The Number on the Screen
Somewhere between the flight price and the first night’s hostel, there is a second bill. It arrives quietly. You pay it before you leave, often weeks before, and it rarely shows up in the budget spreadsheet people build when they are daydreaming about a trip.
The figures are small individually. They add up.
Twenty-Five Dollars, Then the Rest
Vietnam is the clean example. Most nationalities enter on a 90-day e-visa, single entry, and the fee is $25. That is the whole cost if you apply in the right place. Apply through the official government portal and nothing else is added. Third-party agencies charge unnecessary fees on top of the standard rate, which means the same $25 visa can cost considerably more if you land on the wrong page. British, French, German, Italian and Spanish passport holders have it easier still — visa-free for 45 days as of 2024. Check your nationality before you register for anything.
Germany, Austria and Switzerland have a different arrangement for one particular destination. Those nationals can apply for an eVisa online at roughly $130, converted from €120. Processing is often within minutes. The visa is valid one year, multiple entry, up to 90 days per stay. That is a lot of travel for the price of a decent dinner, and it is the kind of number worth knowing before you assume a visa is a headache.
Portugal runs on nationality and visa type. Citizens of visa-exempt countries such as the US, the UK and Germany pay nothing to enter. For travellers from non-exempt countries, the standard visa application fee runs from $50 to $200. That range is wide because the categories are wide. There is no single answer.
The United States is its own line item. The I-901 SEVIS fee is separate from the visa itself, and the payment confirmation has to be saved for your records and for the visa interview. You access that confirmation on the same SEVP portal after you pay. Print it. Keep the PDF. This is not a step anyone can skip or reconstruct later.
When the Application Is Not a Visa
Not every pre-trip payment is a visa. US citizens will soon need ETIAS authorization to enter the Schengen Area. It is expected to start in late 2026, with full enforcement likely in 2027. It requires a small fee and an online application. If you are planning a long Europe trip in 2027, that line has to be in the budget.
Albania offers a reminder that the visa is not always the expense worth watching. A three-course meal at one of the city’s top restaurants came to 7,860 LEK. That is about $85, converted at current rates. Nobody applies for permission to eat. But the meal dwarfs the visa, and the visa is the thing people agonise over.
The Gap Between Prices
Phuket and Koh Samui have a lesson in them. Walk-in rates run 20 to 40 percent higher than online prices. Book two weeks ahead or more. The same principle holds everywhere: the price you see depends on when and where you look, not on the product itself.
Accommodation follows the same pattern. Cheap but reasonably comfortable private rooms are listed worldwide on internet portals. The word cheap is doing a lot of work there. It means different numbers in Lisbon, Hanoi and Canggu.
There is also the quiet matter of app purchases. A discount code offering $3 off a first purchase is not a visa fee, but it is the same mental category — the small digital transaction that happens before the trip and disappears from memory by the time you land.
What to Do With These Numbers
Visa fees range from nothing to $200 depending on where you are from and where you are going. The Vietnam e-visa is $25. The Germany, Austria and Switzerland eVisa is about $130. Portugal is $0 to $200. The US adds a separate SEVIS fee with its own confirmation you must save. ETIAS is coming in late 2026 and 2027.
The practical move is boring. Find the official government portal. Pay the standard rate. Save the confirmation. Book accommodation two weeks out at minimum. Budget for the meal you actually want, and remember that a $25 visa is cheaper than a $85 dinner, and both were worth it.
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