For this Summer of Travel, What Visa Documents Will you Need?
For families, it’s one of the best times of the year. School is off, the sun is shining, the work season is slower, and everyone is excited about the upcoming holidays. An array of destinations await travel goers from across the world, as they broaden their horizons and seek new experiences in different lands. With modern day air transportation, global travel has become a part of modern living.
However, one unfortunately irritating aspect of travel is ensuring that your visa documentation is air tight, and that you have received the right documentation permitting your entry to the foreign destination. This bureaucratic and sometimes frustrating process is a part of the modern era as well. Therefore, in this article, we wish to make things a bit easier for you…we provide a brief summary of the things to arrange, and prepare, in terms of your documentation, before embarking on your adventure. Whether your journey is for business or leisure, take note of what you will need to prepare before you travel.
Bank Statements and Finances
It goes without saying, before you travel, make sure you have enough money in your account to get you to your destination and back, while paying for your stay there! In addition, European and North American countries, such as France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, require that you provide bank statements which also demonstrate your financial abilities. Usually, the bank statement should show your transactions over the past 6 months. If this seems rather invasive, we regret to inform you that the privacy rights granted to citizens and residents of these nations generally go out the window for “foreign” individuals who wish to visit their shores. Even Asian countries, such as Japan, may have such requirements.
However, if you hold a passport of a country which maintains a treaty or arrangement with the country you intend to visit, you may also have visa free travel opportunities, without the need to prepare a bank statement. This will be highly convenient, if you are not intent on disclosing your purchases over the last 6 months to a complete stranger.
Travel Reservations
As a condition of visiting a foreign country, for the most part, you have to show that you intend to visit, and then return from that foreign country. Travel and hotel reservations can go a long way towards convincing visa and immigration officers that your visit is for a temporary time period. In Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, and many European countries, this is a major concern for authorities. There is an inherent belief that every other traveler from a country which does not maintain a treaty or arrangement with them, may be an “intending immigrant.” Therefore, it is usually the onus of the unfortunate visitor to prove that he or she is not going to stay on and “steal jobs” from the local people! To do this, oftentimes the intending traveler will have to give an interview and submit various documents of proof. We discuss ties to your home country below, but before you get there, having your reservation handy can be of some use.
Ties to your Home Country
Most authorities also check to see whether you have “sufficient ties” to your home country, to ensure that you are not a “flight risk” (in case you try to go after those precious “jobs” again). If you want to make a more convincing application to the authorities, then you can prepare a thorough cover letter, addressing the immigration authorities directly, and spelling out the following:
The exact reason for your travel
Who and Where you are visiting
Where and with whom you will be staying
Where you will be visiting in the foreign country
Your relationship to your country of residence (i.e. legal status)
Your work/source of income in the country
If any families live there and live with you (those who are accompanying you and those who are not).
What commitments you have in the country where you reside
Whether you own any property or assets in the country where you reside
In addition, you would do well to also attach the following documents to your letter:
A letter from your employers, verifying what you write in the covering letter.
Copies of ownership certificates for any assets.
School letters for your children (if applicable).
An invitation letter from a family member or friend in the foreign country, if you will be visiting them.
A copy of your visa if you are an “expat” in your country of residence, or your passport copy/PR card, if you reside their permanently.
Conclusions
If your government has got you visa free travel to your holiday or business destination this summer, then congratulations! you can ignore most of this article. However, if you will have to apply for a visa this summer, you’d do well to keep at least some of this information in mind.
In all cases, we hope you have a great summer this year!
