ilcannone

So no votes for Nauru yet?

stut

India was always a pain (used to have to get an annual business visa). First of all, fill in a hugely bureaucratic form online. Next, get hold of photos on a format that nobody else seems to use. Then, despite having submitted everything online, print it all out, and take it along to a processing centre in an inconvenient location in a narrow window of hours in the morning. Queue outside (whatever the weather - and this is London) while someone on a desk just inside the doors checks you have all the relevant documentation with you, very slowly. If you don't, you lose your appointment fee and aren't let in. Just inside is a photo machine selling you the oddly shaped photos, but how you get in to use it, it's not clear.

Once in, it's not too bad. You can apply for a 1- or 2-year visa. Applying for a 2-year visa, however, is simply an expensive way of getting a 1-year visa, as that's what you'll be granted, no matter what. The invitation and sponsor letters that you need to get it need to have specific wording in it, which you can find after only about 20 minutes of drilling down into details of the High Commission website. Then you have to persuade both your and your invitor's HR departments to use the specific wording, which can be a challenge, as they often have their own boilerplates that they hesitate to deviate from. So, you get there, and you're asked a few token questions, and that's it.

You then return a few days later to the same location, in a few hours' window in the afternoon. This also involves queuing outside, as it overlaps with the OCI/CIO applications, and there is a sole queue for entry. So you have to have your paperwork checked (your receipt for your passport) along with much more complex paperwork checking. You then get your passport back.

There were other painful ones too. I was informed I had to get a US visa at one point, but then later informed I could still use the VWP, which was a relief, as the form was near impossible. "Please list all the trips you've take abroad in the last 10 years." Really? At that point, I was travelling abroad every week. Seriously, there's no way I could document that. And given some of the countries on the list, it's probably as well I didn't have to. And let's not get into the ambiguous passive voice in some of the questions about mental health history.

Uzbekistan was an interesting one (and interesting to see it mentioned above). I didn't have to get an invitation, as my first night was in a chain hotel, and this seemed to satisfy them that I was being sensible (the rest was actually unplanned, with some of it on overnight trains, so I'm glad they didn't question it). What was 'interesting' was that, when I got to the embassy (the basement of a house in Holland Park, in West London) they told me, after I'd handed over my passport that, oh, by the way it was going to take two weeks to get it back, rather than the two days the documentation promised. Work weren't best pleased - I was due to go to the Netherlands the next week.

The arrivals/departures process was actually the tricky bit. You had to account for every piece of reading material and medication you were carrying with you (and I read a lot, and, at the time, needed quite a lot of medication). It passed a good portion of the flight, documenting this. It did actually count in my favour, as the departure customs agent took a look at the list and appeared to decide it was far to lengthy to actually go into the details of and waved me straight through.

Getting a Pakistan tourist visa was an interesting experience, but not overly difficult. This was in London, again, at the Pakistan High Commission, a lovely old building in Knightsbridge. They didn't (and I suspect still don't) issue many tourist visas, so I was greeted with a great deal of (genuine) curiosity. The process was slightly quirky in that it had to be paid for in cash - but in Pakistani Rupees, which I could only get hold of in the High Commission. So I had to exchange money for Rupees (getting some extra for arrival in the country too - which confused the counter slightly, as they normally just issue enough for the visa cost, they mainly just get couriers). This wasn't straightforward, either, as the exchange counter, as well as the consular counter, both took strict prayer breaks throughout the day - although on subtly different schedules (the prayer times were the same, of course, but the time either side was staggered). This meant I spent quite some time in the High Commission, but it was a friendly place, and there was cardamom tea on offer, so I wasn't entirely put out. It was a lovely, glued-in, hand-written visa, too, provided on the spot.

Easiest was probably Qatar. I just sidled up to the border and got passed a chip & pin machine.

BuildingMyBento

Me thinks Myanmar's visa application requested those, too.

mickeyjaw

For all the people saying getting an Indian business visa was a nightmare I can't recommend using a visa assistance service enough. For about £150 (IIRC) they filled out all the paperwork for me to sign, double checked all the supporting documentation then sent somebody else to queue for me. Nice and hassle free. Still only got a 1 year visa despite asking for a longer one though...

gfunkdave

I've only needed visas for India and China. Both were painless. I went through the online process for India (living in Chicago) and spent about 30 mins at the visa processing place to drop off my passport. Picked up passport and visa the next day.

China was on a group visa, and that too was easy.

milepig

India took us the longest amount of time to complete but in the end had no issues. We read and read and sweated every detail. The only place we just made something up was by wife's mother's place of birth, as we had no idea beyond some city in Western Michigan and just chose one. (I'm not recommended lying, we just had no way of finding out.) Filled everything out, cross checked everything using their check list. Had to redo one form twice. Triple checked the photos were exactly right. Some things weren't clear and/or we saw conflicting information. This included things like the lack of space on the online template to enter every country you'd ever visited, I think about four or five fit. We followed the advise we'd read somewhere and printed out and attached a separate full list. We were coming in on a cruise ship and had no hotel, so we took care to also include a sheet with port authority contact information. We are fortunate to live in Chicago and walked to the visa office (this is not in the consulate, but a separate facility downtown). We were maybe 10th in line at the front desk where someone prechecks everything and all 9 in front of us were rejected. We walked up, the person looked everything over, looked at our extra sheets and said "you don't need these" and tossed them in the trash and then let us into the magic kingdom. As we waited our turn we then saw any number of other people who'd made it past the first hurdle rejected. The person next to us when we were finally called to a window was American born of Pakistani descent and was pretty much told she had little chance of ever getting a visa. In the end our process took five minutes - stamp, stamp, stamp - and we were out of there. The person told us that the courier to the consulate made trips at noon and five and our applications would be in the noon packet. To my amazement the online status changed to "approved" at 2 that afternoon, and then again changed to ready for pickup just after five that afternoon.Walked in the next morning and picked them up. Done.

China was almost as easy except we had to wait forever, and were caught by the need for a photocopy of our passport, a detail not mentioned anywhere other than a sign in the office. A passport agency down the same floor made a killing making passport photocopies for about $5 a pop as no one came prepared. In all the reams of instructions we'd read there was no work about bring your passport and a copy. There was an ancient photocopier in the visa office that had been broken so long that the"out of order" sign was yellowed and curled on the edges. But, again, the visa was available quickly, just a few days.

txflyer77

I was also studying in Strasbourg! My experience at the Houston consulate was the opposite. No wait and the interview consisted of a cursory glance at my documents. I was out in 10 minutes.

Of course, the Houston consulate probably gets a tenth of the traffic of the NY consulate.

fgirard

My vote is Venezuela, as the list of requirements includes a bank statement and other documentation, or else it is flatly rejected.

Beltway2A

I'm not sure you understand what a justification is. Because that's pretty much the definition. We can hardly complain about anyone's application process given how much of a pain in the rear ours is.

My two worst experiences, funnily enough, have been.

1. Getting a US Visa as an Indian Citizen

and

2. Getting an Indian Visa as a US Citizen

The former required more paperwork, but the latter was somehow more frustrating despite being largely electronic. The surprise of needing to upload a passport photo within one hour (I didn't have one handy and had to run to CVS) only to have to restart the application was a pain in the butt.

segacs

Me personally? Uzbekistan. It wasn't a big problem, just time-consuming, lots of paperwork, and the approval of the Letter of Invitation by the Ministry of Tourism took ages. Plus, I had to pay expensive courier fees to send my passport and documents to Washington DC, since we Canadians have no local embassy or consulate.

Visas I hear are even worse, depending on your passport, are: Angola, Saudi Arabia (especially if non-business and/or if you're a woman), and Russia if you're applying from outside your home country. I haven't tried to crack any of those as of yet, mind you.

segacs

Just guess? My sense from the application form is that India doesn't actually care what your grandparents' names are; they only care if your grandparents (or you, or anyone you know) have any connection whatsoever to Pakistan.

B747-437B

The UK used to have similar questions in their application forms (as of 2013), except they wanted a horrendous level of detail. I had to provide details of 571 trips to 62 countries (including 215 previous trips to the UK with itemised day-to-day itinerary of each) - totally my application had 321 pages of supporting documents. This for a TOURIST visa. I have some friends who are airline crew and they routinely have to turn in 1000+ pages of travel history when applying for US visas.

Have you travelled to the UK in the last 10 years? Please provide details (full address, telephone number and email address of all the places where you stayed during your visit, including hotels) of all your trips to the UK over the last 10 years.

Have you travelled outside your country of residence, excluding to the UK, in the last 10 years? You should include travel for study, training, business trips etc. When giving this information please provide details of all your trips abroad that you have not described in answer to question 6.1.

More about that story : UK visa renewal rant

Stewie Mac

I've just got (well, fingers crossed it should be here today) an Uzbek visa, and found it pretty straighforward; requesting a business visa was actually easier than a tourist visa, no invitation/hotel booking required, and when I called to check progress I got through instantly to someone who was able to check and confirm all was okay. In contrast to...

Pakistan. They have outsourced visa processing to 'Gerry's Visa Service', who only take phone calls for enquiries for one hour per day, and even then I only managed to get through to someone once, in about 50 attempts. I got my passport back after three weeks with a post-it stuck on it ... 'visa regretted'... and no visa inside. A trip to the Consulate in Glasgow (the only place where you can actually see someone) got the contact details of the Secretary in London, who refused to tell me why I was rejected. Lovely old Victorian building in Glasgow, though, although I didn't get any cardamom tea....

I found Angola to be surprising easy (and helpful). Not sure if it's got easier or harder since the economy went south, as I've had no reason to go for a couple of years...

stut

Oh yes, the only reason I haven't included the UK in my list is by virtue of holding a UK passport! I've supported a number of employees through the process and it's not just punitively bureaucratic, it also fails to recognise that it is possible to visit a country other than as part of a week-long organised business trip or package tour.

I know there's no way of checking these things (particularly as there was little border control at the time) but I used to live about 1km from the French-German border, and a short distance from the Swiss border. I would regularly cycle across, and quite enjoyed cycling down the river, which would involve regularly criss-crossing from country to country. I also used to regularly use the ever-confusing Basel-Mulhouse EuroAirport, the one with the border fence down the middle. You'd often find the French toilets broken (oh no, no stereotyping there) and have to cross to the Swiss side to spend a centime. Part of me relished the bureacratic possibilities this presented.

12th Oct 1998 - Entered Kehl, Germany via Pont de l'Europe by bicycle. Wanted to buy cigarettes from a vending machine as they're cheaper than in France. Had a Bratwurst from the very nice stand outside the Friedenskirche. No accommodate as it was a day trip. Organised by me. Telephone number of the vending machine company: xxx xx xx xx xx.

12th Oct 1998 - Returned to Strasbourg, France via Pont de l'Europe by bicycle to return to student accommodation.

14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the French region of Alsace for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the French region of Alsace for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the French region of Alsace for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the French region of Alsace for the purpose of leisure cycling.

20th Oct 1998 - Entered Switzerland at the Bale-Voyageurs station for transfer to Basel-Mulhouse airport as there was no easy transfer entirely within France at the time.
20th Oct 1998 - Transferred from the Swiss to the French side of the Basel-Mulhouse airport building, as I was on a French domestic flight and technically departing from Mulhouse, not Basel.
20th Oct 1998 - Transferred back from the French to the Swiss side of the Basel-Mulhouse airport building, as the toilets on the French side were out of order and I needed to go before clearing security (and frankly, the Swiss are good at this kind of thing).
20th Oct 1998 - Transferred back from the Swiss to the French side of the Basel-Mulhouse airport building, as the Swiss security weren't happy about me departing Switzerland on a French domestic boarding pass.

etc, etc.

eigenvector

Most expensive: Russia, $200 CAD for a single entry tourist visa, then $100 extra for expedited service as their normal processing time was 20 business days!

Most time consuming: Uzbekistan, which required an LOI (helpfully issued for a mere $20 USD by the hostel I stayed one night at in Tashkent) and doesn't have an embassy in Canada. FedExing my passport to New York and back cost more than the visa itself. When I went to the bank to get a bank draft for the visa fee, the lady at the counter had me write out "Uzbekistan" as she'd never heard of it.

Most irrational: Belarus, which required proof of medical insurance for a direct transit onboard a train from Moscow to Warsaw. Also required payment in euros at their embassy in Canada for some reason.

Most meticulous: India. I applied for a transit visa at the embassy in Kathmandu and the visa officer politely circled about a dozen mistakes owing to ambiguous or inconsistent wording on the application - then made me submit a new online application despite the fact that none of them had any conceivable material impact (eg under "previous Indian visa place of issue" I had written "n/a" as it was an e-visa, but apparently you're supposed to write the physical location you were in when you filled in the online application).