I’m new to traveling, and wanted to know, who exactly is a visa for? Is it for the country you’re leaving to tell them you are allowed to leave or something? Is it for the country you’re entering so you can tell them you’re been approved to enter from the previous country? Who sees it and who does it matter to?
All I could seem to find on Google is that it’s attached to your passport once you get one and that you need one. I was hoping to hear a more detailed explanation from someone who’s actually used one in the past so I kind of know what to expect!
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A visa, plain and simple, is a country saying “you’re not a citizen, but we’ll let you come in for a while.” Countries have the right to turn people away at their border (including entryways like airports), and the visa is them saying “we’ve seen you, we trust the government that issued your passport, you’ve told us what you’re doing here, so come on in.”
Nowadays visas are mostly electronic, though they’ll still sometimes stamp your passport or give you a formal document for a longer stay. And visas have all different types and durations. A tourist visa, medical visa, or business visa, for example, are for a short stay and a specific purpose. If you come in on a tourist visa and try to conduct business, they’ll throw you out real quick, because you weren’t honest about what you were doing. Longer stays include a student visa or a work visa, which are granted when you’re offered a spot with an institution in the country, and last for a certain amount of time (or sometimes can be renewed to last longer).
A visa is a document (sometimes digital) issued by the country you’re going into, giving you the right to be there for a pre-determined amount of time and for certain reasons (e.g. business, tourism).
It’s permission for you to be in their country. A passport itself is not permission, it’s just your identification. A visa is the official recognition that you are allowed to be in the country for a specified purpose.
For example, a work visa gives you permission not only to be in the country, but to be employed and earn money. That isn’t always allowed, because countries want to protect their citizens by ensuring that non-citizens can’t come in and work, presumably for lower wages which would drive down wages for citizens.
If you’re just visiting, you get a visitor or tourism visa. That gives you permission to come in and stay for a short while.
Visas are temporary, compared to something like a green card, which are typically permanent (or at least, more permanent than visas).
It’s a permission to enter a country, given by that country, often for a specific time period, for a specific reason and/or a specific number of times. What level of scrutiny and process is involved in the issuing of a visa (or whether one is required at all) almost always depends on the issuer of the passport the traveler is holding – e.g a Brit might have an easier time getting a visa and so entering US than a Russian would.
A visa is for the country you are traveling to. It is attached to your passport either digitally and/or with a stamp. It is your proof of permission to visit that country as long as you follow the guidelines laid out by the visa, most importantly, the time you’re allowed to visit and whether or not you’re allowed to work. They will vary by country and the rules can vary by visit.
For example: I was born American and immigrated to Canada, I did this because of marriage. Before I officially started my process, each visit to see my then fiance, I would bring big suitcases full of stuff.
Americans are generally granted a six month tourist visa on arrival. As I arrived, the border agent at the airport took one look at my luggage and limited my visa to the duration of my flight schedule. This happened two out of four trips.
It’s an approval to enter a country issues by the one you are entering. It’s a means of tracking you as a foreigner entering, the nature of your visit, and a way to verify your departure within parameters of time allowed to visit.
Depending on your country of citizenship/residency, where you are traveling, and length of stay, some visas are automatically given at Immigration upon arrival, while others may need to be applied for and approved ahead of travel. So if you’re going to Mexico as a tourist for a week, you just get your visa as they check your passport and you return it upon departure so they can verify you’ve left. If you were going to India to study for 2 years, you’d need to apply ahead of time for a student visa.
A visa is a document issued by the country you are going to. It may be stamped into your passport, pasted into your passport, stapled into your passport, or it could be digital. If you look at your passport the first page is for the country who issued the country and the rest is free to be used by any other country you visit, including things like visas.
The requirements for visas vary a lot. It depends on what country you come from, where you are a citizen, why you are in the country, how long you intend to stay, what you want to do in the country, etc. So you need to look up this information on the government websites of the country you are visiting. For example if you are an American citizen and want to visit England you would look for information from the British Embassy in Washington. This is also where you would apply for a visa if you need one.
Good examples so far of what a Entry Visa is used for – providing permission for a non-citizen of a country to come into the country, typically after the person has answered requested questions and passed the screening process.
There are also **EXIT VISAs** … typically used by countries to ensure that the person (usually non-citizens, but sometime for citizens) has permission to LEAVE the country. There are some understandable rationales – like ensuring that they have paid any taxes and duties – and sometimes it is used as a check for people who have overstayed their entry visa. But of course it can be used to control emigration – and is often used for stifling political rivals.
In general, Entry and Exit visas are used to control and monitor who (and how many) cross a country’s borders legally.
It’s the document that people forget about when they go “Oh, if HE wins the election , I’m leaving this country and going to live THERE!!”
Without a visa, you’re probably not living there.
Ex airport worker here, let me give this a try.
Visa is a permit to enter a foreign country. It’s like when you want to visit / go to another person’s house, you need to ask for their permission. Visa is a written form of such permission.
Visa used to be in a form of a piece of paper, stickied on a page on your passport. While that form remains to be quite popular, nowadays there are other forms of visa. For examples, (1) electronic visa, (2) printed electronic visa, (3) a piece of paper that is completely detached from your passport (rare), etc.
Visa also can have multiple ways to acquire. Some needs you to go apply at the diplomatic mission of the country you want to visit, some needs you to apply online, sometimes travel agencies can apply on your behalf, etc.
Another point is when to apply and get a visa. Most of the time you have to do it before you travel. For some countries you can apply a visa on arrival, which means you do it after you get out the plane at the destination airport.
Visa exists in different names. A fun example is a situation when a Chinese wants to enter Taiwan. Because they *de facto* are different countries, the Chinese need a permission. But then because they *de jure* are one country, they can’t give a visa. Therefore, the permission is not a visa, it is called as Exit and Entry Permit. It functionally works as a visa, though.
Sometimes you don’t need a visa at all. German passport holders can visit 161 countries visa free, for example. It’s a very powerful passport. Or if you have a resident card, you don’t need visa. For example, a green card holder doesn’t need visa to enter US.
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