4 Visa and Passport Tips for the Long Term Traveler

One of the biggest obstacles to traveling long term in any country or around the world is visas and passports. For example, if you wanted to live in Bangkok, how would you do it – When the tourist visa is only good for 2 months?

Photo Credit: Cohen.Canada - Flickr

What if you wanted to travel Europe, but can only stay in the Shengen Zone for a maximum of 3 months?

Learning to navigate the intricacies of visas and passport laws is tantamount to having a great traveling adventure.

Tip #1 – Learn How Strict They Are About Overstays

Different parts of the world have different levels of strictness about overstaying a visa.

For example, in the Shengen Zone, most countries really don’t care if you overstay your visa, as long as you’re from a first world country. If you’re from the UK, the USA, Australia or Canada, you can stay in Poland for 8 months and they probably won’t bat an eye when you leave.

The exception is Germany and the Netherlands. If you step foot in either of those countries with an overstayed visa, you can probably expect to get banned from Europe for a year or two.

In Asia, some countries will charge you a $10 fine for every day that you overstay. In Vietnam however, if you overstay by even just a day, you can get barred from entering the country for life.

The consequences for overstaying your visa can vary from country to country. Sometimes just ignoring visa rules is actually a valid strategy – If you know there are no consequences. At other times, you want to make absolutely sure you don’t stay even one day over.

Tip #2 – Know How Border Runs Work

One of the most common ways people get around visa issues is through border runs.

Let’s say you get a tourist visa that’s good for 3 months. Instead of trying to get a more complicated immigration, education or work visa, the easiest way to get another 3 months stay is to just hop over to a bordering country then come back in.

You get a brand new stamp and you can stay another few months.

Border runs work in some countries and don’t in others. For example, in Europe, border runs don’t work because your “clock” doesn’t restart. People from the USA and Canada can stay for 3 months out of every 6 months – Even if you leave and come back, that doesn’t change.

In Asia however, you can do visa runs for years and keep resetting your visa clock.

Figure out how visa runs work in the countries you’re in by talking to other expats and asking them how they handle their visa issues. It’s often cheaper and faster to use a visa run company than it is to do it yourself. They can answer all your questions and get bulk discounts on transports and hotels.

Tip #3 – Find a Local Internet Forum

One of the best ways to figure out details on what kind of visas you should and shouldn’t get is through internet forums.

Just about every highly touristed place in the world has its own internet forum. Find these forums and use them to search for answers about your visa questions.

Bonus Tip – Get a Passport Wrapper

If you’re leaving on a long trip, get a plastic wrapper for your passport. Months of being stuffed in your bag, taken out, leafed through, varying temperatures, etc can wreck havoc on your passport’s condition.

If your passport gets even one tear, you’ll have to get it replaced. That could mean being stuck in one place for 2 months. Or it could mean paying $200 for a temporary passport, only to have to pay another $200 once you get back home for a real passport.

Don’t risk it – Protect your passport by getting a plastic passport protector.

Written by Derek Pankaew, author of Earn On the Road, a website that teaches you how to travel indefinitely by working from your laptop.