Visas fall in to that category of ‘my country, my rules’. The decision for the need, process, requirements, and evaluation are pretty varied and capricious.
For example, the Russian Federation forces you to submit to an absolutely agonizingly painful process that, because it is so slow and arbitrary, does not even happen at a Consulate and is instead farmed to a private company. Since EU citizens require only a simple e-visa application this requirement for US applicants should be understood in the context of the current ego pissing match between the countries’ leaders. I get it.
Similarly, Algeria is perfectly happy for you not to travel there while they wrestle with complicated internal issues, and makes the application requirements onerous. Eritrea ‘the hermit kingdom of Africa’, really wants to keep close tabs on every visitor, and the visa and permitting process reflects that. However, why good old Ghana has the second most demanding application that I have succeeded in navigating, I will never know. It might just be a job security ploy, or inertia from previous regulation.
A few countries unhelpfully only allow you to apply for a visa from your country of citizenship. Blogs are filled with tales of expensive ‘visa runs’, with travelers flying ‘home’, halfway around the world to secure a visa to visit a country right next to where they were just staying.
As a general guideline countries require that your passport is valid for at least six more months, and has a few blank pages left inside. If your passport is filling up and/or it is getting close to expiration, do not wait until deadline time to send it off to get a replacement. A very specialized issue is the presence of an Israel entrance stamp in your passport, in which case roughly 12 countries will refuse you visa and entrance (See:’Passports, never too many’ page).
Not surprisingly, web searches about visa requirements return a mass of information and, absent posting dates, it can be difficult to figure out what is current. Especially during COVID times. For the latest news on whether a visa is even needed, the gold standard is Timatic, a subscription resource used by all IATA members in the travel industry. You can back door access this by going to Skyteam.com and then to their Visa check link. A direct address is IATAtravelcentre.com, that will get you some of the functionality. During the back side of COVageddon I was bouncing around South East African countries. The web, including US State Department and the countries’ own national websites, was awash with outdated and conflicting information. IATA was a calm and correct authority.
The good news is that there are two happy trends. Fewer countries are requiring advance applications and offer instead a ‘visa on arrival’ option (thank you Timor Leste), which is nearly always easier than a physical application submission. Terminology varies. For example Indonesia’s VOA application must be completed and submitted before boarding a flight. During COVID era some countries suspended their visa on arrival program (I had to burn that ticket to Uganda), and this has not been reflected in the official government visa page.
Also, more countries are turning to eVisa applications, which may be simpler and faster to complete and receive a determination than the paperwork option. See caution above about Indonesia, since what they call a VOA appears to me to be an eVisa. (Bolivia falls in the counter camp, where the online application software is so kludgy that I nearly missed the window to visit).
An unhappy trend is the proliferation of online ‘arrival declarations’. Singapore and Philippines recently. Landed to discover that these must be submitted before approaching Immigration. Even if you happen to have great cell service the sites are finicky, hard to navigate and difficult to complete.
And there will be still more surprises. Transiting through Bangkok twice recently I still had to pass through Immigration, without a visa. Anxiet inducing.
If you want to ’go direct’, download applications or initiate visa applications on Embassy websites. These run the gamut from decent to horrible. Good luck with any questions since, as a general rule, consulates do not pick up their phones. When they do, they dismissively refer you back to their website.
If you’d prefer to have ’an expert’ handle the process, for a solid fee, visit ivisa or one of the other high profile processors. They may or may not make it easier. I did a side by side test on a recent application to Tanzania, and the direct country site was less finicky than the processor.
Most countries do not demand much documentation. That being said, at various times I have been asked for the following:
- Photographs. The required dimension is nearly always the same, but can vary (Russia, looking at you again). If uploading to an e-visa application, the file format and size is often limited. I have found this service visafoto to be helpful for some specials. I recommend phone applications for file compression and JPEG-PNG conversion for DIY sizing changes. You always want to travel with a few ‘passport sized’ head shots just in case you need them at border crossings.
- Proof of onward travel. In theory this could be a train reservation, or a bus or private transfer arrangement, but in reality usually means a plane ticket. I believe that the idea is that you plan to leave the country that you are visiting, and can demonstrate that you have a ticket in hand and will not get stranded and become a burden to the state (as I type this I am in Mexico, which requires such documentation). This really makes no sense to me at all. Fairly often I have a good idea of which direction I intend to exit a country, but no firm date picked. You can usually spoof this by artfully screen capturing a flight search result. The surest option is to purchase a fully refundable ticket with a ‘best guess’ on departure date. Capture the confirmation and reservation information, (and your Tripit app will capture the information and populate your itinerary, making it appear very official), then cancel the ticket for the refund.
- Proof of travel health insurance. The idea here is that you have a policy in place so that, if you get sick, you will not burden the local Health System. See Health Insurance. I have the purchase confirmation page from my World Nomads policy in my phone photos, as well as a printout of the declaration page in my pack. in recent years this has been very closely examined on a couple of occasions.
- Demonstration of adequate financial assets. Once again, to avoid becoming a burden to the State (as if I intend to suck at the teat of Liberian generosity). I periodically download an image of my checking account statement, and have that at the ready. I was lucky to have that when I landed in Paraguay. The visa on arrival official saw my ‘retired’ answer to the ‘occupation?’ question and questioned my solvency. (I now always list my occupation as Philologist – no one has ever asked).
- Proof of accommodation or a letter of invitation. My best guess is that if the State wants to find you, they want to have a place to start. (In Mauritius they want to know so that they can send a health worker to administer a malaria test). As with the proof of onward travel, I seldom know where I will be staying for the whole visit. I have had success even when showing accommodation for only the first few nights of an extended trip. Or you can book a hotel stay with fully refundable option, print out and upload the confirmation to the cloud, and cancel the reservation. Hotels in countries that require invitation letters are used to providing these and will email them to you for free (Sudan) or for a fee (Russia, again).
- Yellow Fever Vaccination Certificate. As noted on the Vaccination page, some countries (Sierra Leone, Togo…) require this for you to visit.
Visas are often offered in single or multiple entry options (for additional cost). I consistently opt for the multiple option, even when I am certain that I do not intend to visit a particularly depressing country more than once. I misread the options on a SE Asia lap, and when returning to Vietnam to catch an onward flight I was turned away from flight checkin. Discovered that it is possible to obtain a Viet visa in less than an hour, for a mere $350. Some countries (Australia, Singapore) keep visa information in the cloud and it is not necessary to present a physical copy of the visa.
The majority of tourist visas are for a three month duration, which has always been more than enough for me. A few require that you commence your visit within a certain number of days of the issue date. I always choose an ‘arrival date’ a few days earlier than I reasonably expect to actually arrive. It took me a long time to figure out that the receiving authority cares not whether you arrive on day one of your visa (but heaven forfend you show up before the start date), only that you have a current visa.
Wait times for the issuing of visas varies widely. Mail in and in person Consulate applications have been returned to me between 3 and 12 days later. Online applications commonly take 3-5 days. In one case I collected all my paperwork, presented in person to the Guinean Consulate, and the woman at the front desk glanced at the application and stapled (!) the approved visa into my passport right then and there. Some Consulates offer a ‘rush service’ for additional expense, but most do not.
Application fees vary a great deal, but I expect to pay in the range of $40-150 (I recall Bolivia being the highest, at $160). Oftentimes applicants from different countries are charged different amounts (Bolivia charges citizens of Bulgaria no fee). The cost for US citizens is usually the most expensive, I presume because the US makes it quite costly for others to travel to the US.
Be sure to carry a stash of USD and EUR in various denominations, in new and unmarked banknotes. A few countries that offer visa on arrival require cash (usually USD or EUR), and often do not offer change, effectively enacting an arrival tax. Some are cheerful, while others are dour as they take your money. Some need ‘reminding’ that they owe you change (looking at you Carthage).