The $100 Fee Foreign Visitors Now Pay at 11 US National Parks

Since 1 January 2026, every non-US resident aged 16 or older pays an extra $100 per person to enter 11 of the country's most-visited national parks — on top of the standard entrance fee every visitor already pays. The list, confirmed on the National Park Service's own site, covers Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Zion. If an autumn 2026 US road trip is on your calendar, the surcharge changes the budget more than most travelers expect.

How the surcharge actually works

Grand Canyon National Park is a useful example because its numbers are public and specific. The standard entrance fee is $35 per private vehicle (covering everyone inside, up to a 15-person van) or $20 per person for anyone arriving on foot or bicycle, valid for seven days. The $100 nonresident fee is charged per person, aged 16 and up, in addition to that — it isn't a replacement for the standard fee, it stacks on top of it. A couple who are not US residents driving in together pays $35 for the vehicle plus $200 in nonresident fees ($100 each), for $235 to enter for a week. A family of four non-residents, two of them 16 or older, pays $35 plus $200 — the two children under 16 are exempt from the nonresident fee.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum framed the policy, announced in November 2025, as "these policies ensure that U.S. taxpayers... continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share." US residents pay only the standard entrance fee at all 11 parks; the surcharge applies exclusively to non-US residents. The 11-park list itself is deliberate rather than a blanket rule across the entire national park system — it's specifically the most-visited parks, the ones the Department of the Interior singled out as drawing the heaviest international traffic, which is also why parks outside that list still charge non-US residents nothing beyond the standard entrance fee everyone pays.

The annual pass can still make sense

The America the Beautiful Annual Pass, which covers entry to more than 2,000 federal recreation sites nationwide for a year, now has two prices: $80 for US residents, $250 for nonresidents. Buying it waives the $100-per-person surcharge at any of the 11 parks it applies to for the life of the pass. The math only favors the pass if your trip covers more than two or three of the surcharge parks, or if you're planning a return visit within twelve months — for a single stop at just Grand Canyon, paying the $100 fee directly is cheaper than the $250 pass. For a loop through, say, Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier in one trip, the pass pays for itself well before the third gate.

Fee-free days no longer apply to everyone

The National Park Service still runs its traditional fee-free days in 2026 — President's Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, the Independence Day weekend, the NPS's own 110th birthday on 25 August, Constitution Day, Theodore Roosevelt's birthday, and Veterans Day. But under the same policy that introduced the nonresident fee, these are now listed as resident-only fee-free days. A non-US resident showing up on one of those dates should still expect to pay the standard entrance fee and the $100 surcharge; the free-admission perk no longer extends to international visitors the way it once did for everyone.

Not just Grand Canyon: the pass structure got more layered

Grand Canyon alone now sells four different tiers of pass, and which one applies depends on residency. A Grand Canyon-only Annual Pass at $70 exists but is restricted to US citizens and residents — nonresidents can't buy it. The America the Beautiful Resident Annual runs $80 and, again, requires proof of US citizenship or residency (a US passport or government-issued photo ID) to purchase. Above that sits the $250 America the Beautiful Nonresident Annual, the one nonresident travelers actually want if they're planning multiple park visits. Senior citizens (62 and older) get a $20 annual rate regardless of residency, and current US military members and their dependents, along with visitors holding a permanent-disability Access Pass, enter free. As part of the same policy update, the Department of the Interior also modernized the passes themselves — they're now available as a digital pass through Recreation.gov that stores on a phone, and every America the Beautiful pass now covers two motorcycles instead of one.

Paying at the gate

At Grand Canyon specifically, the park has moved to card-only payment — cash is not accepted at the entrance stations, so budget for a working debit or credit card rather than assuming you can pay with US dollars on arrival at the gate. If you're driving a rental car between several of the 11 surcharge parks, it's worth deciding in advance whether the standard per-park fee or the $250 nonresident annual pass works out cheaper for your specific itinerary, since the answer flips depending on how many parks you're actually stopping at. It's also worth checking each individual park's own fees page on nps.gov before you travel rather than relying on a single blanket number: entrance fees vary park to park (Grand Canyon's $35 vehicle fee is not the same figure Yellowstone or Zion charge), and the $100 nonresident surcharge is the one constant layered on top at all 11 locations.

Staying connected between parks

Several of the 11 surcharge parks — Yellowstone, Glacier, Grand Teton among them — sit hours apart by road through terrain with patchy carrier coverage, which makes it worth sorting connectivity before you land rather than relying on a US carrier store at the airport. A multi-park loop covering, say, Zion, Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon in a single southwestern trip can easily mean a week or more of driving through rural stretches of Utah and Arizona where a single carrier's signal doesn't reach every canyon overlook, so treat data as part of the same planning pass you're already doing for the entrance fees and pass math above. A prepaid United States eSIM activates before departure and works across state lines without a local contract; as a reseller running on partner networks rather than owning towers, actual signal in remote park terrain still depends on which carrier's coverage reaches that specific stretch of road, so check plan options against your route before you commit to one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which national parks charge the $100 nonresident fee?

Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Zion — 11 parks in total, effective since 1 January 2026, according to the National Park Service.

Does the $100 fee replace the standard entrance fee?

No. At Grand Canyon, for example, non-US residents pay the standard $35 vehicle fee (or $20 per pedestrian) plus $100 per person aged 16 and older — the two fees stack rather than one replacing the other.

Can an annual pass avoid the nonresident surcharge?

Yes. The America the Beautiful Annual Pass, priced at $250 for nonresidents versus $80 for US residents, waives the $100 per-park fee at any of the 11 affected parks for a year, which is worth it on multi-park itineraries but not usually for a single park visit.

Do fee-free days still apply to international visitors?

No. The National Park Service now designates its 2026 fee-free days as resident-only; non-US residents should expect to pay the standard entrance fee and the $100 surcharge even on those dates.