Visa Requirements For Indian Citizens
If you are from India with a dream to travel the world then it's not quite easy. There are many visa related hurdles that you will need to cross. Over the past few days I've been building an excel based simple travel planner and tracker and one of the first things I've had to do was figure out the current visa requirements for Indians.
Interestingly Wikipedia comes to the rescue as it has a ton of information but that information needs to be cross verified also. I'll tell you why. You can find that the semi-current info on visa requirements for Indians on wiki here.
Now bear in mind that visa requirements for any passport keeps changing overtime and it's hard to keep track. But there are few areas where one needs to use some common sense.
For example the link states that Indians need Visa for Czech Republic and Denmark amongst other countries. However, you can enter these countries with a valid Schengen visa. I have been to these places infact and have traveled without issues.
With a valid multi-entry Schengen and US visa one can travel several other countries than the ones that directly give Visa free or visa on arrival status to Indian passport holders.
So in my excel sheet I'm currently mapping all these things as per current rules and tracking the countries I've traveled in the past. So far I've traveled 23 countries including India. It's including India because I have traveled my country very extensively in the past 15-16 years.
I'm now planning my next 10 countries or so and figuring out the costs and the logistics and interesting the more info I add to a list I'm creating the easier it seems to plan this now.
I'll share the data at a later stage when I feel I have compiled sufficient information. For now if you are planning to travel abroad to exotic or far away locations from India then the wiki link + Passport Index comparison is a good place to start planning your visa requirements.
I've traveled the following countries. It is listed in the order starting with the first country I've traveled about to the most recent one.
- India
- United States of America
- Indonesia
- Netherlands
- Austria
- Germany
- Switzerland
- Spain
- Singapore
- Malaysia
- Portugal
- Sri Lanka
- Hungary
- Croatia
- Slovenia
- Italy
- Vatican City
- France
- Belgium
- Luxembourg
- Poland
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
Visa requirements for some countries such as Singapore or Malaysia is very simple. They don't ask for much at all. USA / EU nations can be complicated.
However, I've never needed to furnish any documents for US visa during the interview while for my Schengen visa I've submitted a ton of information. So it varies from countries to countries and one need to do some due diligence to get things right.
In case of Sri Lanka, I just booked my flight 2 nights before I landed there as I got a good deal on the flight. Didn't even bother with any paperwork. It was that easy.
It's my dream to travel atleast 100 countries before the age of 40. I've got 9 years to complete that. Hence, I'm realistically trying to figure out how to actually do it and plan a bit ahead of time.
If you like my work kindly resteem it to your friends. You may also continue reading my recent posts which might interest you:
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Which one country's visa procedure was toughest one for you? And tell us about base of US Visa of you don't mind @firepower because I think it is toughest one for Asian origins nowadays.
Let's see.
US is by far the toughest to prep, especially if you are self-employed like me but I'm generally good with interviews so I've managed two of them just fine. Fancy ties and jackets don't guarantee anything. I went in casual wear both times. Confidence and clarity matters a lot more. The first was harder because I was young and they didn't give me a long term visa, just 1 year. 2nd time was easier and they gave me 10 years. The first was invite based, and the 2nd was not, applied straight forward.
It's easier if you can procure an invite to visit from family/friends living in US and if you can establish strong and as many connections in India and show you will return after your trip. Give specific dates and be honest. The interviewers are excellent at reading people and body language. They record all data of past trips or visa applications. They will ask questions regarding your trip, why, who, what, how, where, when, for how long, why this much time, what you'll do, all kinds of imaginable questions may be asked-google will get you these questions. You must always prep for these things in advance.
My first interview they asked questions for 20 mins or so. Second time I got it within 4-5 mins and a LOT fewer questions.
I carried a shit ton of docs and clear financial history, ties to India etc and nothing was asked. Not a single document.
Sincere advise to new travellers is to travel to SE Asian countries (not Nepal/Bhutan) and build up some real travel history, visa stamps, score one EU travel if possible and then apply to US. All this is not at all necessary but is likely to help your case over a blank passport being applied for a US visa. My first visa stamp was US. If you get a US visa stamp, other countries will easily clear your case. That's a fact.
EU i've submitted all kinds of very comprehensive documents each time, but it resulted eventually in getting a very rare (im told) 5 year Schengen visa. But it has made travel all over EU effortless as I don't need to reapply for next 4.5 years.
That's really helpful. Till the date I have not visited outside India but planning this year for UK and Europe as my all maternal uncles are there and my mummy is also holding a British Passport, So in next Amy marriage occasion would love to visit London and Europe.
Thanks for advice.
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Malaysia was super easy for me! I didn't go outside of the Singapore airport, but that's also supposed to be quite easy with VISA on arrival.
The best of luck with traveling to 100 countries in 9 years. Great experiences are awaiting you!
Looks like most of SEA and east Afrika are waiting for you :D
Thanks. I realised during the course of this work that Africa alone has 56 countries. I was also in discussion with a friend at the time who asked me how I'm going to do it and frankly I have no idea how I'm going to do those 56 countries. It will take forever given the size of the continent but I think some may be faster than others from a backpacker's perspective. Once I'm done this way I would like to do an overlanding expedition on a motorcycle or SUV.
You have one of the best passports in the world. How cool it must be to land in most countries randomly and enter eh? :D
Same dream, Even I'm having the same target of 100 countries before 40. But u are ahead of me by 22 countries. Catch ur numbers soon.
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That's great. I wish you the very best. SE Asia is easy to do, quite cheap by Western Europe standards and great place to start building travel history for later travel through western nations. :)
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