Visa Secrets Revealed

How to prepare to travel to an overseas country for a short or a long stay Some of the major problems faced by most Third World people who plan to travel overseas are their Inability, hesitancy or unwillingness to provide required documentation and failing to provide correct answers to questions during the visa interview. Not knowing how to explain the reason why they are applying for the visa and not having enough relevant information about the country to which they are traveling seem to be their major flaws. They simply conclude that all they have to do is to buy an airline ticket, get some kind of a visa by any means, board a plane and fly to their chosen destination. That translates into not being adequately prepared to deal with the challenges and problems they will face during the process. As a result, they make many serious mistakes right from the beginning. Such mistakes include applying for the wrong type of visa, or being given a fake visa by middlemen or ‘connection’ people, travelling at the wrong time such as in the middle of winter without warm clothing, not finding relatives and friends, running out of funds and not getting any help from people and other sources they think will help them with things like room and board. Anyone who has experienced one of those situations knows how serious and traumatic it can be. Most people can avoid such problems if they do one thing; prepare well beginning with researching and getting the right information about the visa application process and the country to which they plan to travel or immigrate. Unfortunately, most don’t. Until recently, the majority of people, especially those from developing countries in Africa, and elsewhere who travel to Europe, the United States, and other places, had the tendency to know little or nothing about what is really involved in the process of travelling or immigrating from one country to another. To many, especially those bent on leaving their native countries by any means necessary, it was simply a matter of putting the funds together to be able to buy a ticket, figure out a way to get a visa to the country of their choice, board a plane and fly out, and hope for the best. Even those who have made up their minds to travel outside the confines of their country as immigrants and are ready to make an effort to go through the rather difficult process of applying for an immigrant visa appear to have a similar mindset. Very little time, effort and energy is put into seeking information about the process and the foreign country they plan to travel or immigrate to. MANY PEOPLE DON’T MAKE THE EFFORT TO LEARN ABOUT THE COUNTRY THEY WANT TO TRAVEL OR IMMIGRATE TO Having some knowledge about the country to which they are traveling or immigrating is not considered to be necessary, or even useful. Indeed, seeking information about foreign countries isn't a priority for the majority of people from Third World countries planning to travel overseas for business, tourism, or as prospective immigrants. It’s all about getting out of their country as fast and as hassle-free as possible. Never mind if they know little or nothing about the country to which they seek or have gotten a visa to travel or immigrate to. “The last thing anyone from the Third World will think about is learning about a country overseas, besides what they already know from books, magazines, and movies. They look at that as the least of their problems; they want to get out and that's all that matters, at that point,” says Verna Davis, an American who visited the Ivory Coast and Ghana in the early nineties. THE RIGHT WAY TO PREPARE TO TRAVEL BEGINS WITH KNOWING ABOUT THE COUNTRY YOU WANT TO TRAVEL TO As already stated, many end up with little or no information and knowledge about the country they travel or immigrate to, and not being adequately prepared. As a result, most are not in a position to know what to expect and how to deal with the problems and challenges that are faced by anyone who decides to travel to a foreign country. No matter who you are or where you come from, there are legal, social, economic, financial and quite often, political changes one has to go through in order to be able to travel to any overseas country and to be able to continue to live there once you have gained entry. Again, the recurring theme in these discussions is the fact that most people in developing countries are misinformed about the process of traveling aboard and the immigrant life overseas. They don’t know what it’s all about and make no effort to educate themselves or get the relevant information needed in order to be better prepared to cope with applying for a visa and living abroad. Regardless of how long or short the stay in a foreign country, it is absolutely necessary to prepare to deal with it in more ways than one. One way to prepare is to know as much as you possibly can about the country to which you are travelling. However, it is evident that the majority of travelers and immigrants from developing countries don’t know what to expect in a foreign country in terms of the problems they might have to face, or the changes they have to go through once they arrive in a foreign country. It includes those who have made plans to travel abroad and live there for an extended period as students, or immigrants. Many have no idea that as a foreigner in most overseas countries, your status is similar to that of a second-class citizen. They don’t know that there is a lot of bureaucratic red tape to go through in order to continue to reside legally in the country of choice, that deportation and other forms of harassment are often used to control the movement of foreigners.