Travel Tips: How To Apply A Visa
Posted in Travel Tips on Mar 27th, 2008
One of the most important thing to do by a traveler before traveling to any country is to check if that country will require a foreigner to obtain a visa first before entering the country. It is wrong to enter a country without a visa if it is required for you to have a visa. You can be prisoned or deported if you are caught without a visa.
What is a visa?A visa is a stamp of impression (usually comes like a sticker) which is placed on a valid passport. The visa is usually obtained from a foreign embassy or consulate which is authorized to give permission for the applicant of the visa to enter their country for a specified period of time; as long as the visa is valid.
How to obtain a visa? In order to obtain a visa, you will need to have a valid passport issued by your government. Your passport should be valid at least for the next six months. You will also need a letter of invitation and other supporting documents.
A letter of invitation is the official letter which can show proof of the purpose you want to visit the country. The letter of invitation is dependent to the real reason you are visiting the country. If you are going to visit your friend, you can ask your friend to give you a letter of invitation or let’s say you are going for a seminar, you can ask the seminar organizer to give you a letter of invitation. It will be much easier to obtain a business visa for you can ask for a letter of invitation from the company or business you are partnering or associating with.
Supporting documents should be documents which can show that you are socially stable in your country. Such documents includes financial statements, bank statements, business registrations, marriage certificates, property titles if you own any properties. If you have some good contacts with a minister or someone well recognized, you can also get a letter of recommendation from them.
The reasons to provide these documents is to show that you are going to visit the country for a genuine purpose as stated in the letter of invitation and not for any other reason.
Once you have all these documents, get a visa application form from the embassy or consulate of the country you are going to visit. You may have to pay for the form or you may have to pay for the visa when you are collecting it.
Fill up the form after reading their requirements. Make sure to double check for any errors before submitting the visa application form. When you are confident there is no mistake in your visa applications and you have provided all the documents they require, go and submit your visa application and wait for the reply.
In some embassy, you can know the answer immediately while others may take a day or two. They will tell you when to come and collect.