When you’re planning a trip there are typically 4 aspects you have to consider: Flight, hotel, itinerary, and visas.
Now, depending on what passport you have, every time you travel you’ll have to apply for a visa or maybe not.
I know that last part wasn’t very helpful, but the thing about whether you need a visa or not depends on what passport you have and what country you’re traveling to.
How to get travel visas? Here’s what all beginner travelers and even some experienced ones need to know.
Visa Requirements are Different for Holders of Different Passports.
The passport you have matters a lot. There are travelers that could go their entire lives traveling without even knowing what a visa application form is.
These are usually the holders of passports of developed nations. According to Economictimes, these are the strongest passports as of 2019.
| Country of Passport | Number of Countries Allowing Visa Free Entry |
| Japan | 190 |
| Singapore | 189 |
| South Korea | 189 |
| France | 188 |
| Germany | 188 |
| Denmark | 187 |
| Sweden | 187 |
| Finland | 187 |
| Italy | 187 |
| Luxembourg | 186 |
So as you can see, anyone who holds a passport from the above nations won’t have to worry too much about visas since there are 180+ destinations where they can enter by just showing their passport.
On the other hand, we have the weakest passports. If you happen to have one the passports in the list below, then most likely, you’ll have to constantly apply for visas if you want to travel internationally.
| Country of Passport | Number of Countries Allwoing Visa Free Entry |
| Afghanistan | 30 |
| Iraq | 33 |
| Syria | 37 |
| Pakistan | 39 |
| Somalia | 40 |
| Yemen | 40 |
| Sudan | 43 |
| Eitrea | 43 |
| Lybia | 44 |
| Ethiophia | 46 |
As you can see, your passport matters a lot when traveling internationally. When somebody asks me if they need a visa to visit X country my answer always is: It depends. What passport do you have?
How to Get a Visa?
There isn’t just one answer for this question, it pretty much depends on which country you want to visit.
The first thing you have to do is find out whether you need a visa for such a country. Go to the official immigration website of the country and look for their visa policies.
They’ll usually have a list of the passport holders of specific countries they let in visa-free. If your country is not there then you’ll have to apply for a visa.
In the government websites -immigration- they usually make it clear on how to apply for a visa and the types of visa you can apply for.
They also let you know the procedure and how much you’ll have to pay for it.
Steps on how to apply for a visa
- First. Make sure you need a visa. You usually find this info in the country’s immigration website.
- Second. If you need a visa then keep on looking in the website for a visa section.
- Third. Select the type of visa you need and follow instructions on how to apply.
- Fourth. Make the application and wait for the response.
Maybe the previous steps were very vague. The truth is that the process of how to get a visa varies a lot from country to country.
For example.
As a Nicaraguan passport holder, I need a visa to go to enter Hong Kong. Last time I applied for one I had to mail a lot of papers, along with a bank check to an address in Hong Kong.
Once my visa was approved they mailed back a visa sticker which I had to put in my passport.
I also need a visa to visit Japan. To apply for this one I simply have to go to the nearest embassy, present a bunch of paper and pay for the visa fee in cash.
They tell me right away whether I meet the requirements or not. If I do then I leave my passport there and I can pick it up within one week with the visa sticker on.
To go to Australia I also need a visa. For this one I have to do the whole process online. I have to scan a lot of papers and submit an online application and make an online payment.
If approved, the immigration department of Australia will send me a PDF file stating they will let me visit as a tourist, no sticker.
If I want to go to Vietnam I first need to apply for an approval letter, which I have to pay for. Once I arrive in Vietnam I can apply for a visa on arrival without presenting too many papers and just making a payment.
The point I’m trying to make here is that the process of getting a visa will vary from country to country.
Even if two persons with different passports need a visa to visit the same country, the applying process might be different.
For example, someone with a Japanese passport needs a visa to enter India, someone with a Nicaraguan passport also needs a visa to enter India, but there’s a difference.
The person with the Japanese passport can simply get on a plane and pay for a visa on arrival in India.
The person with the Nicaraguan passport can not do that. This person would need to first apply for an electronic visa.
Common Documents You’ll Need to Apply for a Visa.
Even though is true that visa application procedures and requirements vary from one country to another, there are still a set of documents I believe are quite common to be asked to present when applying for any visa.
- Bank statement- with a lot of money to support yourself during your stay.
- Accommodation reservation.
- Flight tickets showing you’ll get out of the country soon.
- Travel Itinerary.
- Photocopy of your passport and any other relevant ID.
- Passport size photos.
- Prove of previous travel such as photocopies of previous tourist visas.
- Health check or vaccines certificate, depending on which country you’re coming from. For example, Colombians need a yellow fever vaccine certificate to enter Thailand.
- A filled out visa application form.
Once you gather all the documents the country requires, you upload them or mail them to them or simply take them to the nearest embassy and you’ll wait for the results. They might let you know if you get the visa right away of after a couple of weeks.
How to Get a Visa Easily?
After reading all of the above you might start feeling like applying for a visa is a little bit complicated and stressful, and you know what, sometimes it is.
A Memorable Trip to Hong Kong.
I almost didn’t get my Hong Kong visa and I had already paid for my ticket and hotel, both were non-refundable. So how do you make the process easier?
Well, you can ask for advice from people that have experience processing visas for people that hold the same passport as you and that have traveled to the same destination where you want to go.
If you’re looking for an agency that can help you process a visa this is the one I recommend. They have a nice search engine where you can enter your country (country of passport) and your destination.
They’ll tell you whether you need a visa or not, and if they can help you process one they will let you know.
Common Visa Types
There are 3 visa types I consider to be the most common ones anyone might need to apply for.
Tourist Visas
This is the most common one. You can apply either for single entry or multiple entries depending on the country’s regulations.
Sometimes countries will let you in visa-free for a short period of time and then you’ll have to apply for a tourist visa if you want to stay longer. For example, UK passport holders can enter Vietnam visa-free and remain there for 15 days.
If they want to stay longer then they’ll have to apply for a visa in advance, or before the 15 days are up.
Transit Visas
For anyone with a not so strong passport, it will be possible for you to need a visa only for transiting a country.
This means that if you have one layover before arriving at your final destination. Please make sure you can transit the country in between visa-free.
For example, when I fly from Taiwan to Nicaragua, I have to go through the USA, in order to do so I need a transit visa, otherwise, they wouldn’t even let me get on the plane.
The same thing goes for Hong Kong since I have a Nicaraguan passport I need a transit visa, but if I don’t leave the transit area of the airport then I’m okay, allow me to explain.
A transit visa allows you to go through customs, get your luggage and go out of the airport, maybe your connecting flight departs in 12 hours and you need a hotel while you wait for your next flight right? Well with a transit visa you can do this.
But what if you have a connection that only lasts 4 or 6 hours, one where you don’t even have to get your luggage and check it in again because the airline will send it directly to the final destination?
In this case, I don’t need to apply for a transit visa because I will never leave the airport. I won’t even go through customs. I’ll just get out of the plane and go to another boarding gate to catch my next flight, with a little security check-in between, this is what is known as remaining in an airport’s transit area.
Visa on Arrival
Some countries offer travelers from certain nationalities the possibility of getting visas on arrival. This means that once you land in the country’s airport or you arrive at some border checkpoint.
All you have to do is fill out a form, present some photos and flight ticket to show you’ll get out of the country and pay a fee and you’ll be granted a visa.
Tourist visas durations may also vary depending on your passport. When I applied for a Chinese tourist visa it was granted to me for a period of 20 days, a friend with a USA passport was granted 5 years I think.
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Some Information About Visas
- Visa fees are nonrefundable, meaning that if your visa is denied you won’t get your money back.
- Not all visas are stickers on your passport, in some cases, you’ll just receive a PDF file with your visa information and you’ll show it before boarding and after landing.
- Visa durations vary greatly, you can be granted a tourist visa stay of 1 or 3 months or sometimes up to 5 years.
- Some countries will let you know right away if you meet the visa requirements, others will tell you in a month or two.
- Visas processing time might take 1 day or 1 month.
Conclusion
Applying for a visa can be a little bit overwhelming, there’s a lot of information on the web right now that it becomes so easy to get lost on what to do.
If you invest the time in doing your research and have the patience to deal with bureaucratic processes then there’s no visa you couldn’t apply for on your own.
But if you don’t have the time nor the patience then I’d recommend you to contact someone who can help you process a visa. Nothing sucks more than having your whole trip canceled because you couldn’t get a visa on time or get the right visa.
One more thought.
Be aware of online scams, no one can guarantee you that they will get you a visa, if someone tells you, pay me 500 USD and I’ll get you a USA tourist visa or Australian visa, that’s most likely a scam.
What most travel agencies can do is help you prepare documents, guide you through the process of applying for the visa, make sure all the data you provide is appropriate and also make sure you select the adequate visa type.
All of this increases your chances of getting your visa approved.