🔵ALL ABOUT TRAVEL VISAS: What You Need to Know, How to Apply & Pro-Tips

What is up everyone and welcome back tomy channel.

So we know that a lot goes into planning a trip.

You've decidedwhere you want to go, you got your ticket, you got your passport.

You even have alist of everything that you think you want to take, but at the very last minuteyou realize that you needed a visa! Well, today's video is gonna be all aboutvisas: what they are, how to figure out whether you need one or not, and how toapply for one should you realize that you need a visa.

[upbeat music] Hey there, thanks for being here! My nameis Maggie Gomez with The Nomadelle, and I create content for those of youwho want to travel more, maybe take a gap year.

If that interests you pleaseconsider liking this video, subscribing, and hitting that bell notifications soyou don't miss out on information that will help you achieve your travel dreams.

And with that, let's dive right in! So first things first.

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What is a visa? Avisa is a special requirement that is imposed by countries to citizens ofanother country to whom they want to restrict entrance to.

All countries aredifferent in that regards: some countries do not require you to obtain a visa, someother countries will need you to obtain a visa way in advance, and some othercountries will allow you to obtain a tourist visa upon arrival at theirairport so you just have to pay the fee and they will stamp your passport rightthen and there.

So because of all these different variations, it is veryimportant that you do your research in advance of your trip just in case you doneed to get a visa, you do that in advance and there are no delays.

Why somecountries require a visa? And what do visas restrict? Visas restrict the typeof activity that you are allowed to do and they will also restrict the lengthof time that you are allowed to stay in a given country.

There could be manyreasons why a country may want to impose a visa restriction.

For example, agovernment may want to limit or avoid an increase in their workforce thus imposinga tourist visa for let's say 90 days (that's a very common type of length ofstay) in order to avoid the person entering as a tourist would overstaytheir welcome and become part of the workforce so that's what they wannaavoid and that's why they want to impose not only a visain terms of the activity that the person is allowed to do or not, but also thelength of stay for that particular visa.

So what are the different types of visas?There are many different types of visas depending on what your objective is.

Themost common one, though, is a tourist visa the one that you probably are alreadyfamiliar with.

Now, work is not permitted on a tourist visa so if you're lookingto work temporarily, or permanently, in a given country, you definitely want tocheck their work visa requirements.

So as I mentioned, there are many differenttypes of visa but here are a few of the most common ones and, for example, thetourist visa of course is for leisure purposes, a work visa is required forpeople who wish to take on employment for example to come to the United Statesa company needs to sponsor you and then with the sponsorship you'll be able toapply for a work visa otherwise it's very difficult to obtain a work visajust like that.

A student visa allows a person to enroll in an educationalinstitution.

A refugee visa can be granted to individuals fleeing war ornatural disasters.

And a working holiday visa allows the person to undertaketemporary employment and Australia it's actually a very good example of acountry that is able to grant a working holiday visa.

And so yes, a visa doesrestrict the length of time that you're allowed to stay in the country, so some countries would allowed a tourist visa for 30 days, sometimes 60days.

90 days is usually the most common lengthalthough some countries will let you stay for up to a year.

So becauseof all that variation, again, definitely I would suggest to do the research inadvance in order to avoid any surprises.

So what does a visa look like? Well thatis going to depend on the type of visa that you need to obtain but also it'sgoing to depend on the country that you are looking to enter and theirrequirements as well.

So, for example, there are countries where you need toget a visa way in advance so you have to mail your passport and normally thattype of visa, even if it's a tourist visa, it's gonna be a lot more formal.

It'sgonna be laminated against the passport, right? But there are other countries thatwould allow you to get just a tourist card and that is a type of visa whereyou just get as soon as you arrive at the airport I just have to pay a fee andthey would stamp your passport so it's a little bit less formal but it is mostdefinitely official.

Then there are also other countries where you can actuallyobtain an e-visa, that's an electronic visa right and thisis my electronic visa for Brazil from when it was required for US citizensto get a visa, which is no longer the case for Brazil, which is very nice.

Butanyway, so those are the different types of visas you can expect to see dependingon the country that you want to enter.

So how to find out whether you need a visafor a specific country, and how to apply for a visa should you need one? So mybest recommendation is always gonna be to go straight to the source, that is togo straight to the embassy or the consulate of the country that you wishto visit because all that information is gonna be most accurate and up to datethere.

However, my go-to source is always www.

travel.

state.

gov, which is a an official government website so it'spretty accurate and I'm gonna leave, of course, the link in the description below.

But what I do is to go to the International Travel tab and then Iclick on Country Information and I type the country that I am looking to visit.

So let's just say, for example, I want to go to Paraguay.

And the next screen isgonna give me a lot of very good details, travel-related information for Paraguay, so it's very helpful to read through everything.

For this purpose, we're justgonna focus on the visa requirements and it tells me that, yes, I do need a touristvisa to go to Paraguay so with that information I'm gonna go down here tothis one tab that is the Entry, Exit and Visa Requirements.

I'm going to go aheadand expand on that and it's gonna give me a lot more details, just enoughfor me to know at this point what should what I should do next and I know that, just by looking at this, sounds like I have to go to that website (to theParaguayan Embassy website) but let's read through this because there's alwaysvery good information here for US citizens right so a passport is requiredto enter Paraguay, you can also obtain a visa on arrival and I think that'sdefinitely most helpful because you don't have to deal with, you know, applications online or sending your passport via, you know, mail etc.

So assoon as you arrive at the airport you can pay $160 dollars.

Now, this is very interesting, it says “payable in US dollars, credit cards are notaccepted” and this is even more interesting, it says “new bills that arefree of any ink marks, blots, or tears if paying with $100 denomination bills, series CB and D are not accepted.

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” so anyway, so justmake sure that you read through.

I just wanted to show you the level of detail, you know, of the requirements so anyway just read through it but for thetime being, it looks like it is asking me to visit the Embassy of Paraguay websitefor the most current visa information which makes a lot of sense.

So I'm going togo ahead and click that, and this is going to take me to that external linkand, by the way, all countries are the exact same process [correction] have the exactsame process, nothing different so then here it's gonna tell me what isneeded should I decide to apply for that visa in advance I can do that as welland it gives me all the requirements so just again the best, easiest way isprobably gonna be starting at the government page and that's gonna give mea little bit of guidelines as to you know which countries I do need a visa, which countries I do not, which countries I do need a visa but I can get it uponarrival like the example that we just saw about Paraguay, etc.

So that is, in anutshell, how you figure out whether you need a visa and how you apply for oneshould you need one.

It doesn't matter how many times you've visited a country, always get in the habit of checking visa restrictions, or any updates that mayhave happened in the past months.

So for that, I would definitely recommend youcheck this video right here is about the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, orSTEP for short, and that gives you up to date, in real time information andupdates about visa requirements, travel advisories, any emergencies, anything thatcomes up you'll be the first one to knowif you're enrolled in that program and also you can provide that information to yourfriends and relatives so they will know how to get a hold of you, you know, if anemergency comes up.

So, I hope you learn what a visa is, how to find out whetheryou need one or not, and how to apply for one should you need a visa.

How manyvisas do you have in your current passport? How many countries have youvisited? Please feel free to post in the comments any questions that you may haveor any travel-related stories.

I would love to hear them!This is Maggie with The Nomadelle and I thank you so much for watching.

Untilnext time, Happy travels!.