The provision under the one big beautiful bill law, signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4th, will add a $250 “visa integrity fee” to most non-immigrant visa applications starting October 1st. This means that many international visitors, including tourists, business travelers and students, will have to pay an extra $250 to visit the US.
Prices do not affect all international visitors. This applies to travelers who require a visa to enter the US (most of them have already paid a $185 fee for a visitor visa, but include people from many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Citizens of the visa waiver program, including most of Western Europe, Australia and Japan, are not eligible for visa integrity fees, but do not pay the electronic system for a $21 travel approval (ESTA) fee for a short 90-day stay.
The impact of one big beautiful bill on the travel industry has already caused a fuss among industry experts, including the USTA (USTA), which represents the country’s tourism industry. In a statement on one big beautiful bill law, USTA president and CEO Geoff Freeman said, “A wise investment in the travel process is much more difficult to cut the stupid new fees for foreign visitors and the reductions in Brand USA, the American promotion division.”
Jeremy Fleischman, co-owner of Curato, a bespoke travel agent, calls the provision annoyed. Fleischmann isn’t too worried about Curato’s international customers turning to their charges, but “there is already a sense that travel is becoming more and more expensive, and this only strengthens it.” Plus, for budget travelers, it’s not a small price. “It’s a substantial additional cost in addition to the already expensive and often tedious visa process,” he says. They say it’s more than $1,000 in front of the four families on the plane.
It is not yet clear when and how the new fee will be charged. It has also reportedly been refundable unless travelers overstay their visas during their visit or participate in fraudulent work during their visit. However, at this time there is no system to handle refunds (unless there is already a system institute the fee itself).
Dennis Schaal, founding and executive editor of Skift, a media outlet that covers the business side of global travel, said the Trump administration is already challenging international visitors to enter the country before the bill passed away. “From a traveler and tourism perspective, the integrity (fees) of a $250 visa is punitive and will discourage many travelers from visiting the United States,” Shal emailed far away.
With the number of visitors declining, it could potentially drop even further, whether or not the entry barrier (both cost and process) is valuable.
“We’ve seen similar movements in the UK with new ETA requirements. The EU’s upcoming ETIAS systems are heading in the same direction. In theory, these measures are about efficiency and security, but in practice it starts to feel inconvenient, especially when combined with the lack of transparency.”
Shall agreed that although fees have bureaucratic support, there are long-term economic outcomes. “From a purely financial perspective, fees are directed towards fraud protection and running visitation programs, but consider the positive business impact that never happens.”
According to a USTA’s April report, international visits to the country “were down about 14% in March 2025 compared to the same period last year.” The plain statistics from the USTA spell out the potential impact. “1% of international visitor spending is down = $1.8 billion in export revenue is lost each year.
The new admission costs are not insignificant for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics. The rates “may not be able to stop travelers from visiting the country, but please abandon the spirit of peace and openness that travel is supposed to nurture. And that’s a real loss for me,” Fleischmann said.
