DesertNomad

I am American and have been to lots of "pariah" countries. The ones that never caused an issue at US immigration were

North Korea
Iran
Yemen

The ones that have resulted in extra questions (nearly every time):

Syria
Bahrain (long before the uprisings)
Sudan

BDA shorts

I don't know about you, but my North Korean visa was 10 pounds and a pleasant chat with the "First Secretary for Consular Affairs" at their embassy in west London.

DesertNomad

But surely you had to book a "tour" to even get to the point where you could get a visa? Or maybe you are a plutonium vendor and therefore DPRK visas are a simple matter of £10 and a pleasant chat.

BDA shorts

Okay, fair point. But, then again, I've always had this nagging suspicion that none of that stuff was really necessary--or at the very least, if I had really wanted to I could've dealt with Korea International Tour Company directly somehow. Otherwise, how could (what appeared to have been) a stay-at-home mom in Sweden (or the guy in Spain, the company in Beijing, or the guy in Dandong), who didn't really seem to be a real travel agent so much as a glorified middleman, be able to set everything up?

Sorry, I'm getting way off-topic. But I do wish I were a plutonium vendor or had something else of value that could justify a business visa.

CaptainMiles

Sorry for bringing back an old thread, but it seems appropriate in this case.

I need to renew my Portuguese passport. I would like to keep my current passport as a souvenir, as it has many cool stamps from places I will probably never visit again. But Portuguese law requires that they take back the old passport when applying for a new one. There is, however, one exception that creates a loophole. I can keep my old passport if it contains valid visas expiring into the future, which would justify keeping the old passport.

So in order to keep my old passport I need to get some visa from some country. Any country. Trouble is, Portugal gets visa-free entry to many countries, and the few that don't tend to be those difficult countries that are bureaucratic and expensive. I would rather not spend a whole lot of money and hassle. So, what is an easy cheap visa?

Candidates I found are:

• China tourist visa. $30, an a hassle of visiting the Chinese consulate twice, four days apart.
• Azerbaijan tourist visa: $20, but there is now an e-visa that I could qualify for, so the Azeri consulate can deny me saying "go away, don't bother us, go get the e-visa", or even the Portuguese authorities could claim I don't really need my azeri visa affixed to the passport as I could just as easily get an e-visa
• Pakistan transit visa $12, but their processing time is 4-6 weeks and I am never 4-6 weeks without travel, so I can't do this
• Iraq tourist visa, $40, and you only pay if the visa is approved. Could raise some eyebrows as to why I have an Iraqi visa.

I suspect I could do better, but have no idea where. Most African countries have high visa fees, but perhaps there is a gem out there. Do any of you world travelers have a recommendation for a country that requires visa in advance (not on arrival) but processes them cheap and fast?

Stewie Mac

I like your thinking.

Would a USA ESTA be good enough to ask for it back again? That's only $14, but I think might be tied to passport validity (ie you need to get a new ESTA for a new passport).

African countries tend to have $50 as their base price, plus occasional 'processing fees' and the hassle of sending passport away for a week or two. If you don't find better, then Ghana would probably work as being quick, efficient and not too expensive. Looks like eur 50 for a Portuguese citizen, applying through Paris

Good luck!

CaptainMiles

Good thinking. But ESTA or Canadian ETA (even cheaper) do not count. It has to be something affixed to the physical passport. Pre-approvals to pick up a visa on arrival (such as Vietnam) don't count either.

peterflax

agreed

WorldLux

And you can't just ask them to punch wholes into the machine readable lines and through the chip (if it has one)? I suspect that a Portuguese passport will be eligible for VWPs/VoA/e-Visa in most places.

Edit: This may narrow down the potential candidates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_r...quirements_map

CaptainMiles

Portuguese passport is great for much travel. We get along with everyone, no one dislikes us and we don't change high visa fees, so we are generally loved and welcome. Thus, lots of free entry or VWPs/VoA/e-Visa. The only countries that require advance visas tend to be those that see visa fees as a legal way to extract money from rich foreigners.

Punching holes may or may not work, depending on the mood of the clerk. There are anecdotes going both ways on this. The letter of the law says it must be destroyed, it doesn't specify the method of destruction.

Meanwhile, I found two more candidates. A transit visa to Suriname is only $15, and I would not need any airline tickets or anything because I could apply claiming the need for overland transit from Guyana to French Guyana. I can try that. But first I am going to try a tourist visa to Papua New Guinea. I can get free VoA there, but that is only available at the airport. I am going to write a PNG embassy claiming I need one for overland entry from Indonesia. PNG Immigration web site says that tourist visas are mandatory but free. Free is good. Let's see if this works.

One problem I am running into is the expiration date of my passport. Everyone wants 6 to 12 months left on it. Ugh.

dulciusexasperis

The common solution to this problem is to 'lose' your passport. Is there some reason why that won't work for you?

People who for example go on a 2 year 'Round The World' trip, often want to keep their passport with all the stamps as a souvenir. Some countries like Canada for example allow you to keep your old passport, they just punch holes in it as mentioned above. Other countries insist on taking it from you and destroying it. That's when people 'lose' their passport and simply apply for a new one.

Since this may be technically illegal, I am not of course suggesting you do this. That is entirely up to you.

skywardhunter

The fact a country offers you an eVisa should be irrelevant to the Portuguese authorities. There are often limitations tied to evisas that would justify a physical sticker visa.

Look at India, there's an eVisa but physical visa also still exists and if you want to visit more than twice in a calendar year or more than 60 days that would be reason for the physical visa. Problem is you might need flight tickets.

WorldLux

But that would probably involve making a declaration at a local police station. In the unlikely event that you're caught making a false declaration, you'd be in hot water.

Better to just apply for some obscure visa. Alternatively make a really, really sad face at the passport office.

dmitritony

I would agree with this. Simply report your passport as lost/stolen.

You mentioned that you travel frequently and need your passport on a regular basis. So, check your schedule and when you have a two week period without any travel simply say that you have lost your passport and apply for an urgent replacement.

I really know nothing about Portugal, but in the UK, there are two different types of urgent applications for new passports. One is same day (although, if you turn up late afternoon it'll be next day as it takes 4 hours) or one week. These cost a bit more than a regular passport renewal, but given that you'll have to renew your passport soon anyway it's probably a small extra cost.

is there a similar service in Portugal for urgent renewal/replacement of passports?


I don't know about Portugal but that certainly isn't the case in the UK.

dulciusexasperis

I can't speak for every country in the world obviously WorldLux. In Canada you do not have to make a declaration to the Police. You make a declaration to the Canadian Passport Office when you apply for a new passport. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...ged-found.html

If I say I went to get out my passport for an upcoming trip I was planning and having searched my entire house, cannot find it. How are you going to 'catch' me making a false declaration? I suppose it comes down to how confident you sound when you write it? Even if they showed up at your house, did their own search and 'found it' in a pocket of your laptop bag, you could say, 'So that's where it went. Why did I put it in there? I never put it in their.'

Better to just live in a country where they allow you to keep your old passport and just punch a couple of holes in it. In Canada that is the case, so no need to 'lose' it, to keep it. But it does come up on travel related forums as a common answer for countries that insist on not returning it to you when you get a new one.

As I said, I am not suggesting anyone do this. That is up to the individual to decide.