Imagine this…you book a flight, plan out your itinerary, pack your bags, get to the airport, and are denied entry onto the flight because you didn’t get a visa for your destination. It’s the ultimate form of travel rejection and disappointment levels will reach an all time high. You wonder how could you let this happen and you verbally say to the airline staff “How do I know if I need a visa?” They will likely have no remorse for you, as it is ultimately your responsibility to check into these types of things before you even start planning your trip.
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So do you need a visa?
“Do I need a visa?” is a super important question you always need to ask before departing to any foreign country – even if you’ve been there before. Rules and politics between countries change all the time, so it’s a good habit to get into to check if you need a visa when booking all international travel.
So how do you find out if you need a visa? If you hold American citizenship, like we do, I always recommend that you visit the State Department website which has tonssss of great information for every country and also a Traveler’s Checklist which is super helpful to make sure you don’t forget about anything before taking off. We were literally glued to this website daily when deciding on our initial Itinerary for our RTW trip.
If you’re a citizen of a country other than the United States, does your country have a similar online tool run by the government of your country? A simple online search should lead you there if so. I always recommend finding out from government sources since they should always be correct, up to date, and free!
If you don’t have a site like this, there’s a super easy tool you can use to check what countries you can enter visa free or get a visa at the border – Passport Index Compare Passports. This is another site that has loads of helpful information regarding passports and visas, and most particularly, the Compare Passports tool let’s you enter the type of passport(s) you have and see which countries require visas and which don’t all in one list. It’s also extremely helpful to those who are fortunate to hold citizenship in two or more countries, to see which passport they would be better off using to get into a certain country visa-free.
Unfortunately, the way the system is now, the more ‘powerful’ your passport is, the more countries you’ll be able to visit visa-free, which means less money, time, and hassle will be spent obtaining visas. So if you have a visa that doesn’t rank very high in terms of your visa-free score (how many countries you can enter without a visa), you’ll more than likely have to spend money just to see if they will even grant you permission to enter a certain country. As always, if you’re on a budget, we recommend first finding out the countries you can visit visa-free, so you save money on visa fees and also the added stress of potentially not being granted the visa for some unknown reason to you.
If you do need a visa…
So do you need a visa? If you checked the U.S. State Department website or Passport Index and the answer is yes, read our post about some of the different options you have to get your visa (coming soon!). Some visas are free to obtain and some are very pricey. Some allow you to stay in a country for months at a time, some limit your stay to just weeks or even days. Some allow you to enter the country for whatever purpose you want, and others are very specific about what sort of activities you are allowed to take part in, so make sure you know all the details about our visa type when you get it. And as always, if you do need to get a visa, make sure you include the cost in your budget!
If you’re looking for a dependable visa service to assist you in your visa application endeavors, we recommend Visa HQ. They are fast and dependable and are able to help you apply for any visa in the world. They are knowledgeable about the processes and the time frames to make sure you submit everything that is needed to ensure your visa application is complete.
If you have any questions about how to know if you need a visa, please let us know in the comments!
Are you planning a Round the World trip? Check out these resources that will help you plan and prepare!
⇒ RTW Packing List
⇒ How to Stay Organized While Traveling
⇒ RTW Budget and Budget Excel Template
⇒ Our Round the World Trip By the Numbers
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Ashly is the founder of reversible travel clothing brand, SPLICE clothing, and half of the budget travel couple, Happy Nomad Couple. She is from Las Vegas, USA and has been to 32 countries on 6 continents. She’s the mastermind behind this blog and does most of the traveling planning and dreaming for her & Carlos.
