The Beginner’s Guide To International Travel Part 3: Check for Visas & Travel Requirements

🛫 The Beginner’s Guide To International Travel 🛬

Part 3:

Check for Visas & Travel Requirements

BEFORE Anything Else... Before you start booking tickets and accommodation, check on travel requirements. Ultimately, you can show up with no reservations and make it work but not having the right visa will stop you in your tracks. You must check, if you need a Visa for the designated destination that you have chosen.

What is a Visa?

A Visa is a certificate issued but also the stamp marked (on the applicant's passport) by the immigration authorities of a country to indicate that the applicant's credentials have been verified and he or she has been granted permission to enter the country for a temporary stay within a specified period. This permission, however, is provisional and subject to the approval of the immigration officer at the entry point.

The common types of visas include:

Single entry visa: valid only for one visit.
Multiple entry visa: allows any number of visits within its validity period.Business visa: for a short visit to conduct discussions, negotiations, and/or presentations, but not to take up employment.
Tourist visa: allows freedom to move around the country and briefly cross its frontiers to another country and return. 
Residence visa: allows an extended stay but does not grant permission to take up employment.
Work visa: gives the permission to stay and take up employment, for a specific job and only for a limited period. Called also work permit. 
Electronic visa: permission recorded in a computer instead of being issued as a certificate or stamp.

Once you have check, if you need a visa you will proceed to; Check for recommended or required vaccinations is also very important. I ALWAYS check the Center for Disease Control‘s website to confirm which vaccinations I need.

South African Requirement to Apply for A Visa:
A passport valid for no less than 30 days after the expiry of the intended visit, and at least 1 unused page for entry/departure endorsements (sometimes referred to as the visa page).
Payment of the prescribed fee, if applicable
A vaccination certificate, if required (travel through the yellow fever belts)
Documentation confirming the purpose and duration of your visit.
Two identity photographs.
Proof of financial means in the form of bank statements; salary advices; undertakings by your hosts in South Africa; bursaries; medical cover; cash available.
Travelling by air a return ticket

I have a South African and a Portuguese Passport.

Let me know what are the requirements needed in your country to Apply for a Visa;
or if you have Double Passport...