Passport and Visa Questions (For a US traveller)

Are you serious about making this trip because just the visas alone will cost you a small fortune.

Canada - no visa
New Zealand - no visa
Australia - apply online for electronic travel authority
Fiji - no visa
Vanuatu - no visa
Papua New Guinea - visa needed but issued on arrival
Micronesia - ?
Indonesia - visa on arrival is limited to 15 or 30 days
Malaysia - no visa
Philippines - no visa
Vietnam - visa must be obtained prior to arrival but can be obtained in Asia
Cambodia - visa available on arrival
Thailand - visa on arrival is limited to 30 days, visa obtained in advance is 90 days
Laos - on arrival
There is no easy way to get from Laos to Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka - apply in advance online
Maldives - visa on arrival is 30 days
India - apply in the US for a 5 year multiple entry visa
Nepal - visa on arrival
South Korea - no visa
Japan - no visa
China - apply in the US prior to departure - apply for one year multiple entry while in the US
Mongolia - no visa (Trans Siberian Train)
Russia - apply for one year multiple entry while in the US
Ukraine - no visa
Romania - no visa
Bulgaria - no visa
Greece - no visa*
Macedonia - no visa
Serbia - no visa
Croatia - no visa
Hungary - no visa*
Austria - no visa*
Czech Republic - no visa*
Poland - no visa*
Lithuania - no visa*
Latvia - no visa*
Finland - no visa*
Sweden - no visa*
Norway - no visa*
Denmark - no visa*
The Netherlands - no visa*
Belgium - no visa*
UK - no visa
Ireland - no visa
Iceland - no visa*
France - no visa*
Germany - no visa*
Italy - no visa*
Spain - no visa*
Portugal - no visa*
Morocco - no visa
Algeria - I don't know

Egypt - I don't know
Jordan - visa on arrival

Sudan - I don't know
Niger - I don't know
Mali - I don't know
Senegal - I don't know
Sierra Leone - I don't know
Burkina Faso - I don't know
Ghana - I don't know
Togo - I don't know
Benin - I don't know
Cameroon - I don't know
Gabon - I don't know
Congo - I don't know
Uganda - I don't know
Kenya - I don't know
Rwanda - I don't know
Tanzania - I don't know
Zambia - I don't know
Malawi - I don't know
Zimbabwe - I don't know
Botswana - I don't know
Nambia - I don't know
South Africa - I don't know
Argentina - if you arrive at the international airport in Buenos Aires, you can get the visa on arrival currently 140 USD
Chile - depends upon whether you fly into Santiago in which case you must get a travel card (visa) for 140 USD
Bolivia - visa on arrival for 140 USD
There is no good way to get from Bolivia to Brazil
Brazil - visa must be obtained in advance cost is 160 + 20 USD
Peru - no visa
Ecuador - no visa
Colombia - no visa
Venezuela - no visa
Suriname - visa must be obtained in advance
French Guiana - I don't know
Trinidad and Tobogo - no visa
Grenada - no visa
St. Lucia - no visa
Martinique - no visa
Dominica - no visa
Antigua and Barbuda - no visa
Puerto Rico - part of the US
Bahamas - no visa
Cuba - I don't know
Jamaica - no visa
Cayman Islands - no visa
Panama - no visa
Costa Rica - no visa
Nicaragua - no visa
El Salvador - no visa
Honduras - no visa
Belize - I don't know
Guatemala - no visa
Mexico - no visa

This is off the top of my head so I can't be certain. I haven't been to Africa so I don't know the situation with visas there.

*The 25 Schengen countries are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland plus the micro states of San Marino, Monaco and the Vatican. All these countries except Norway, Iceland and Switzerland are European Union members. Romania and Bulgaria may become part of Schengen at some point in the future.
You are permitted to spend 90 days in a 180 day period within the Schengen zone. Anything in excess is considered an overstay and subject to fines and deportation at the discretion of the immigration folks when you leave.

Ruth

Some of your connections make little sense to me.

How long are you planning to spend on this trip? You will need to sit tight someplace and send your passport back to the US for the Chinese and Russian visas if it will take you more than a year to reach these places.

Ask on the Africa branch as I don't know anything about this continent.

Regarding South America, the problem country is Brazil. What I don't know/can't remember is how long the visa is issued for. If it is a multiple entry visa like the US issues Brazilians, then it should be good for 2 or more years. In which case, apply in the US prior to departure or you might have to hole up someplace and send your passport back to the US.

Suriname's visa must be obtained in advance and they have limited embassies so you will need to check on the location of an embassy prior to getting there. I seem to recall getting mine in Venezuela, but I could be mistaken.

Ruth

Haha yes, I am serious! I know it's quite a lot to take in but this is the plan. Would it just be easier to use a service like these to obtain visas? --> http://us.cibt.com/ or http://www.travisa.com

Thank you Ruth, but I already have the info on which countries require Visas and what special requirements are needed for some countries (such as a yellow card).

I just hope I don't have to fly back to the US often to acquire visas.

Ha! We posted at the same time! Thank you, that's the kind of info I am looking for! ^_^

I just hope I don't have to fly back to the US often to acquire visas.

You should never have to fly back to the US to acquire a visa. You should be able to send your passport to a visa service in the US to obtain the necessary visa.

Even if you use a service like travisa, it won't help with the Russian visa. It might help with the Chinese visa but I know that a company like mychinavisa.com which specializes in Chinese visas can get a one year multiple entry visa for you. India uses travisa for their processing.

What you haven't indicated is how long you plan to spend taking this trip. This is what will make things interesting. If you plan to be gone for 3-4 years, and won't be entering China or Russia until more than a year after you initially depart, then you will have to send your passport home.

I've been all through South America (spent 2 years living and traveling there, visited every country at least twice and many 3-4 times) and no one ever asked for my yellow WHO card. My sister flew to Brazil once and got asked for hers.

Without more time frames, more specifics are impossible. Also some of your routing makes no sense to me and there are countries you skipped that I found fascinating and ones on your list that I would skip.

Ruth

Talk ,in person, to both your consolate (b4 leaving home,)and the one of target country. Try not to get that visa, till you're ready!! to go THERE. You want that visa to last as long as possible, while in that country.

We don't really know what countries or the folks there are really like, till we spend relaxed time there. And we only know of the most famous places b4hand.

You have friends out there you haven't met yet. They are our teachers.

NOBODY THINKS THEY'RE NAíVE.
New friends may laugh at what we think their country is like, before we see it.
And some will get pissed off.

No expectations / no dissappointment.
At consolates etc., don't just talk to the bureaucrat in charge.
They tell you what they're suppose to.
Then talk to an oldtimer employee. They'll tell you how things really work.

Its a standing rule for expats.

If you are so well-prepared, why haven't you determined the need for a visa in the considerable number of "I don't know" entries in your list?

I hope you have budgeted for the cost of the visas as well as any expediter that you may need. That is going to be very pricey.

Kahua - The "I don't knows" are mine, not OP's. OP's preparation to date seems to be to have developed an extensive itinerary some of which is fundamentally flawed. His original question was reasonable - which visas should be obtained prior to leaving the US. The problem is that without some time frames, it is impossible to answer this question and given this itinerary, it is likely that OP would be travaeling for some time and would either need to send his passport back to the US or interrupt his travels to return to the US to obtain some visas.

Ruth

OP, keep it simple. Don't get a visa for somewhere till you're really ready to go there.

We recently had a young yank ask if he could renew his whv for Australia. He had gotten one, but never went.

Since '67 when I returned from OzI musta heard 200 guys say,"I was going to Australia but I met this girl."
Poor chumps never got to find out Aussie women put our yank girls in the shade.

Of coarse I always heard that in bars. A guy in an AA meeting told me he even got the expensive airline ticket. He met HER. Then started a business, boufght a house and truck, had a kid.

Now she has all the above. When he left that house for the last time, the air ticket was tacked above the washing machine he'd also bought.

Gawkabout -
>OP, keep it simple. Don't get a visa for somewhere till you're really ready to go there.

Would that it were so simple. There are lots of visas that you simply cannot get on the road.

Ruth