Posted: January 10, 2023
Written By: Clare Nicolas
Welcome to my travel visa crash course! This is a very important topic when it comes to international travel, which is why I also made a YouTube video that goes hand in hand with this blog post! Go ahead and give this post a read and this video a watch, and I’m sure visas will make much more sense!
First, we will begin with the business visa. You can apply for a business visa if you are already in contact with a company in the country you are traveling to and have discussed applying for a business visa with them. A business visa requires a lot of paperwork and money on the business’s end, so I have found typically companies will only agree to sponsor you for a business visa if you have as least a one year contract with them.
So for example, if you are wanting to work abroad but do not know what exactly you want to do or who you will work for, you should not apply for a business visa. You should get a tourist visa first, and once you find a company to work for that agrees to sponsor you for a business visa, then you can leave the country and come back again with the business visa once all the paperwork has been filed.
For freelancers, many countries offer either freelancer visas, remote worker visas, or digital nomad visas. These all allow you to conduct your business while traveling to other countries. Each country has different rules on free-lance or remote work, so be sure to look up the local laws and regulations on this topic before you go.
For the education visa, you must be enrolled in some sort of curriculum at a university in the country you will be visiting, or be enrolled in a study abroad program. Since many countries offer tourist visas between 30-90 days, that does not give you enough time to complete a full semester of your program. Therefore, the education visa exists to give you enough time in that specific country to complete the education program. If you plan to attend university for the entirety of your degree, you will likely have to re-apply for the education visa frequently, depending on the country’s regulations.
The tourist visa is the most common visa that travelers will acquire. Each country has different lengths of visa stays, so be sure you check how long the tourist visa will be good for BEFORE you book your flights. You do not want to book a long holiday for 2 months and then find out the tourist visa in that country is only good for 30 days.
Tourist visas can typically be renewed. For example, if you have an American passport and visit Vietnam, whose single-entry passport is only good for 30 days, you must leave Vietnam no later than the 30th day and spend some time in a different country. You then would be able to return to Vietnam once you’ve obtained another 30 day single-entry visa.
For most countries in the European Union (EU), staying longer than the 90 days allowed is not possible. There are 27 countries within Europe that are united under the Schengen Agreement. The Schengen agreement allows citizens from any of those 27 countries to travel to other Schengen countries with simply a drivers license. It is similar to how US citizens are able to travel from state to state with only a drivers license, no passport required. Even though Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland are not part of the EU, they are still involved in the Schengen Agreement, therefore the same visa policy applies.
Unfortunately, this agreement does not make long-term travel for foreigners very easy. The Schengen visa allows foreigners to visit anywhere within the Schengen zone for a MAX of 90 days, and then must leave the entire Schengen zone and cannot return for an additional 90 days. This means that you cannot go to Spain for 90 days, then plan to go to Italy directly after for another 90 days. You must leave the Schengen zone completely for 90 days before you are able to return.
Note: The United Kingdom is no longer part of the European Union, and also not part of the Schengen zone. Therefore, you would be able to visit Spain for 90 days and then fly to either England, Scotland, Ireland, Romania, Bulgaria, or Cyprus and obtain their separate tourist visa.
A physical Visa is one that you need to apply for well in advance before your trip, and can require a bit of effort on your part to get submitted. Typically, you must print and fill out the visa application forms, attach your payment, then submit it to your local embassy in person for that country along with your passport. They will then process your visa and the visa will be attached to one of the pages inside your passport and will typically be mailed to you. The processing of this visa can take a few weeks, so get on this early!
An eVisa is very similar to the physical visa in that it require you to submit all of the same documents. But makes it easier as for the eVisa you are able to submit everything online. You submit the paperwork, payment method and a photocopy of your passport. Once your eVisa is approved, you will get an email confirmation with your eVisa. The processing of this visa usually takes a few days to complete, but give yourself more time in case you need to provide additional documents.
eTA stands for Electronic Travel Authorization. It basically takes the place of a country stamping your passport at the immigration desk. You apply online for the eTA, and once it is approved it becomes automatically linked to your passport. So when they scan your passport once you arrive in their country, they are able to access your eTA automatically. The processing of this visa can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, so give yourself some wiggle room in case you have to submit supporting documents for your eTA to be approved.
Apart from having no visa, visa on arrival is the simplest one to obtain! You do not have to do anything beforehand, once you arrive to the country, you simply pay them the cost of the tourist visa and they will stamp your passport. They may ask you questions like where you will be staying, how long you plan to stay in the country, or ask to see your return ticket. So make sure you have all of this information readily available when you get to the immigration counter! Many countries require you pay for this visa in cash, not card.
Visa free is the best kind of visa, because not only is the process as simple as the visa on arrival, it is also free! They may ask you the same questions as I mentioned in the visa upon arrival though, so make sure to have your travel information readily available when you go up to the immigration counter.
Don’t know which type of visa to apply for? passportindex.org has made it simple! You enter in what country your passport is from, then it will show you a map of the world with the visa you need to obtain for each country. They also have an app, so check them out!
Make sure you have 6 months before passport expires once you plan to RETURN from a trip. Having minimum 6 months before your passport expires is a standard for all countries. It is important to keep in mind that it is not 6 months from when you start your vacation, it is 6 months after you plan to return home from your vacation.
For example, if your passport expires in 5 months and are planning to head to Mexico on vacation for one week, you risk being denied entry to Mexico, even though you plan to return home well before your passport expires. PRO TIP: Once your passport reaches one year before it’s expiration, plan to submit your passport for renewal. This is because it can take up to several months for your country to renew your passport, so it is better to have it done early than trying to renew it shortly before a trip and stress that it won’t be back in time.
This tip is mostly for people wanting to travel from country to country long term. Some countries where visa extensions are possible (meaning you can extend your tourist visa without having to leave the country) will require a printed passport photo in order to extend your visa. So I would recommend carrying a stack of passport size photos (2inx2in or 5.1cmx5.1cm) with you just in case. It is better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them!
So there you have it, all the information you need to understand how visas work. Hopefully this information proved helpful and can help alleviate a little stress from planning your next vacation!
If you found this blog post helpful, please make sure to follow me on YouTube and on Instagram for more useful travel tips! And be sure to sign up for my monthly news letter to get a comprehensive list of the most asked travel tips. Until next time, happy traveling!