In this case, the mistake just meant embarrassment and a short delay, but it could have been much worse.
The Turkish Air flight from London had landed late, and the immigration lines were long. (And of course, we had the slowest one.) The woman several people in front of us was having trouble understanding the officer. Finally she got the message. A visa? What visa?
Fortunately in Turkey a visa for an American citizen is basically a tourist tax stamp, less work than a tourist card to Mexico. Literally you hand over $20 per person cash to a bored looking man who puts a sticker in your passport with barely a glance.
We had already been through that short line before immigration but the woman sheepishly headed over, and came back in a few minutes, laughing and saying “I’m American, nobody told me.. etc.” (Being in the industry I refrained from telling her, “You should have used a travel agent.”)
But again, in the grand scheme of things, this was nothing. It’s not always so easy.
Most carriers do check that you have fulfilled entry requirements before you board a plane in the U.S. But sometimes people buy separate tickets. So if you, for example, purchased a ticket to London, and then a separate ticket to some destination that required a visa, the agent won’t know to ask.
One family we know had a trip turn into disaster when they bought a ticket to Argentina, and separate tickets to Brazil. Argentina at that time had no separate entry requirements (they now charge $140 reciprocity fee), but Brazil has always been tight.
They got to Argentina no problem, and somehow the smaller South American carrier let them on the plane to Brazil, without visas. Where they were detained for hours and sent back.
Another issue can come up for non-U.S. citizens. One of my clients had redeemed miles for tickets to Australia online with United. U.S. citizens only need an ETA (electronic visa) which takes about five minutes. The client, however, was a Mexican citizen, and they need regular visas. She called me in a panic the day before she was to leave, asking if I could help because she couldn’t check in for the flight.
(Unfortunately it was Good Friday, the consulate, who might have been able to help, was closed, and they had to postpone their trip.)
Travelers can also be tripped up by not having enough room in their passports — some countries want an entire blank page — and more commonly, the “six month rule.”
Yes, a passport is supposed to be valid 10 years. But some countries, including the United Kingdom, want your passport to be valid six months beyond your date of entry. This means if you are flying to London in September and your passport expires in December, they often don’t even let you on the plane.
(This 6-month rule even caught a travel agent in our office a couple years ago;
at least the airline took pity on her and let her change her ticket.)
It’s beyond the scope of a post to list all the potential pitfalls, but the simplest solution is to ask your travel agent to check the requirements carefully for any country you are visiting.
If you are a do-it-yourself traveler, research the rules carefully yourself, especially if there are any out of the ordinary conditions. And remember, rules and prices change, not all internet sites do. So make sure you are looking at up-to-date information.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
I work for an international organization that organizes conferences all around the world. It is unbelievable the number of very intelligent people that get tripped up by visa issues. Travel agents normally pick up on this, but not always. Ultimately, it is up to the traveler to go to the consulate/embassy/immigration department website for the countrly they want to visit, and work out for themselves if they need a visa. When in doubt apply for a visa.
A former colleague was traveling from Australia to Canada in 2003. Normally this itinerary would involve a stop in Los Angeles or Honolulu and a trip through US Immigration and Customs. Although an Australian Citizen, he was born in Iran. Even though technically permitted to enter the US on the Visa Waiver Program, I urged him to apply for a US visa, which he did. Ultimately he ended up flying to Canada via Japan instead of the US, but the visa was granted and that at least gets him the right to appeal a refusal of admission,
Absolutely. Intelligent people are just as susceptible to these kinds of mistakes. I would even say to not trust the travel agent 100%, since rules change so fast and depend on individual circumstances.
One other thing to remember is that when it comes to visas and entry requirements, you aren’t just looking at the place of origin and destination – the issue is usually your citizenship(s) and NOT just your country of residence. For people who have two, make sure you show the right passport – “Do not confuze ze immigrations” – what you think is a breeze could turn into a long, expensive and exhausting ordeal. Don’t assume that because citizens of a particular country are welcome that residents are too. You may just find that your resident permit doesn’t help you at all.
Passport and visa issues trip up many travelers. There are several things that sneak up on people, especially in the arena of corporate travel.
I have seen the situation where an assistant is booking the travel on behalf of someone else and doesn’t realize that the traveler isn’t a US citizen and when the agent asks, the assistant says, “Oh yeah, he’s an American”, when in reality he’s from somewhere else and is only a legal resident of the USA.
Or there is the case of your travel was booked 3 months prior to departure and at that time, you didn’t need a visa but a month prior to departure the country that you are visiting changes visa requirements.
And then there is the one where you are booked on a nonstop flight and prior to departure the airline switches you from a nonstop to a connecting flight that makes you transit a country that requires a visa.
And my two favorites of how things can go awry. Some years ago, I was sending a client to Australia. I had a copy of his passport and had done an electronic visa for him. He got to the airport to leave the USA, the airline said he didn’t have a visa. He called me, I told him that he did and emailed him the response from Australia indicating that he had a visa. He then told me that he had lost his old passport and got new one and had forgotten to tell me. Luckily, I could get him a new electronic one in about a minute so he was able to make his flight.
And my favorite example of how things can go bad. A friend of mine, who is a very experienced travel agent married a woman from Russia. About 3 months before she was to be sworn in as a USA citizen, he decided that they should take a trip to Ireland. He bought the tickets, booked the car and hotels. They flew to Shannon and arrived bright and early Sunday morning and got to the immigration booth. The immigration agent asked for their passports, which were promptly produced. My friend was told, “you’re good to go but where is her visa?”. She was still a Russian citizen and thus required a visa to enter Ireland. My friend had forgotten that she wasn’t a US citizen yet. They got to take a seat and wait while the rest of the flight was processed and the immigration agent to call Dublin to see what could be done. After several hours they were told to have a fun vacation because they didn’t look like terrorists and there weren’t seats on the flight back to the States.