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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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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