Traveling to 100 countries is probably the lifelong dream of many people and Nguyen Hoang Bao (1976, Vinh Long) has done it. With the ambition of "Drawing portraits of Vietnamese people around the world", lecturer Hoang Bao still has the intention to continue to discover many interesting things in the remaining countries in the world. Travel blogger "Steps" has gone through a journey full of rich experiences over the years, to enrich his travel experience. So how did Hoang Bao succeed in applying for visas in so many countries? This secret will be "revealed" right after this.
On February 4, 2023, Travel Blogger Nguyen Hoang Bao (Footsteps) officially set foot in Kazakhstan, marking the milestone of traveling to 100 countries in the world.
UNDERSTAND THE CURRENT TYPES OF TOURIST VISAS
When planning to travel abroad, the first thing to consider is visa policies. Therefore, you must clearly understand the current types of visas along with the specific regulations for each type.
- Paper tourist visa
This is the most popular type of visa today. For this type, you will prepare the required documents and submit them directly to the Embassy or Consulate. When the application is successfully approved, the Embassy/Consulate will affix the visa to your passport. Some countries such as the UK and the US still require this type of visa.
- Electronic tourist visa (e-visa)
Instead of standing in line to submit your application directly at the Embassy/Consulate, you can apply for an electronic visa anywhere. Just access the link to submit the required documents, and the visa will be issued to your personal email upon successful approval. For convenience during your travel, you should print out the visa content and bring it with you. Currently, you do not need to go directly to the Embassy/Consulate to apply for an electronic visa to travel to some countries such as: Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Kenya or Jordan,...
- Visa On Arrival (VOA)
You do not need to go to the Embassy/Consulate, nor do you need to apply for an e-visa. When entering some countries such as Bolivia, Nepal, Uganda, Maldives, East Timor, India, etc., you will be issued an e-visa and VOA at the border gates/airports. Note that you will need to pay an additional fee for the visa. For example, to enter Nepal for tourism for 15 days, you have to pay 20 USD. This cost for a 30-day visa in India is 60 USD.
- Tourist card
This is a very special type of visa with a simple form of a stamp. For example, when you arrive in Cuba, you will be able to buy this travel stamp at the airport beforehand. Normally, when traveling to Cuba, you will have to fly from Ho Chi Minh City - Toronto, transit and buy a travel stamp here, then continue flying to Havana. With Hoang Bao, he transited in Mexico, bought a travel stamp and then flew to Havana, Cuba.
Airline employees sell Cuban tourist cards at the Mexican airport before flying over Cuba.
- Visa-free
Currently, there are quite a few countries that exempt visas for Vietnamese citizens. Some countries in Asia exempt visas for Vietnamese people for a certain period of time: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand. Or in the Americas, Panama, Ecuador, Haiti, Dominica, Turks and Caicos do not require visas for Vietnamese tourists.
With a Schengen visa, Hoang Bao can travel to 26 member countries, pictured is Iceland.
In addition, you should regularly update information related to visa application if you intend to travel to any country in the world. Applying for a visa is not an easy task, but you can completely succeed if you have a thorough preparation.
WHAT TO PREPARE TO SUCCESSFULLY APPLY FOR A VISA?
Normally, you will need to prepare the following 3 groups of documents for visa application.
First is the group of identity documents including: Passport, birth certificate, ID card/CCCD, marriage certificate. Previously, you needed to prepare an additional passport, but now this type of document has been integrated in electronic form available in the citizen's CCCD chip.
Next, financial documents also need to be carefully prepared to increase the success rate of visa applications. In this content, there are notes on different types of documents for 3 groups of subjects.
- For individuals traveling independently: Labor contract, leave application, salary certificate, valuable personal assets in your name (car, real estate, house rental contract, savings book). Note that savings books must have a minimum term of 3 months (the longer the savings period, the more stable the financial source can be proven).
- Freelancers often have more difficulty applying for a visa with unstable jobs. First of all, the Embassy/Consulate will be "concerned" about returning to Vietnam when you have no job ties in your home country. Regarding finances, you can prove the stability of your income by paying by bank transfer. Along with that are documents proving assets similar to those of independent travelers.
- For business owners: business license, tax documents of the last 3 months, certificate of company assets.
Finally, you need to really pay attention to the documents proving the purpose of your trip because this is considered the most important content that determines the success or failure of your visa application.
You need to prepare documents to prove your trip including: plane tickets, hotel booking confirmation, sightseeing tickets, train tickets, travel insurance. With such specific evidence, you can affirm that you are "serious" with your plan, as well as ready for the upcoming travel journey.
The more carefully and specifically planned, the more convincing the legitimate purpose of the trip will be.
In addition, you must have a detailed itinerary for the trip. This itinerary includes: departure time, places to visit, places to stay, places to eat, means of transportation. Note that you must be absolutely honest, because the Embassy/Consulate can completely "verify" the content you provide with just a phone call to the service providers.
In addition, you can prove your "credibility" for your legitimate purpose by your previous travel history in other countries. The quantity and "quality" of these trips can also be considered as quite important basis when considering your visa application.
Note that you may be asked to provide a 'motivation letter' for some strict countries. In this letter, you should clearly state the purpose of your trip, emphasize your strengths and commit to returning to your home country after the trip. In addition to careful preparation, you also need to pay attention to some additional content to be able to successfully apply for a visa.
VISA APPLICATION TIPS AND SOME NOTES YOU NEED TO KNOW
"In fact, when you fully meet the required information, especially have a firm grasp of the schedule, and demonstrate your true desire to travel, no visa is difficult," Travel Blogger Nguyen Hoang Bao shared with Travellive readers.
Applying for a visa can be a bit difficult, time-consuming and laborious, but be bold and determined to achieve your travel dreams.
When you have prepared carefully in terms of form and content, you have succeeded in the first step to impress the Embassy/Consulate. Pay special attention to the extremely small details in the application, such as the photos you provide must be taken within 6 months. For applications to the US, the Embassy/Consulate will ask you to provide your personal Facebook for investigation. Therefore, they can detect irregularities and refuse to grant you a visa if you are "negligent" with the above small details.
Prepare a large amount of financial resources to show that you can afford (and still have some left over) your travel activities. Obviously, no country wants to welcome those with limited financial resources to travel. They will certainly immediately question your purpose, and may refuse this visa request when your financial capacity does not meet the minimum for the trip. The most important thing is to clearly understand the purpose of your trip, so that you can present it "smoothly" when interviewing with the Embassy/Consulate.
You should start building your travel profile with visa-free countries, then move on to countries that are easy to get a visa. As your travel history becomes more “full” and “eye-catching”, strict visa-issuing countries will be less skeptical about your legitimate travel purposes.
Travel Blogger Hoang Bao at the Indian airport checks in to prepare to fly to Oman without an Oman visa while already having a valid Canadian visa.
In addition, applying for a visa in a third country is easier than applying in Vietnam. In Hoang Bao's journey in 2015, he did not apply for a visa to Uzbekistan in Vietnam but only started applying for a visa when he arrived in Iran. "When we just 'sit at home' applying for a visa, we only show them our desire to travel. But when you start the journey, you will prove your desire and legitimate purpose. You can build an itinerary to facilitate your exploration, and you can also apply for a 'rolling' visa in a third country. It will not take much time and effort to get a visa if you arrange a suitable travel schedule," Hoang Bao shared.
Travel Blogger Hoang Bao believes that applying for a visa yourself is a very interesting experience that you should try. He also suggests that if you have difficulty preparing the documents, do not hesitate to consult experienced people or seek out visa service providers to make your travel dream come true.
Of course, if you are unlucky enough to be denied a visa the first time, you will have to try harder the next time. Therefore, careful preparation is essential, and don't forget to apply some "tips" for visa application from experienced people to successfully apply for a tourist visa.
