Entering Uruguay & Paraguay

My wife and I visited Uruguay and Paraguay, spending five days in each country, Dec. 5-17, 2016, and wanted to share some border entry improvements we encountered.

 Uruguay now has “Easy Airport” entry at Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo. No paper forms are required when going through Immigration. You just scan your passport, pose for a picture and scan your thumbprint, and you’re in. Same thing when departing. It was really fast, with very short lines. (Uruguay does not require a visa for most visitors, including US citizens.)

For travel to Paraguay, visitors are no longer required to fill out the lengthy visa-request form. Now, after leaving the plane, you go to the convenient on-site Visa On Arrival office* and give them the $160 fee (“brand-new, clean US bills only” says the sign), and a visa is issued in minutes. It is good for 10 years.

The Paraguay Embassy mentioned this “visa on arrival” in an update dated Sept. 15, 2016, so my guess is this service is a recent development.

TONY LEISNER

Tarpon Springs, FL

* Paraguay’s “visa on arrival” is currently available only to visitors arriving at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Asunción, Paraguay.