Foreigners Allowed Senior Citizen's I.D.

Wrong!
Australia has Reciprocal Health Care Agreements with 11 countries including the United Kingdom (England). I wish people would check their perceived knowledge on the Internet before stating their conclusions here as if they know. It would save the rest of us a lot of time.

https://www.humanservices.gov.au/in.../medical-care-when-you-travel-another-country

 

Not so fast. I believe Filipinos are charged $160 to get a US visa while Americans are visa free here in the Philippines for x number of days. So about this reciprocation principle...

 

There is no reciprocation in the US and I suspect other rich countries regarding “VISA waiver” countries. Of course the USA visa waiver by definition is not really a visa, it is a visa “waiver” or more accurately, a waiver of having to apply for a visa before travel. The Philippines seems to call it a VUA visa. An actual visa. The purpose of the Philippine zero-cost VUA for 157 countries is in the preamble to it’s EO (issued in 2014 pre-d30): “providing a more expeditious system and simpler forms for the encouragement and facilitation of foreign tourist travel to the Philippines”. That was at the peak of WOW Philippines as I recall. It is economic. Our countries obviously do not have the same mutual concerns regarding visa issuances. The US is more concerned about security and immigration compliance. Bottom line us no chance of reciprocation. That is not to say that D30 himself has not openly considered his own reciprocation with the US on this issue by taking us off the VWP list, and since it is in force by EO, he could *easily* change the situation if he wanted to! I see that the US now charges a base application fee of $160.00 for all foreign visa applicants not in VWP countries and China has now lowered the cost of US visas to $140.00 (or the dollar has strengthened). Maybe China was added to the US list like Taiwan was? So, visa costs are not the best example of something reciprocal that currently works but I still like the concept. In terms of senior discount, we do have reciprocation with the Phils: No discount for them, none for us. For medical, schooling, social security supplemental income and indigent social programs, (food stamps, AFDC, welfare) for the very few who are poor in the US and would qualify, Philippine guests come out way ahead.


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Technically, you may both be correct! The US divides visa fees into two categories.
- There's an application/processing fee, which, using a tourist visa as an example, is $160 for just about everyone who requires a visa (citizens of some countries don't). That fee is non-refundable even if the application is denied.
- Then there are issuance/reciprocity fees due only from citizens of certain countries, and only if the visa has been approved.
Decent explanation here: https://www.nnuimmigration.com/us-visa-cost/

 

Yep, I think when someone is talking about US reciprocity, they only see it from one point of view. I'm pretty sure very few would be happy to be treated like the US treats foreigners and would not like to give up the way most countries treat Americans.

 

For medical, schooling, social security supplemental income and indigent social programs, (food stamps, AFDC, welfare) for the very few who are poor in the US and would qualify, Philippine guests come out way ahead.


How so? Philippines guests to the US do not qualify for social security, indigent social programs, schooling or anything else as far as I can tell, unless they are minors, in which case the rules change.

 

In discussing senior discounts for foreigners, I was not referring to reciprocity in a political sense, sir, nor was I only referring to the US in my example of reciprocal policies. I am only saying that reciprocity is a fair concept. How can anyone disagree with that? Please keep politics out of the thread. Thanks.


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Most Filipinos in the US, legal or not, have jobs and are not poor and this is true for most people coming to the US from Asia. Thus they do not qualify for the social welfare programs. However, if they need a social net for any reason, people without means do qualify for all of these regardless of citizenship or legal residency. US social security is a pension program that single foreigners do not usually qualify for but, there is a program called “social security supplemental income” that all legal, poor elderly people qualify for regardless of nationality. School systems must enroll all children into the public school system regardless of status. Medicaid must be provided to all poor people regardless of nationality. Food stamps are offered to poor people regardless of status. Again, most Asian people in the US regardless of status do work for a living given their sense of ethics and their tendency to recognize the opportunities so they do not apply to Filipinos (or most immigrants from Cuba and other places where they also recognize opportunity). So you are basically wrong. Incorrect. Nobody should be given a free ride, such as relatively rich foreigners in the Philippines seeking a discount on everything. But when it comes to social safety nets, all countries should reciprocate.


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