Frequent Questions About Visa

Visa is an official document provided by the country you wish to visit, granting you temporary permission to enter, leave and stay in country for a certain amount of time.

The main difference between a passport and а visa is that passport is issued to the citizens of country for international travel and identification of them, while visa is an official permission to its holder to enter, exit and live in a specified country for a specified time period.

There are many different visa types that refer to different purposes of visit, included most common ones as tourism/business visa, work visa, student visa, exchange visitor visa, transit visa, etc. Each purpose of visit refers to different visa type.

A visa may take the form of a sticker or a stamp in the passport or be a separate document or an electronic record of the authorization, which the applicant can print before leaving home and present while entry to the visited territory.

An immigrant visa is issued to a person wishing to live permanently in that country. A non-immigrant visa is issued to a person with permanent residence outside country but wishes to be in that country on a temporary basis for tourism, medical treatment, business, temporary work, or study, as examples.

Visa-free regime refers to the ability to travel to a foreign country without the need for a visa. In this case only a valid passport is required for entry and exit purposes.

An e-visa is an official document issued online by the Immigration Department that allows a foreigner to enter and travel to the issued country. An e-visa is an alternative to a paper-based visa issued by the embassy.

It may be required or not by border control, but in all cases, we advise to print your e-visa, or electronic authorisation before your trip.

An electronic travel authorization or eTA is an entry requirement for visa-exempt or facilitated visa regime applied to foreign nationals traveling or transiting to a country, usually by air. It allows the destination or transit country to screen travellers before they arrive, increasing security. Basically, eTA can be referred as a type of e-visa that applies for only specified nationals.

No. Although it happens very rarely, border control can refuse your entrance to the country in some extraordinary circumstances, even if you hold a visa.

Some countries issue visas for certain nationals once they arrive in the country. Travellers must obtain a visa to enter the destination country, but it can be obtained upon arrival at the border of the country (usually at the airport). In some cases, getting approval letter or pre-registration in advance might be required by countries for getting visa on arrival.

Yes. Border control can refuse your entrance to the country in some cases. For example, if you do not meet their requirements, or you do not provide them required documents such as an approval letter. For that reason, we always advise to get an approval letter, or at least enough information for visa on arrival regime countries before you travel there.

Visa validity depends on country’s governmental regulations and your travel purpose. Some countries have a certain period of validity for their visa, while others offer you alternatives as you wish.

A single-entry visa may only be used for one entry to the country for the specified purpose for which it was granted.

A multiple-entries visa allows you to enter the country several times during the validity period of your visa.

There can be several different reasons for a visa rejection. Some of these reasons include:

- false documents

- false information provided to the visa issuing authorities

- lack of provided required documents

- past or current criminal records

- insufficient explanation of the travel purpose and circumstances of the planned stay

- failure to prove the travel itinerary

- insufficient means of subsistence

- failure to present proof of accommodation

- lack of travel history

Visa issuing authority refers to authority that issues visas for citizens of local country for traveling to destination country. Mostly embassies and consulates perform this process.

Visa Application Centres (VACs) are private companies that have formal contracts with the government of a represented country. They securely send applicants’ documents to the official visa issuing authorities (an embassy or a consulate).

Embassies are official government representatives in a foreign country and their consulates issue visas for foreign people. Applicants apply to Visa Application Centres for visa in some countries where there is no any official embassy or consulate of destination country. Visa Application Centres are private companies that have formal contracts with the government of a represented country.

In some cases, Visa Application Centres can serve to applicants, even if there is an official representative as an embassy or a consulate of destination country, by an intention of that country.

In most visa applications, visa issuing authorities require such document as a proof of necessary means of subsistence. This document is needed for demonstration of your financial readiness to cope with existential costs for the applied period of stay abroad.

Generally, there are several recognized ways to prove your financial sufficiency such as a personal bank statement indicating your financial movements, credit card, cash, traveller’s cheques, pay slips, proof of employment, proof of prepaid accommodation, proof of prepaid transport, etc.

A travel itinerary refers to the schedule of events and places relating to planned travel, generally including destinations to be visited at specified times and means of transportation to travel between those destinations. Your flight tickets, hotel bookings, event invitations or tickets, internal transportation tickets, business meetings can be example documents for your travel itinerary.

Proof of the accommodation refers to a document that indicates your accommodation address during your stay abroad. As an evidence of a place to stay most embassies accept different documents such as hotel bookings, an invitation from the host with a copy of his passport, an evidence of a pre-paid tour with details of your payment to the tour operator, etc.

Travel history is a record of a traveller’s past visits to outside of their home country. When people travel to foreign country, they get an immigration stamp or a visa stamp on their passport, this records of stamps/visas on the passport is called a travel history. The travel history indicates all the recent visits of passport holder including destinations and dates visited. A good travel history supports your visa application and increases the chances to get visa to common-wealth countries (the USA, Canada, etc.).

The visa validity is the time period during which you are permitted to travel to the destination country.

Duration of stay on visa refers to the maximum amount of days you are permitted to remain in the destination country.

Visa validity is the period of time when you can use your visa to enter and stay in the country, while duration of stay refers to the maximum number of allowed days to remain in that country.

For example, the duration of stay in your visa is written as 10 days, whereas the validity of your visa is from 1 December to 20 December. In this case, you can enter the visa issued country anytime between 1-20 December and stay for a maximum of 10 days. You can enter i.e. on 3 December and leave on 12 December.

On the other hand, you are not allowed to overstay the validity of your visa even if you don`t use all the days allowed as your duration of stay. For example, if you enter on 15 December, you will still have to leave the country on 20 December, despite of not using the full number of days you were permitted to stay (in this case 10 days).

Many countries do not require a visa if you are in-transit to another destination and are staying for a short period of time such as few hours. However, specific transit requirements vary widely from one country to another. 

Most visa issuing authorities require a visa applicant to appear in person at the embassy/consulate to apply for the visa and submit the required documents. This may be done to verify applicant`s identity or conduct a formal interview. In these cases, you must submit your visa application directly to the embassy/consulate. In some cases, upon the permission from the consulate/embassy it`s possible to apply instead of an applicant with a letter of attorney.

You can buy a ticket before your visa has been confirmed. However, most embassies don`t require purchasing a ticket for a visa application, providing a ticket reservation among the documents should be enough. In some cases, you might be asked to purchase the booked ticket at the further stages. Make sure to read the ticket's refund conditions in the event your visa application is not successful.

If your current visa is on an old passport for any reason (expired or older version passport, etc.), you must get e new passport before your trip and contact the consulate or embassy of the country you are traveling to. In some cases, you might need to transfer your visa to a new passport or may be allowed to take both passports with yourself.

If your visa is damaged before your travel, immediately contact the embassy/consulate or official representative in order to inform them about situation and get correct instructions. Most likely you will be asked to reapply or renew your visa before travel.

Total visa costs depend on a government fee, visa validity, visa type, number of entries, travel purpose, your citizenship and so on. In order to check visa costs for your destination country, you can click here and specify your citizenship, residency country, destination country and a travel purpose.

You can check your visa requirements through our website. In order to check visa requirements according to your visit purpose, you can click here and specify your citizenship, residency country, destination country, and travel purpose.

Each country requires different kinds of documents to provide for each type of visa. Although there are some general documents you need to provide for getting visa, there are also some specific documents depending on a purpose of travel and citizenship country. In order to check a specific list of required documents for your visa application, you can click here and get all the relevant information by specifying your citizenship, residency country, destination country and travel purpose.

Visa processing times vary for each visa application. Processing times may depend on such reasons as a destination country, citizenship, visa type etc. Some visas can be ready in an hour, while others may have more than 1-2 weeks processing time. In order to check visa processing time for your visa application, you can click here and specify your citizenship, residency country, destination country and a travel purpose.

Working from a location, that is not your home country requires you to obtain a related visa. There is a difference in going somewhere for tourism purposes versus for a job. The difference lies in the legal rights while residing in a particular country, and obtaining a proper visa will ensure a lawful residency. Depending on your eligibility you may need to apply for either a Work Visa/permit or a Freelancer (Digital Nomad) Visa for working abroad.

There are now many opportunities for Digital nomads and remote workers, as many countries issue a Freelancer (Digital Nomad) Visa. A Freelancer Visa allows remote workers to reside and legally work for their employer or their own company registered abroad.

Who is eligible to apply for a Freelancer Visa? The most common requirements are:

-  Ability to work independently of location.

-  Ability to perform work duties remotely using telecommunications technology.

-  You have an active employment contract with a company registered abroad, conduct business through your own company registered abroad or work as a freelancer for clients mostly abroad (any third countries).

-  Evidence that your income meets the minimum requirements.