Re:US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days
by stank345 on Friday August 07, 2020 @08:44AM
(#24081209)
As an example from my personal experience, up until last year, Brazil required Americans to get a tourist visa. They also charged identical visa fees based on what Brazilians have to pay to visit the US as a tourist. On their website they made it plain that the whole motivation for the visa and fees was reciprocity. It stood out in my mind as funny because it seemed so petty.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days
by vinay427 on Friday August 07, 2020 @09:04AM
(#24081341)
I suspect one less petty motivation is to encourage the US to reduce visa restrictions for Brazilians. It wasn't actually reciprocal in practice because as far as I know the process of paying the fee as a USC visiting Brazil was far less involved than the process of applying for a US tourist visa (correct me if I'm wrong), not to mention an argument can be made that the fee on average has a lower impact on people from a higher-income country.
Re:US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days
by hexadec on Friday August 07, 2020 @09:57AM
(#24081846)
I think it is fairly onerous for both parties speaking as a US citizen who visited Brazil a number of years ago. Until recently you had to visit a Brazilian embassy and bring a postal money order as well as printed passport style photos and conduct a financial interview (to make sure you had enough money to leave).
Now it seems that you can do this all online, so ignoring the monetary component it was not any easier than a Brazilian person in my experience as a USC with many Brazilian friends.