What is a visa?

Once you decide your purpose, gather info on the related documents you require to obtain the visa. You can do this either by doing research online or contact third parties or visa expediting companies to do this for you. Apply for your visa as early as possible to reduce the chances of delays.

Types of visas

To start with, there are 2 major categories of visa.

1. Immigrant visa

2. Non-immigrant visa

What is an Immigrant visa?

• If you want to leave your home country to spend the rest of your life in a foreign country, you apply for an immigrant visa. People who work or stay in a foreign country temporarily can apply for the same too. This is the process of naturalization. Naturalization depends on certain factors of the applicant and the country they are applying to.

What is a non-immigrant visa?

This a vast topic where you can get easily confused. So let’s plainly define this. A non-immigrant visa allows you to visit or stay or work temporarily for a particular time. Listed below are the basic types of visas that come under the non-immigrant visa category.

# Tourist visa

# Student visa

# Business

#work visa

#Transit visa

The eligibility required for each type of visa varies from place to place.

#Tourist Visa

If you’re planning to spend a holiday, you opt for this kind of visa. For countries like U.S, U.K, Schengen countries you need to apply visas 2 to 3 months before your journey.

Some Asian and Middle Eastern countries issue visas on arrival. But this depends on your country of origin, your citizenship status, and the destination.

Read more about basic requirements for a tourist visa 

# Student visa

As the name suggests, student visa allows you to study or pursue your higher education in a foreign country.

A student visa can only be applied after he/she is enrolled in a university or school located in that particular country. The validity of the visa will vary according to the duration of the academic course.

# Business visa

If your company sends you to attend trainings or conferences or business events or installation of any machinery or equipment and training people to operate the equipment in a foreign country, you need a business visa. This is a short validity visa extending for weeks to a month.

# Work visa

Work visa is different from a business visa. A work visa or work permit is only applied when you get a job in a foreign country. The validity of your work permit depends on your employment contract.

You can apply for work from your home country or you can apply when you are a visitor or on a tourist visa in a foreign country. If you are hired, the company will apply for your work permit there. It is illegal to work in a foreign country without a work permit.

# Transit visa

A transit visa is a short term visa that allows us to pass through or enter the country and stay for 24 hours or more while traveling to a different country. The validity of a transit visa also depends on your country of origin, your citizenship status and the destination you are passing through.
 

Applying for a visa is not rocket science even though there are a lot of disparities in visa application as we go from country to country. So nothing should stop you from traveling around the world and pursuing your dreams.

Also, to know more about finding a visa agent, check out a few tips on our article on choosing your visa agent, factors you need to pay attention

Planning your holidays overseas! We got a wide variety of holiday packages including visas.