US Immigration to start charging for the ESTA form!

It's the principle really.

Obviously I'll be stumping up if I intend to travel though as I'll have no choice.
 
G-MAN2004 said:
Why are you people so cheap? It's £9. It's nothing.
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So suppose you get on a bus every so often and the company decides to add on an extra £5 levy annually but confers no extra benefits for this charge (although they might advertise a bit more - which is obviously great for you since you were going to use the service anyway). Are you happy with this? What if the price they charge is £40 for no extra benefit? Or could it potentially be that it's not the amount per se that's objectionable, it's the idea of charging extra when other companies (countries) don't?

It's worth remembering that while "It's £9. It's nothing." up to this point it was £0, it really was nothing. I've already said that I'm not automatically averse to a country passing on the charges for additional security screening (although I do have my doubts about the efficacy of some of the measures) but if they're going to be adding on an extra charge on top of that well that looks awfully like scalping, just as you would find from any 'good' ticket tout.

knowledge123 said:
The principle of making tourism better for you to experience? ;) :p
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I recognise the smilies but how is it making tourism better for me?
 
semi-pro waster said:
I recognise the smilies but how is it making tourism better for me?
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I'm not the decision maker in programme, so I couldn't possibly say. :) Time will tell whether all the £9s people pay goes towards something worthwhile, or not.

The fee has been introduced to fund a programme which aims to promote tourism in the US and attract foreign spending.
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One could guess it would promote the lesser known destinations, but that is pure speculation. :o
 
How about everyone pays an extra £3 charge to OcUK when you buy a new system? Thats 50p for the paper and printing the reciept and £2.50 for promoting their company?

On a £1000 PC thats nothing is it . . . .
 
Hikari Kisugi said:
[tinfoilhat]
It also gives the US Govt your credit card details ;)
[/tinfoilhat]

4M people travel from the UK to the US each year, it adds to a large amount.
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£40 million (or more accurately £20 million each year) sounds like peanuts, especially to a nation-state such as the UK or the USA ;)

As for your credit card details, the US Govt could get those pretty easily regardless. The hotel you stay at, the ATM you use down the street from where your relatives live (remember hotels want your passports and Customs want to know where you're planning to stay), or that burger you buy at lunchtime. Keeping tabs on the average holidaymaker is child's play.

PhillyDee said:
How about everyone pays an extra £3 charge to OcUK when you buy a new system? Thats 50p for the paper and printing the reciept and £2.50 for promoting their company?

On a £1000 PC thats nothing is it . . . .
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It is more or less nothing. That said, 50p for the paper is astronomical! :p
 
Just sorted mine, the wife and our girls out so sorted until August 2012, and I'm sure by then I will budget in the extra cost onto the total anyway so it is and should stay a non issue :)
 
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