HOW TO GET A VISA ON YOUR OWN AND INFORMATION ABOUT IT ON THE INTERNET

In today’s world, citizens of some countries may need a visa to visit other countries. A visa is a permission to stay and cross the border of the country.

Ordinary visas are pasted into the passport, so the general requirement for a passport is at least 6 months before its expiration date. Electronic visas (eVisa) are issued not in all countries, and they are not pasted into the passport, but printed on separate sheets.

There are different types of visas: transit, tourist, work, etc., but we will be mainly interested in tourist visas, which are issued for a period of 30 to 90 days and allow you to engage only in tourism in the country without the right to work.

Visas are ultimately issued by the embassies or consulates of the country of destination.

As a general rule, you may need proof that you have enough money to support yourself for the duration of your trip in order to obtain a visa. In this case, the best confirmation may be a bank statement for a certain period, showing that this money is yours and during this period it was in your account.

In addition, frequent requirements for obtaining visas of hotel countries may be: availability of a hotel or place of residence reservation, return ticket, and medical insurance.

A tourist should be very careful about the observance of visa rules, because the absence of the necessary visa may be the basis for a ban on entry to certain countries. Also, violating visa rules can lead to deportation, a ban on visiting certain countries, a fine, or even more serious prosecution. Therefore, before traveling, we recommend checking the visa rules in various sources and especially on the websites of the government authorities of the country of destination.

The most accurate information can always be found on the websites of the embassies of the countries you are going to. They are easy to find on the Internet through conventional search engines or using online directories, which we will discuss below.

Many are intimidated by the process of obtaining a visa, although in fact it is enough to simply accurately comply with the requirements of the government authorities of the destination country.

There are various resources and services on the Internet to facilitate the visa process.

Visa Services

Visa services or online platforms allow not only to check visa information, but also to obtain a visa. In fact, these are websites of companies that offer assistance in obtaining visas for an additional fee.

As a rule, such websites have various useful visa guides and services.

Information disclosure. We are affiliated partners of several systems for Visa’s services. This means that if after visiting their page you buy or book something, we will receive a small reward. This reward does not increase the final price and you do not have to pay anything more than what is indicated on the site!

Let’s consider the visa service on the example of iVisa.com

Here we see a search box similar to search boxes in other search engines such as hotel search services. It is enough to enter your country of permanent residence and country of destination, and the system will show visa regulations, sanitary and medical regulations, and offer assistance in obtaining a visa or booking a queue at the embassy, if necessary:

In addition, we recommend paying attention to the top menu. It allows you to order additional services, such as passport renewal (not for all countries), as well as check the need for other travel documents.

Please note – in the top menu, you can select the language in the upper right corner. The platform supports 14 languages as of April 2022. This is especially important for smart tourism, as it makes it easier for tourists to access complete and reliable information.

It should be noted that the platform is constantly evolving and provides a wide range of services related to travel formalities and documents.

Guides

There are various lists of embassies on the Internet, where you can try to find the embassy you are interested, for example Embassypages

There are services with more advanced functionality, which indicate the main provisions of the visa policy, for example Project Visa

There are also complex portals dedicated to visa issues, for example Visa guide

Passport guides

There are various resources on the Internet where you can get primary information about the necessary visas, taking into account which country you are a citizen of, for example Passportindex 

To find out which country you need a visa for, you need to select your passport and then a table will open – which visa for which country you need.

For example, a German passport: 

It is immediately clear that holders of a German passport are allowed to visit 112 countries without a visa (green), 43 countries require a visa upon arrival (blue), 7 countries require an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA), and 36 countries require a visa.

In addition, this website has other useful tools, such as Travel visa checker, where it is enough to enter the country of residence and the country of arrival and find out if a visa is needed. To access the toolbar, click on the 3 dots in the upper right corner: 

As of April 2022 the website works in 7 languages.

There are more official passport guides, such as Henley & Partners or IATA

Electronic visas

Some countries allow the issuance of eVisas. These are visas for which you do not need to go anywhere, and you can get a visa online. However, it should be noted that there are some restrictions and rules for different passports.

eVisas are already allowed in many countries such as: Angola, Morocco, Antigua, Barbuda, Myanmar, Armenia, New Zealand, Ascension Island, Nigeria, Australia, Oman, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Bahrain, Papua New Guinea, Benin, Qatar, Cambodia , Russia, Djibouti, Rwanda, Egypt, Saint Helena, Ethiopia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, Guinea, Singapore, Guinea-Bissau, South Sudan, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, India, Suriname, Iran,Taiwan, Ivory Coast,Tajikistan, Kenya, Tanzania, Kuwait, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Laos, Uganda, Lesotho, Ukraine, Madagascar, United Kingdom, Malawi, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Mexico, Zambia, Mongolia, Zimbabwe, Montserrat.

This list was formed as of the beginning of 2022, however, it may be incomplete, but it is constantly updated with new countries. And this is important for the development of smart tourism around the world, since the introduction of eVisa reduces administrative barriers in tourism and facilitates easier travel arrangements.

Mentions, lists and details about countries where eVisas are applied can be found in various sources, previously mentioned guides, bloggers, etc. For example: Visaguide.world

Of course, visa issues sometimes cause difficulties for tourists, but attentiveness and perseverance will allow you to avoid trouble with government agencies when crossing borders and legally staying in other countries. In order to become a smart tourist, you need to learn how to find and use visa information around the world. At the same time, it is worth checking information with various sources and always remember that the most accurate information is on the government and embassy websites of the country of destination.