The global hassle of visas

visa A couple of weeks ago I drove from Salzburg to Innsbruck. It took a little under two hours, and along the way I drove into Germany and then back out into Austria again. Did I need a visa? Of course not. Did I show my passport? There was no-one to show it to. In fact the only evidence of crossing a national border was the small sign with the national emblem; rather like entering Yorkshire.

Us Europeans have it easy. We can jump from country to country without a second thought. Yet venture beyond our little group of Euro-buddies and things are very different. Application forms, letters of invitation, birth certificates; entering another country becomes incredibly bureaucratic. Travel enough and you’re bound to have a story involving not getting a visa in time, being refused a visa or having extra charges added to your application at the point of entry.

What’s the point of it all? Is anything achieved beyond keeping an army of state employees in work and providing an additional income to the country we’ve chosen to visit?

The arguments for visas usually start with protecting a country from an uncontrolled inflow of foreigners who are planning to outstay their weekend break. But while these fears might be real in a few cases, there is a reasonable correlation between the poverty in a country and the paperwork required to enter it. Where there is a high volume of people determined to enter a particular country, I wonder how effective the use of visas really are in managing this flow.

It’s hard to find a good reason why as a Brit I needed to complete so much paperwork to enter Syria or Uzbekistan. And talking of former Soviet states, why is it that someone from Ukraine doesn’t need a visa to enter Uzbekistan while a Polish person does? It’s all about politics of course. Old politics in the case of the ex-Soviet states; citizens of the former Eastern Bloc countries didn’t need a visa to travel to central Asia until they joined the EU.

And then there’s the argument about national security. This of course can be used to justify any restrictive actions, but in how many cases are visa restrictions against specific countries justified or, more to the point, effective at achieving what they claim to do? Terrorists are more likely to enter the US with EU passports than ones from ‘high risk’ countries.

So does it all boil down to money? Is it just a tax on foreign nationals at the point of entry? I suspect the whole visa process achieves little more than raise a few million dollars to most countries who impose it. And what is this money used for? To support the embassy staff who process all the visa applications it appears.

If that is the case then who are we, as tourists who are usually perceived as very wealthy in the host nation, to argue? It is a nation’s prerogative after all to impose whatever rules it wishes on those who want to visit. But if they are so keen to take a slice of our cash before we’ve even set foot in their country, why can’t these nations at least drop the pretence and the forms that come with it (do they really need to know where my grandfather was born or his occupation?)

 

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12 Responses to “The global hassle of visas”

  1. Hi Andy

    Good point. You’re absolutely right about how the poverty of a country seems to be directly proportional to the amount of paperwork required to enter. However, I think in some cases it’s retaliation for how difficult the UK makes it for their citizens to enter our country. Also in former British colonies like India and Pakistan, it was us that introduced the idea of bureaucracy in the first place. Payback time!

    Mark

    June 3, 2011 at 10:37 am
    • I think Mark has hit the real reason (in most cases). It’s not about money, it’s about reciprocation. Think of the countries that we don’t have much visa hassle getting into. They correlate strongly with the ones that don’t have much visa hassle getting into the UK. I bet a Syrian trying to enter the UK has to go through just as many – if not more – hoops to get into the UK as you have to go through to get into Syria.

      So, in reality, it is about protecting a country from an uncontrolled flow of foreigners. We don’t make it easy for the Syrians, Vietnamese, Uzbeks etc to get into the country because – rightly or wrongly – it’s perceived that they’d try to stay and work. Their governments just respond in kind.

      June 3, 2011 at 10:53 am
  2. Hilarious – I have EXACTLY the same two pages in my passport! Even the position of visas and stamps is almost the same. The dates are different though (thankfully…) : )

    June 3, 2011 at 11:15 am
  3. Thanks for the comments. Reciprocation certainly appears the reason in many cases (and as Mark points out, others have perfected the bureaucracies that Britain introduced). I just wonder why they don’t take the benefits of a visa arrangement (ie: the cash) and abandon the nonsense that goes with it (the stupid questions).
    Of course this is all seen from the point of view of a Brit – I can appreciate that our country is one of the toughest to get into, with some of the biggest obstacles placed in the way of would be migrants.

    June 3, 2011 at 12:13 pm
  4. Visas are such a headache, stirred up from, as you said, old politics. The income doesn’t justify all the paperwork, especially for short term travelers. Will knowing my grandfather’s occupation help you track me down if I overstay? Or will it help you out me as a potential terrorist? Likely not, it just seems that once one country imposes a visa that country feels the need to reciprocate.

    I think it will be eye opening for the world when Brazil has both FIFA and the Olympics. I worked teaching in Brazil, and the school complained to us because every year they shortened the requested visa length by a week or two. Thus requiring us to take a day off to file an extension. Oh well.

    June 3, 2011 at 1:26 pm
  5. I’m trying to work out why ONLY Australians, South Africans and a handful of Eastern European states needed a visa to enter Tunisia … and, it must be paid for in the local currency, which is unobtainable outside Tunisia.

    June 5, 2011 at 10:15 am
  6. Thanks Keith – there are several examples of visa policies that make no sense whatsoever (can’t be explained by politics, reciprocal visas etc). I guess that’s one of them. Many some bureaucrat in Tunisia had an issue with Australia?

    June 5, 2011 at 10:26 am
    • Back in the 70s, Australians required a visa to enter France; I jokingly suggested that the restriction might be lifted when Australian wine-growers learnt what ‘appelation controlée’ means.

      A wine-merchant friend said I probably spoke more truly than I realised!

      June 6, 2011 at 9:40 am
  7. Jim #

    Definately a money raising venture in my book. Along with landing taxes, departure taxes, airport taxes of all sorts, and other official government scams to empty the pockets of travellers rich enough (or stupid enough) to bother to visit some of the most far flung places on earth.

    June 6, 2011 at 12:22 am
  8. I know a little about Sri Lanka visa system and reciprication is the key there. My wife, being from New Zealand had almost no restrictions on her long stay visa as New Zealand was peceived to be good to Sri Lankans. The UK on the other hand is brutally strict with genuine visitors. A business aquaintance and good friend has a very important business case for visiting the UK regularly. He has been many times, has a long established and successful business in Sri Lanka in which he handles tours for one of the UK’s major group tour operators. He is also well off. Despite this he often gets refused and when he does, not only has he wasted hours filling in forms, but the £300 or so it costs him is not refunded.

    As a revenue raiser it doesn’t make sense – a country like Vietnam would make more from the extra bed tax they would earn. However, I suppose it might be a good local earner for whoever controls the process.

    June 6, 2011 at 2:05 pm
  9. Kiwigirluk #

    I’m constantly amused by visa requirements, and most usually the excuses for demanding them. We went to Turkey last year; Polish Husband had to pay €15 at Bodrum, I didn’t. It’s clearly revenue gathering – at least the tourist tax added to the ‘Visa Waiver Program’ is honest – they want more money from their tourists. PH’s proud that he can work virtually anywhere in the EU but once he leaves EU, he’s looked upon as a dodgy criminal. Me, I wonder merrily almost everywhere I like. Travelling has been enlightening for me though, if only so I can appreciate the challenges others have (such as my long suffering South African friends).

    June 15, 2011 at 11:34 pm

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  1. Travel News for June 15th 2011 through June 16th 2011 - June 16, 2011

    [...] » The global hassle of visas » 501 Places – 501places.com – Andy Jarosz A couple of weeks ago I drove from Salzburg to Innsbruck. It took a little under two hours, and along the way I drove into Germany and then back out into Austria again. Did I need a visa? Of course not. Did I show my passport? There was no-one to show it to. In fact the only evidence of crossing a national border was the small sign with the national emblem; rather like entering Yorkshire. Us Europeans have it easy. We can jump from country to country without a second thought. Yet venture beyond…  show all text [...]