Tourists and business visitors to the US from most of the world will have to pay additional fees or post bonds of from $250 to $15,000 per person — over and above the current $185 per person visa fee — under provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacted last month  and separate regulations under a preexisting law published today in the Federal Register.

The consequences for inbound international tourism as well as travel to meetings and conventions in the US from most of the world are likely to be devastating. Nobody is going to hold a meeting — conference, trade show, academic symposium, etc. —  in the US under these rules if they want global participation. If other countries reciprocate, as some probably will, US travelers could be hit with much higher fees when they travel abroad.

The biggest beneficiary of these changes to US laws and regulations is likely to be Mexico, where Cancun is by far the most obvious choice for meeting and convention planners looking for an alternative venue close to the US with more hotel rooms than anywhere in the Americas except Las Vegas, the busiest international airport in Latin America, and more welcoming entry and visa policies than the US for visitors from around the world.

Bonding companies and moneylenders from banks to informal lenders to loan sharks offering to underwrite loans and post bonds for would-be visitors who can’t afford to pay the US visa fees in full are also likely to profit from the new US rules. So will the bounty hunters they will hire to track down and collect from US visitors whose “visa bonds” (and whatever they put up as security for them) are forfeited because they can’t prove to the satisfaction of US authorities that they complied with all of the terms and conditions of entry to and departure from the US — or simply at the “discretion” of US visa officers.

The new US law and regulations establish a three-tier schedule of US fees for short-stay visitors, depending on the citizenship of the traveler:

1. Citizens of the small number of most US-favored nations in the US Visa Waiver Program will remain eligible to enter the US, after completing an extensive online questionnaire including  a list of all their social media accounts, for only a $21 Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) e-visa fee.
2. Citizens of countries that are neither especially favored nor disfavored by the US will be required to pay a visa integrity fee of at least $250 (in addition to the visa fee and other visa application requirements). The minimum of $250 is set by law, but the amount can be increased without limit at the discretion of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
3. Citizens of disfavored countries will be required to post  a visa bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, with $10,000 as the default, before their visa can be issued.

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