fee – USA NEWS LIVE

British visitors from dozens of nations could have to pay a brand new entry fee

chandankumarsoft — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 02:51:05 +0000

If you might be traveling to the UK this week, you could have to apply for a travel authorization online before you permit.

Starting Wednesday, the United Kingdom would require U.S. residents, Canadian residents and nationals from greater than three dozen other countries to have a so-called electronic travel authorization (ETA).

Here's what travelers have to know:

What is an Electronic Travel Authorization?

The ETA is a pre-approval for travelers from countries that don’t require a visa within the UK.

The UK launched this system in 2024 for visiting residents from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It will come into force for quite a lot of other countries on Wednesday.

Travelers will still have to undergo immigration control upon arrival. The United States has similar digital authorization requirements for nationals of European Union countries, the United Kingdom, and other countries whose residents don’t require visas to enter the country. Later in 2025, EU countries would require them from US residents and nationals of other countries with similar criteria.

You don’t need an ETA if you have got a visa and are eligible to live, work or study within the UK

How do I get one?

You can apply online using the UK ETA app Android And iPhone. The application costs £10 (about $12.50) and is valid for 2 years and for visits of as much as six months. The fee is paid by bank card.

To apply, travelers must upload photos of their passport and themselves.

How long does it take?

Applicants could wait about three days for a call via email.

What about children?

Every person eligible for the ETA needs one, including babies and youngsters.

What happens if I connect within the UK?

You will need an ETA even in case you are traveling to a UK airport for a connecting flight to a different country.

image credit : www.cnbc.com

Government proposes sharp fee hike for hundreds of extensions of Silicon Valley's hottest visa

chandankumarsoft — Sat, 08 Jun 2024 07:47:53 +0000

Federal authorities plan to dramatically increase the fees for hundreds of H-1B visa extension applications. The fee will probably be raised to $4,000 to cover all extension applications from firms that employ numerous people on the visa.

The H-1B visa is a piece permit for foreign employees with special skills and is widely utilized by Silicon Valley technology firms. However, the questionable use of the visa has sparked controversy.

According to the proposal published by the US Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, renewals that involve a change in job title or a major change in duties may even be subject to the fee in the longer term.

The change would affect firms with a minimum of 50 employees, greater than half of whom hold H-1B visas or the related but less common L-1 visa for executives and managers.

Currently, the fee for such firms applies to latest H-1B petitions and H-1B extension petitions that involve a change of employer.

The so-called “biometric fee” of $4,000 has been imposed since 2015 to fund an automatic system that uses facial images to trace non-Americans entering and leaving the United States. In its fee proposal, the Department of Homeland Security said that without the rise, it could not give you the option to “maintain its current biometric entry processes or continue to implement other important entry and exit programs.”

The agency estimates that the brand new fee will affect about 22,000 renewal applications per 12 months. It could affect relatively small employers in “a wide range” of industries, including software publishing, data processing, computer systems design and engineering, the Department of Homeland Security said.

The agency will accept public comments until July 8 to review before issuing a final rule.

Companies apply for the H-1B visa by submitting provisional applications which can be entered right into a lottery that awards a maximum of 85,000 latest visas annually. In the Bay Area, essentially the most recent count found that almost 60,000 foreign residents were allowed to work for firms within the region on the H-1B visa in 2019, in line with the Bay Area Council.

Companies use the H-1B visa to draw top foreign talent and hire lower-cost IT employees. Critics point to abuses, including replacing U.S. employees with visa holders, while the tech industry is lobbying to boost the annual cap of 85,000.

Earlier this 12 months, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services increased the fee for preliminary H-1B applications, often called “registrations,” from $10 to $250, starting next 12 months. The agency also increased the fee for applications chosen in a lottery from $460 to $780, starting this 12 months.

image credit : www.mercurynews.com

The city is the primary city on this planet to charge an entrance fee

chandankumarsoft — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 02:08:33 +0000

Venice was the primary city on this planet to charge tourists a fee to ease the pressures of mass tourism and make town more livable for its residents.

The pilot program charges day-trippers traveling to Venice, certainly one of Italy's most picturesque and historic cities, a 5 euro ($5.40) fee. The latest fee went into effect on Thursday.

City employees were seen checking day-trippers' tickets outside the delicate lagoon city's Santa Lucia train station. Signs have been put as much as warn tourists in regards to the payment program.

The fee applies to tourists arriving between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. local time. Outside these times, access is free. Day-trippers who fail to pay the fee face fines starting from 50 euros (about $53) to 300 euros (about $322).

Overnight guests staying inside the municipality of Venice are exempt from the fee, but will need to have a QR code to go through the gates at town's major access points. Reuters reported that a booth was arrange for visitors without access to a smartphone.

Clashes broke out between protesters and riot police on Thursday over the pilot program. Some tried to interrupt through a blockade by officers at Piazzale Roma to get into town.

Others held banners reading “No to the ticket, yes to houses and services for all” and “Venice will not be sold, it will be defended” as they protested the measure.

Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro on Thursday said that the primary goal of the prosecution, “that of cultural change, has, in my opinion, been achieved.”

“It is with courage and great humility that we introduce this system because we want to give Venice a future and leave this heritage of humanity to future generations,” Brugnaro said in a Google-translated post on the social media platform X.

On Tuesday, Brugnaro published in a separate post on X said that while Venice can be the primary major city to experiment with the payment program, “overtourism is not a problem unique to this city.”

“Through this measure we want to improve the quality of life in #Venezia, we want to make it safer, cleaner and with more services to guarantee safety for citizens and visitors,” said Brugnaro.

Venice has been toying with the concept of taxing day visitors for years as certainly one of several measures to curb overtourism. Locals have long blamed overtourism for driving up prices and turning town right into a form of souvenir-filled theme park.

Residents, particularly the estimated 50,000 who live in town's historic district, far outnumber the roughly 5.5 million who visited town in 2019, in response to Statista data. Many of those tourists disembark from cruise ships by the 1000’s to photograph Venice's famous canals and squares.

image credit : www.cnbc.com