Were You Aware that Foreigners Wishing to Vacation in the U.S. Must Pay $100-Plus for a Visa?

Friends, if it were only the foreign tourist who was affected by the State Department's recent decision to raise the application fee for a U.S. visitor's visa to $100, that might not be a matter for this Editor's Letter. The hurt would be to foreigners, not our readers. And though the increase will have a devastating impact on incoming tourism to the United States, that's really of concern only to the millions of persons who work for U.S. hotels, restaurants, airlines, bus companies, theme parks, theaters, department stores, and shops, and not a worry for us travelers per se.

But the State Department's $100 fee has, predictably, set off a flurry of retaliatory charges to U.S. travelers wanting to visit other nations-and that does affect our readers. Stung in their national pride, such nations as Turkey, of all places, have ...