What is Travelling Visa and the Requirements Guideline

What Is a Visa?

A visa is an official document that allows the bearer to legally enter a foreign country. The visa is usually stamped or glued into the bearer’s passport. There are several different types of visas, each of which afford the bearer different rights in the host country.

Check out How Do I Apply for a Visa? for more information.

What Is a Travel/Tourist Visa?

Travel visas allow the bearer to enter a foreign country for touristic and leisure purposes only and stay for a predetermined amount of time. These visas do not entitle the holder to work or engage in any business activities in the host country.

What Is a Work Visa?

Work visas are required for individuals who wish to take on employment or engage in business activities in the host country. There are several types of work visas that depend on the nature of the work and length of stay. For example, working holiday visas allow individuals to temporarily take on employment while travelling through the country.

What Is a Business Visa?

A business visa allows the bearer to enter the host country and engage in business activities without joining that country’s labour market. For example, an individual may require a business visa if they are travelling to a country to do business with another company or if they are attending a business conference. The visitor typically must show that they are not receiving income from the country.

What Is a Student Visa?

A student visa is a type of nonimmigrant visa that allows the bearer to enrol at a postsecondary educational institution in the host country. High school foreign exchange students must typically obtain a visa for temporary residence.

What is a Refugee/Asylum Visa?

Refugee visas and asylum visas can be granted to individuals fleeing persecution, war, natural disasters and other situations in which their life is at risk.

What Is a Working Holiday Visa?

Working holiday visas allow the bearer to undertake temporary employment in a country through which they are travelling. Not every country offers a working holiday program. Australia has the most popular such program.

What Is a Spousal Visa?

Spousal visas allow partners to visit each other when the couple does not hail from the same country.

What Is a Transit Visa?

Travellers may sometimes require transit visas in order to pass through a country that is not their destination country. Transit visas are typically required if you have a layover in a country of more than a few hours.

What Is an e-Visa?

An eVisa, or electronic visa, is a digital visa that is stored in a database rather than stamped or glued into the bearer’s passport. The eVisa is linked to the individual’s passport number. Applications for eVisas are typically done over the Internet and the applicant will receive a paper document to present while travelling.

Immigrant Vs. Nonimmigrant Visas

Travel visas can be separated into two categories: immigrant and nonimmigrant. Immigrant visas allow the bearer to reside permanently in the host country, whereas nonimmigrant visas allow the bearer entry into the host country on a temporary basis.

What Does a Visa Look Like?

Traditional visas can either be stamped or glued into your passport. If your visa is glued into your passport, it is usually a small document that includes your name, passport number, place of birth, reason for travel and expiration date. Stamped visas typically have less information on them. They usually only have the destination and date from which the visa is valid and official instructions stating how many days the visa is valid for.

Why Do I Need a Visa to Travel to Africa?

Visas are necessary if you’d like to travel to a country that does not have a visa policy in place with your home country.

Many countries in Africa have visa policies and agreements that allow their citizens to travel freely between them without the need for a visa. For example, Tanzanias and Kenya do not need visas in order to travel to each other’s countries, only valid travel documents. However, Europians do need visas to travel to some Africa Countries, for example, since no visa agreement exists between the two nations.

Check on Passport Index to see if you need a visa to travel to your next destination.

When Do I Need a Visa?

When you need a visa depends on where you’d like to go. If your home country has a visa agreement with the country to which you intend to travel, then you likely will not need to apply for a visa beforehand. However, if your home country does not have a visa agreement with your intended destination, then you must apply for a visa before travelling.

See our Africa Visa Index to find out where you can travel visa-free with your passport.

How Do I Apply for a Visa?

Using your preferred Travel visa search engine, find the official government immigration or at Africatourvisa website of the country you intend to visit. Once you’ve found and read all the information, including the visa application requirements, fill out the required travel visa application form. You may be able to send in the form electronically or you may be required to send it by mail. If your destination requires visa on arrival, then you don’t need to worry about applying for a travel visa beforehand. In this case, once you get to your destination you may be required to fill out a visa form and pay any applicable fees. Double check the requirements with the consulate as you may need to bring a passport-sized photo as well. or at Africatourvisa website.

Why is it so hard for Africans to visit other African countries?

African nations were supposed to scrap visa requirements for all African citizens by 2018. It was a key part of the African Union (AU) "vision and roadmap for the next 50 years" that was adopted by all members states in 2013. the Seychelles is the only nation where visa-free travel is open to all Africans