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Visa to travel

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited January 2023 in General Chat
Does it put you off going to a country if you find out you'll need a visa to go there?

I had to get a visa yesterday for a trip to Asia, - meant making a special trip to London, get there for 8:30am and spending over 3 hours standing in a line to get it.
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Until I read this I thought you only needed a visa for long term travel.
    It would definately make me think twice about going somewhere, if I needed one.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not really.

    We're lucky as Brits in that we don't need visas for most places but lots of the countries that ask for visas are the cool countries like Russia, China, parts of Africa etc.

    My poor old Sri Lankan friend needs a visa for EVERY country in the world apart from SL (and Nepal because he has dual citizenship). That must really suck.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Did you have to go to London because you needed the visa fast, or because they don't accept postal applications? It would put me off if I had to go to London for it, but if I wanted to go to the country enough to have decided to travel there, I wouldn't mind sending off for one. Nicer (and cheaper!) when you don't have to, though, of course.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not really.

    We're lucky as Brits in that we don't need visas for most places but lots of the countries that ask for visas are the cool countries like Russia, China, parts of Africa etc.

    My poor old Sri Lankan friend needs a visa for EVERY country in the world apart from SL (and Nepal because he has dual citizenship). That must really suck.

    This is true the Colombians are always complaining how unfair it is that they need a visa to go everywhere.

    TBH it would depend how much I wanted to go somewhere - I really couldn't be assed getting a visa for the US if they bring it it (especially if they bring in the you have to come to london for a visa interview clause) because i don't care about it that much as a holiday destination.

    however australia for example you can get your visa online so it cuts out all the sending off your passport or queing up in line for ages.

    Last time i got my visa for India the immigration lady simlpy wouldn't belive that I was going for work and insisted on giving me a tourist visa. But for some reason I don't begrudge standing in a line to get a visa.

    For many countries visa's are just another way of taxing tourists - for example iirc Kenya and Turkey both require tourists to have a visa - but you can buy it on arrival at the airport for a nominal fee - normally they don't even bother to give your passport more than a cursory glance.

    If you can't get to london - the trailfinders visa service is one of the cheapest and you dont' even have to have booked a flight with them.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    VinylVicky wrote:
    Until I read this I thought you only needed a visa for long term travel.
    It would definately make me think twice about going somewhere, if I needed one.

    Yep that's true for most countries.

    But I'm off to India for 2 weeks and you need a visa even if you're going for 1 day, real pain in the butt just to make the special trip to go get it... especially in this day and age where you can manage the whole buying process of a holiday online.

    But met loads of English Travellers who go every year and pay £30 each every year to get their visa's
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    you have to go to London to get a visa in person if you wanna go to thailand??

    what about america? or japan?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Doomsday wrote:
    you have to go to London to get a visa in person if you wanna go to thailand??

    what about america? or japan?

    I was told I needed a visa for Thailand so went to London to the Thai embassy twice (once to drop it off and once to collect it) and then found when I got there that I didn't actually need one after all as I was staying for less than 30 days :banghead:

    I think for the US, if you hold a British passport you are ok if you are staying less than 60 (or maybe it's 90) days and don't intend to work or study there, but don't take my word for it, as I may be wrong!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    http://www.expedia.co.uk/destinations.aspx?rfrr=-13010

    Click the place you want to go and it'll tell you if you need a visa or not and how long your immigration stamp at the airport will last for. This is only for tourist visas though. If you want to work anywhere outside the EU to my knowledge you will need a working visa.

    There are companies you can use who do all the legwork for you. Naturally they charge a commission but it's really worth it if you don't live within feasible distance of London.

    I think I'm right in saying that British passports are amongst the most valuable in the world in terms of the amount of places you can go without a visa. For example, most western countries can go to Ecuador for up to 90 days per year without a visa. Brits however, can get an additional 90 day extension just by showing up at the migrations office. I kinda flaunted this law and stayed for something closer to 200 days but they didn't really care (as I was flying business class :D).
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