A friend working in the aviation industry in Germany sent me a message yesterdaym referring me to a new US$1000 “Airport Improvement Tax” that El Salvador is now charging to all nationals of the African continent and India.
Effectively immediately, the government of El Salvador levies US$1000 + $1130 tax to all nationals of the list seeking to enter or transit the country’s international airport, San Oscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez.
The main “flag carrier” that serves El Salvador is Avianca, and the airline has already reacted by posting respective notices on its website, including a fee waiver for those passengers seeking to cancel their tickets due to the new requirement.
For whatever reason, the government of El Salvador has deemed nationals of these 57 countries (or at least a subsection of them) to be a problem and worked out that charging an outrageous fee for entering or transiting the country.
The only logical conclusion is that this must have something to do with an excessive amount of illegal immigration, asylum claims, or attempts to enter with forged documents that the government seeks to prevent.
El Salvador seems to be an odd country for illegal immigrants from Africa, let alone India, to go to given its remote geographic location and economic opportunities:
But we’re living in trying times, and most use it as a stepping stone for entering the southern U.S. border, which is, of course, as secure with as many holes as Swiss cheese these days. Those willing to risk the treacherous journey might just as well gamble and try making it north.
Someone would have to cross both Guatemala AND the entire country of Mexico. Of course, most who go this way don’t do this on their own but use a sophisticated trafficking network, including cartels from Mexico and Latin America. To even get started, they pay thousands to their contacts, so I’m not sure that a simple $1130 fee is serving as a real deterrence. It’s just another expense they somehow have to cover on their way north, likely less than 10% of what is being paid in total to the traffickers.
Here is Avianca’s website with the details:
The Comisión Ejecutiva Portuaria Autónoma (CEPA), the airport authority in El Salvador, has established a fee, to be paid by passengers, for transit through the San Oscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez airport, which serves El Salvador.
- The fee is USD 1,130 (USD 1,000 + 13% taxes), will apply to passengers of certain countries, (listed below) and will begin to be charged by the airline as of Saturday, October 28, this must be paid by passengers prior the boarding of the flight.
- It is important to know that, even if you pay the fee, there is a possibility that, upon arrival at El Salvador, the General Directorate of Immigration and Foreigners will deny your transit through the country in accordance with its legal powers.
- Remember that the authorization of entry, transit, transfer, stay and departure in El Salvador depends 100% on the immigration authority.
- The Tariff payment will be a mandatory requirement prior to boarding your flight to El Salvador International Airport.
- If you purchased your ticket before October 23rd and are not willing to pay the tariff, you may refund your avianca ticket either through our website or through the travel agency where you made the purchase.
For tickets issued by other airlines, please contact the corresponding airline or agency.
The measure applies to passengers in transit in El Salvador of the following nationalities, regardless of their country of residence and place of departure.
The nationalities subject to this measure are listed below.
- Angola
- Algeria
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cape Verde
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Comoros
- Ivory Coast
- Chad
- Egypt
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Guinea – Bissau
- Equatorial Guinea
- India
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritius
- Mauritania
- Morocco
- Mauritius
- Mauritania
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Rwanda
- Republic of the Congo
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Western Sahara
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- Somaliland
- South Africa (Republic)
- Sudan
- South Sudan
- Swaziland
- Tanzania
- Tunisia
- Togo
- Uganda
- Djibouti
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
India is an odd addition to this list. I’d really love to know the exact motivation behind this and what fueled it at this very moment other than the migration crisis on the southern U.S. border for which I’m sure the U.S. government would have had to provide some inducement for El Salvador to put a deterrent in place (such as additional foreign aid payments).
While the current government of El Salvador is on a big anti-Crime spree, I feel this measure has more than just national seeds and implications.
Of course, this measure won’t just affect Aviance, but all airlines that are handling traffic through El Salvador, and the text mentions “transit,” so I’d guess that means incoming and connections are the same. It’s not a good time to make a connection through El Salvador on Avianca right now and suddenly be on the hook for $1130 per way.
Conclusion
Nationals of 57 countries (the entire African continent + India) are now subject to a $1130 entry levy as of October 28, 2023. This measure was implemented by the El Salvadorian government as a measure to deter nationals of these countries from traveling to or via El Salvador.
I’m not exactly sure how many visitors with passports from these 57 nations come to El Salvador for legitimate reasons, let’s say for business. There should be a mechanism to have the “AIF” (bond) refunded or waived with some sort of government letter, either straight away or at departure.
I remember having a discussion a bit over a year ago about a similar topic unrelated to El Salvador and actually suggesting to a business associate how an excessive ticket price, visa fee, or entry tax would work as deterrence. I guess they’re going to find out very soon.
