If you haven’t ever tried to get a Tourist Visa, then you probably aren’t familiar with how stressful and difficult it can be for certain countries. Loads of paperwork, complicated questions, forms written by non-native English speakers, and sketchy government websites looking like they were built in 1995 – the same sites that force you to enter your credit card information to pay Visa fees. Need I say more?
I don’t know about you, but this isn’t really my idea of ‘easy’. I have gone through the Visa-process enough times to experience waves of frustration, on multiple occasions. The good news is that almost all of this can be avoided by simply using a Travel Visa Agency who will handle the majority of this for you!
What Is A Travel Visa?
A Travel Visa is an issued confirmation, usually in the form of a small paper placed in your passport, that indicates your non-immigration visit to a foreign country. Travel Visas can be for tourism, for medical treatment, for business, for education, and even for a few more purposes. Most countries require a Travel Visa before entering, but not all.
What Is a Travel Visa Agency?
A Travel Visa Agency is an entrusted Visa authority that acts as a middleman to create/gather and submit required documents to local governments for the purpose of obtaining a Travel Visa. They are experts in their field, and can greatly simplify the Visa process, which reduces the burden on the traveler.
Do I Need A Travel Visa?
This answer depends on which country you are from, and which country you plan to visit. Be sure to check HERE. Enter your home & destination country, and then the site will give you up-to-date information about whether or not you need a Travel Visa.
Why Use A Travel Visa Agency?
In short, a Travel Visa Agency will help you save time and prevent frustration. Think it isn’t worth it? Check this out..
Probably my single worst visa experience was when I was trying to obtain a Tourist Visa for India. I spent more than 12 hours to complete and mail out the forms.
In order to do this, I had to read other blogs, watch youtube videos, fill out huge forms on the government website that were written with poor and misleading English, had to call the helpline twice (I could barely understand their English), I filled out the forms and hit submit only to find out that the website had ‘timed out’, and there are probably a few more things that I am forgetting to mention.
After I finally submitted the forms, it turns out that I made one mistake on them (because their English literally didn’t make sense), and I had to redo the forms all over again. So frustrating! Side note: I have heard that there are countries that have much more confusing processes than India.
Is every Visa process like this? No. Some countries require that you simply get on a plane and show up at the airport and they will issue you a Visa in 30 seconds. Unfortunately not every country is like this. I wish they were!
For the countries that require a Travel Visa in advance, my highest recommendation to you is to let the professionals handle your Visa application process and avoid countless hours of stress.
What Are The Steps To Getting A Travel Visa?
Be sure to read How To Use iVisa. This article will explain, in depth, how to use an agency to help with getting a Travel Visa with a specific Travel Visa Agency.
- Go To SoloTravel365.com/visa
- Select Country of Current Passport
- Select Your Destination
- Read All Given Info & FAQ’s
- Select Desired Visa
- Fill Out The Forms
- Pay The Visa Fee
- Receive eVisa via Email
- Print Your eVisa Documents
- Present Printed Documents To Immigration Officer
When Should I Apply For A Visa?
This answer depends on several factors:
- Your home country.
- Your destination country.
- Too Late: If you have already purchased a plane ticket you should get your visa with enough time in advance. This is because if there are delays in your Visa process, for some crazy and unforeseen reason, you will need to have enough time to apply again before your flight leaves.
- Too Early: Usually, the moment you receive a visa, the clock starts ticking. Different countries have different rules and regulations on this particular topic. This can be especially troublesome if you only receive a 3-month Visa or less. After you receive the Visa you must hurry and fly to the country before your Visa expires. Sometimes obtaining a Visa too early is problematic. However, there are some countries who have Visas in which the clock starts ticking the moment you cross the border.
It is very important to read about the Visa to understand the best time to submit the application and start the process. There is a unique ‘sweet spot’ for every country. The links mentioned above will help you.
How Long Does It Take To Get A Travel Visa?
There are a few factors that determine how long it will take to acquire a Travel Visa. Mainly, ‘which country you are from’ and ‘which country you wish to visit’ have the largest impact on time. Sometimes it is more difficult to enter a country if you are from country X rather than country Y. More questions are asked and more Travel Visa Documents are required. You can thank the government bureaucracy for this.
Also, you can speed up the process of obtaining a travel visa by simply paying a small fee to the Travel Visa Agency, and they can expedite the process.
How Will I Receive My Travel Visa When Using a Visa Travel Agency?
Each process may be slightly different. But generally, you will receive an email with documents that are required to print. Once you print them, you will need to take these documents with you and present them to the immigration department when you arrive at your destination. Be sure to print only on one side of each A4 paper. If you print on both sides, sometimes government agencies will reject them.
Which Type Of Payments Are Accepted?
Each Visa Travel Agency is slightly different. But the company that I recommend in the links above, accepts MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and PayPal.
Can I get a Travel Visa without Using An Agency?
Of course. But keep in mind that when you do this process yourself, you must know which documents are needed, where to send them to, and how much to pay. You also may need to spend a lot of time filling out these documents. If you have any questions, you usually need to wait on hold to speak to a representative with a strong (sometimes not understandable) accent, or you may need to wait a day or two for an email response (assuming they even respond). If there are any mistakes on the forms, you usually have to pay again in order to submit a 2nd document to the local government. So much fun, right?
I have done enough of them alone to know that it’s far easier to let a 3rd party do all of the leg-work for me. Submit the application, wait for the email, and simply click print. So easy.
I hope the information above helped you understand the importance of using an agency to assist you with your Travel Visa. Happy travels!