unless they go as a nurse on a B1 visa.

Where are these 100k PHP per month PHP jobs in the RP?

Mr S · Post by **Mr S** » November 29th, 2009, 12:16 am

Become a certified IELTS examiner with either British Council or IDP Australia, which I am one.

globetrotter · Post by **globetrotter** » November 29th, 2009, 7:50 pm

Mr S wrote:Become a certified IELTS examiner with either British Council or IDP Australia, which I am one. :wink:

I thought there were NO certs for IELTS...

Mr S · Post by **Mr S** » November 29th, 2009, 9:46 pm

Why would you think anyone could just walk in and be an examiner? You have to meet a number of minimum qualifications just to get an initial interview. After that you still have to go through their training program and pass their certification tests in speaking and writing assessment. Here is a breakdown of what qualifications an IELTS examiner needs to meet in South China to get hired, although it's pretty much the same in any country.

http://deltabridges.com/job/macau-jobs/ ... outh-china