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).
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