New Visa Requirements for U.S. Visitors to Bolivia Take Effect December 1st

On December 1st it is going to get a whole lot more complicated for visitors from the U.S. to get into Bolivia, but how much more complicated remains unclear. Today in La Paz, Bolivia's Foreign Minister laid out the specifics of the long-awaited new entry rules first announced on New Years.

Up until now entry to Bolivia from the U.S. has worked like this. You get off the plane in the bone-numbing cold of dawn in La Paz, adjust to trying to stand at an elevation equivalent to Mt. Whitney, then pass through a swift moving immigration line. There an officer opens your blue passport and gives you a free 90-day tourist stamp and waves you on. To leave costs you $45, but that's another story.

In January, in the name of "reciprocity" (i.e. it sure isn’t that easy for Bolivians to get on the plane going the other way) the Bolivian government announced that it would begin requiring visitors from the U.S. to obtain visas. In the eight months since, anxious tourists-to-be have waited for details to emerge.

In an official announcement, Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca explained:

Citizens of the U.S. that come to the country as tourists now can no longer step on Bolivian soil without a visa, after December 1. We have completed a bi-ministerial resolution that governs the requirements for the entry of foreigners. This deals with citizens of the U.S. and protects tourism.

According to Bolivian news reports, Bolivia will classify the U.S. as a "Category 3" country, subjecting it to the most stringent visa standards of any nation in the world. On paper, for now, those requirements include:

- Filling out a form with your basic personal information
- Providing a 4x4 cm color photograph with a red background
- Presenting a passport good for at least six more months
- Presenting some form of formal police document stating that you aren’t a criminal
- Providing either proof of a hotel reservation for your entire stay or a notarized letter of invitation from someone in Bolivia who promises to pay your costs of being here
- Presenting your round trip airline ticket
- Providing documents demonstrating your financial solvency in the U.S.
- Providing proof of a yellow fever shot

The new visa will also cost $134, which is actually $20 more than the cost of a visa for Bolivians to the U.S. Bolivians, however, pay the fee just for applying, even if their request is denied. "What for us is expensive, for them is economical," added the Foreign Minister.

Obviously this represents a substantial ramping up of the bureaucracy involved in making a visit to Bolivia. But still unclear is the question of whether visitors can do all this here on arrival or must do so beforehand with one of the handful of Bolivian consulates in the U.S. Choquehuanca told a La Paz news conference that the new visa could be obtained directly at the point of entry, be it an airport or a bus station, after previously completing the requirements. But, so far, no official has made it clear whether that means the paperwork all gets done beforehand in the U.S. or not.

One reason for this is probably that Bolivian consulates in the U.S. have already told the government that they are unprepared for the avalanche of paperwork headed their way if the processing happens in their U.S. offices.

There are several possible scenarios here.

1. Tens of thousands of U.S. visitors per year will now swamp Bolivian consulates (those who decide to still come) with visa requests. The result will be a really big mess.

2. Tens of thousands of U.S. visitors per year will now have to complete a complicated visa screening process on arrival at the airport or bus station. The result will be a really big mess.

3. The whole thing will evolve into something much less strict than it looks right now on paper. The result will be that getting into Bolivia will now cost $134 and be more of a hassle.

I can certainly understand, from an emotional standpoint, why many Bolivians, including the leaders of the current government, would want to adopt such a policy. The U.S. makes it very, very difficult to make the trip north, while the road south is cheap and open to all comers. That said, let’s just be clear about the practical implications if the visa rules are implemented in full:

** Thousands of young backpackers, having wrapped up their visit to Machu Picchu will not say to each other, “Hey, Bolivia sounds really cool, let’s go check it out.” They will not cross the border. They will not spend money in Bolivian hotels and restaurants. They will not buy wool sweaters. They will not increase employment and opportunity through tourism. They will not learn something about the country and take that experience and enthusiasm home.

** Hundreds of parents of Peace Corps volunteers, semester abroad students, and other young people here from the U.S. will not decide to take their family’s summer vacation in Cochabamba. They will not buy Aeorsur tickets. They will not book hotel rooms. They will not buy tours to visit the Chapare. They will not tell their friends in the U.S. that they saw first hand what a great country Bolivia is and what a great place it is to travel.

** Hundreds of independent journalists and filmmakers who are interested in what is going on here and who want to spend a few weeks here to help educate audiences abroad will not come here. They will not deepen U.S. understanding of Bolivia.

** Hundreds of young people from the U.S. will not come here to be volunteers in orphanages, hospitals and schools. They will not bring their creativity and goodwill. They will not write to their friends and neighbors to send money to help buy books, medicines, and diapers.

The irony of course, is that the people in the U.S. who are hell bent on making it so difficult for Bolivians to go there are not the people with any interest in visiting here. The people Bolivia will end up losing as visitors are the ones who would end up being some of the country’s biggest U.S. boosters.

I am not a Bolivian. I am a guest in this country, albeit one with a (more appreciated than ever) residency visa. If Bolivians place such a high value on the dignity sought by making it very complicated for people from the U.S. to get into their country, that is Bolivia’s sovereign right to decide. But let’s not pretend it is a policy without real implications for tourism and understanding.

A Note to our Regular Readers: Some readers will recall that we posted an April Fool's Blog on this topic, which some people believed, despite the clear disclaimer at the bottom. Personally, I was disappointed to see that the Bolivian government did not take up my suggestion to include in the price of the visa a new Evo Sweater. So much for all those conspiracy theories about my influence over the Bolivian government. I did hear, however, that our doctored photo of Ambassador Goldberg in an Evo sweater was very popular among U.S. Embassy staff.

In any event, today is 9/11, not April 1, so this post is actual fact based on Bolivian news reports. Just in case you wondered.