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| Cordell Hull Foundation for International Education Phone: 212.300.2138 Fax: 646.349.3455 cordellhull@aol.com www.cordellhull.org www.cordellhull.net |
Subject: Request to VETO $10 fee on visa waiver tourists
Write to: info@barackobama.com
Dear President Obama:
Please line-item veto the $10 fee imposed on foreign travelers from visa waiver countries before signing
the Travel Promotion Act passed by the Senate in September 2009. We must put an end to the
inevitable bureaucratic tangles before they begin.
The proposed $10 fee will likely produce longer lines for tourist entry at the border when the database
systems break down and payment confirmation is not uploaded timely into the SEVIS interface.
Currently the minimum wait time for foreign nationals is half an hour - after 7-24 hours in flight.
We must find ways to be more welcoming to international tourists, add additional immigration officers on
duty at large ports of entry, and clear up bureaucratic roadblocks. Errors and data transfer in and from
the SEVIS immigration database system must first be resolved.
The justification proffered for the $10 fee is to fund a nonprofit corporation devoted to promoting US
travel. It will have the opposite effect: It will discourage rather than encourage tourism and anger foreign
visitors and their governments who do not charge US citizens a fee to visit their countries. There will be
a backlash against the US by foreign countries charging Americans to visit.
European Parliament lawmakers have demanded that the United States drop this fee, calling it “unfair”
and noting that European countries do not impose similar fees or requirements on entering Americans.
This $10 fee must not be imposed on foreign travelers. Adding new rules and fees for entering the US
is counterproductive.
Speaking recently during the European Parliament meeting in Brussels, Secretary of Homeland Security
Janet Napolitano defended the $10 fee to be imposed on travelers from visa waiver countries.
Napolitano said she “could accept a review of the existing transfer of airline passenger data deal, but
rejected calls to drop the new fee.”
We find her position unacceptable. If the U.S. Government needs to fund a tourism campaign, it should
tax the lodging and transportation industry corporations, not foreign nationals.
The United States requires citizens of visa waiver countries to register online at least 72 hours before
travel. Under the proposed plan in the Travel Promotion Act, visitors would pay the $10 fee when they
pre-register. This indignity and inconvenience, in effect requiring foreign visitors 3 days' notice prior to
US entry, should also be lifted.
We appreciate your consideration of our request.
Name:
Title:
Company:
Address:
Phone:
Fax:
Write to: info@barackobama.com
Dear President Obama:
Please line-item veto the $10 fee imposed on foreign travelers from visa waiver countries before signing
the Travel Promotion Act passed by the Senate in September 2009. We must put an end to the
inevitable bureaucratic tangles before they begin.
The proposed $10 fee will likely produce longer lines for tourist entry at the border when the database
systems break down and payment confirmation is not uploaded timely into the SEVIS interface.
Currently the minimum wait time for foreign nationals is half an hour - after 7-24 hours in flight.
We must find ways to be more welcoming to international tourists, add additional immigration officers on
duty at large ports of entry, and clear up bureaucratic roadblocks. Errors and data transfer in and from
the SEVIS immigration database system must first be resolved.
The justification proffered for the $10 fee is to fund a nonprofit corporation devoted to promoting US
travel. It will have the opposite effect: It will discourage rather than encourage tourism and anger foreign
visitors and their governments who do not charge US citizens a fee to visit their countries. There will be
a backlash against the US by foreign countries charging Americans to visit.
European Parliament lawmakers have demanded that the United States drop this fee, calling it “unfair”
and noting that European countries do not impose similar fees or requirements on entering Americans.
This $10 fee must not be imposed on foreign travelers. Adding new rules and fees for entering the US
is counterproductive.
Speaking recently during the European Parliament meeting in Brussels, Secretary of Homeland Security
Janet Napolitano defended the $10 fee to be imposed on travelers from visa waiver countries.
Napolitano said she “could accept a review of the existing transfer of airline passenger data deal, but
rejected calls to drop the new fee.”
We find her position unacceptable. If the U.S. Government needs to fund a tourism campaign, it should
tax the lodging and transportation industry corporations, not foreign nationals.
The United States requires citizens of visa waiver countries to register online at least 72 hours before
travel. Under the proposed plan in the Travel Promotion Act, visitors would pay the $10 fee when they
pre-register. This indignity and inconvenience, in effect requiring foreign visitors 3 days' notice prior to
US entry, should also be lifted.
We appreciate your consideration of our request.
Name:
Title:
Company:
Address:
Phone:
Fax: