How to Get a Traveling Visa

When traveling abroad, you may need a visa to enter a specific country. A visa allows you to stay in the country for a specific set of time, after which you must leave the country. Many countries will give visas upon arriving at the country, while others will require you to apply for them in advance. Whatever you need to do, it is generally not difficult to secure a visa.

Things You'll Need

• Passport

Instructions

1. Visit the U.S. Department of State travel website (see link in References). It not only will give you all the latest information on travel warnings and alerts, but it will tell you if you need a visa for the country you are visiting and how you obtain one.

2. Go to a nearby embassy of the country you are visiting, or visit the website for traveling to the particular country to see if you can apply for the visa online. LonelyPlanet.com will often have information regarding how to apply for particular visas for different countries (see link in References).

3. Pay the set fee, which will vary from country to country. Depending on what country you are traveling to and how you applied, you may have to wait several days to a few weeks before your travel visa is given to you.

4. Travel to your desired country. Your visa will not begin its set time period until you enter the country. If a visa is given on your arrival, you will receive it while going through customs.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are traveling to different countries, you will need to check into what the different visa requirements are. Most countries you can receive a visa upon arrival, but some countries are different and you will need to pre-apply before entering. This is not a problem if you have multiple pre-applied visas because none will go into effect until you enter the particular country.

References

• U.S. Department of State
• Lonely Planet