5 Ways to Make Visa Applying on the Road Easier

Visa Applying on the Road

Travelers hear the word and immediately cringe. Jaws drop and faces turn white, almost as if just running into Casper. “Visa?!” they cry. “Oh, I cannot be bothered!”

Amazingly enough, these comments often follow exclamations of, “I’d love to go there!” and, “I bet that place is awesome!” However, the lazy traveler will often think the process too daunting and immediately whistle a different tune when the word “visa” is brought to the table. Well, who can blame them? All the time spent applying for visas takes away from sleeping, sightseeing or drinking time, no?

Still, I must ask, “Why miss out on such an amazing opportunity because of a silly process?” Really, in my opinion, getting a visa for most western world travelers is NOT difficult – it just takes time. So, I have decided to compile a short list of 5 ways you can be better prepared and make the visa applying process on the road that much easier!

1) Carry multiple passport photos. The process of getting passport sized photos seriously takes about 20 minutes, so do yourself a favor and ask for a few extra before leaving home. Even though this procedure is about the same in most countries, the task may seem a bit daunting when traveling in a big, foreign city. The process then includes locating a proper photo shop, which may be quite far away, getting transportation to said photo shop, and then communicating your needs without using words. So, definitely take the extra five minutes at home to save tons of time on the road.

2) Carry digital and paper copies of your passport. We all know page one of our passport. It would be the one that has the probably not-so-great photo of yourself and your personal information. Well, that page is very important for obvious reasons and also great to have a copy of in case your passport is lost, stolen or at an embassy getting visa certified. Sometimes, the visa application itself will even require a copy of this page, so again – before leaving home - make a digital copy and email it to personal address. Print off a few paper copies and put those with your important documents folder in your backpack and you will have yet another step crossed off the list. No need to find a copy machine involved!

3) Carry a few extra US dollars. Funny enough, every visa I have ever applied for required payment in US dollars. Generally, this has never been a problem, but it is worth noting that there have been some countries I have traveled to where finding US dollars has been a bit challenging. If you can manage to find some good hiding places in your luggage, or on your person, try and pack a few extra US dollars in order to avert any possible obstacles on the road.

4) Call the embassy in advance. You will be thankful you did. Sure, phoning an embassy in a foreign country sounds intimidating and time-consuming in itself, but have you heard of a little thing called Skype? Call the embassy and find out exactly what they need – forms, payment – and when/where they need it. Sometimes, you will have to leave the embassy and pay for the visa at a bank in a different part of the city. You will want to know details like this in order to allow enough time for completing the task before the embassy closes, thus keeping the visa on schedule.

5) Show up early. Heck, show up before they even open. I could spout off a couple hundred horror stories of people waiting for hours at the embassy just to be let inside. Then, imagine finding out there is yet another task you must complete before the embassy staff can start processing your visa. Play it safe by being the early bird on this one. You can always go back to bed when you are finished!

Completing these five simple tasks can make a huge difference when applying for visas on the road. All it takes is a little forethought and you will no longer be one of those lazy travelers, too scared of a little process to make traveling to visa-protected countries possible.