Member-only story
I Don’t Have A Passport Privilege
We can all agree that nobody can choose where they were born. I’m a passport holder from one of the third-world countries. What does that mean? I must apply for a visa whenever I want to visit most countries. For example, I must apply for a visitor Schengen visa to go to Europe for a holiday, a visitor visa if I want to visit Australia, etc. I cannot just go and show my passport to the immigration office of the destination country, pay a few dollars, and get a stamp.
How long does it take to obtain a visitor visa?
Some countries, such as Turkey and Japan, provide electronic visas that I can apply for online. It only takes 30 minutes to get a visitor visa to Turkey and around 10 days to get a visitor visa to Japan.
When the country doesn’t provide an electronic visa, I must go to a dedicated agent to apply for one, such as a dedicated agency to apply for a Schengen visa (visitor visa to enter most EU countries) or directly to the country’s embassy. Every country has a different visa processing period, but most of the time, it’s around 14–21 working days. The longest one? It took me 45 days to get a visa to enter Argentina. I haven’t met any country that beat that…
