My friend Jimmy is notoriously allergic to visa application. Instead of applying one, he'd make up all sorts of excuses. He'd say things such as, "there are still a lot of countries that can be visited without visa." Quite amusing, actually. To think that his passport, which is turning red next year, is quite weak to begin with.
And of course I know, for I used to hold the same passport, too. I got my first visa in April 2009, when we crossed from Vietnam to Cambodia. The process of obtaining the visa on arrival (VOA) was quite unique. We were actually asked to have lunch at the nearby noodle shop while the visa was issued.
My next one was the visa to China. The Nanning trip happened five months after the visit to Cambodia. I was new to all this and travel agency was still quite a big deal then. Since my tickets were booked via Muhibbah Travel, I got the agency to take care of my visa, too. However, things had improved drastically since 2012 that for my subsequent visas, I'd go directly to the Chinese Visa Application Service Center.
The green and the red. |
I got my third visa during my visit to Laos in 2010. I remember queuing behind a Malaysian when I landed in Vientiane. Much to my surprise, I was routed to the counter for visa. That's when I learnt the Malaysian passport was much more stronger than the one I was holding. It turned out that Cambodia was not the only exception. Apparently VOA was also required for me to enter Laos.
The visit to Japan also needed visa. The application, and I went through it three times in 2014, 2015 and 2018, was the most effective and efficient one. You just had to follow the document list to a tee and you should be fine. The precision was... very Japanese. Nothing more, nothing less.
UK visa, on the other hand, was not only complicated, but also mysterious. The form had so many things to fill in that I almost gave up. My wife and I also had to go down to VFS for submission, then our passports were mailed to the Philippines. They'd send you an email saying that the application has been processed, but there was no telling if it was approved. You'd only find out after you received and opened your passport.
The visas. |
The thing is, after going through UK visa application, the Schengen visa felt like a piece of cake. We only needed to fill in two pages, then went down to the French Embassy because we were going to Paris. I remember that we missed a travel document, so I booked and attached my Eurostar train tickets on the email when I reached home.
The Indonesian passport had its limitation, all right. But that's not to say the Singapore passport doesn't need visa, too. I had applied for India visa twice so far for my visit to Kolkata and Bangalore. The first time I did it was quite unforgettable. Firstly, the online payment actually went through, but the page was showing an error, hence the very misleading impression. Secondly, I assumed the visa would be valid for three months, so imagine my surprise when it wasn't the case. I'd be in trouble if my flight was delayed, so I sent them the email below, haha:
The query. |
The reply, I'd say, was not helping at all: the applicant can arrive on any date till 11:59 PM of expiry date as mentioned in the visa. E-visa will be valid for 30 days from the date of arrival in India. So lesson learnt. No rush when it comes to India visa application.
So overall, how annoying is visa application? I'm not going to sugarcoat it. Traveling is much more convenient when you don't have to worry about visa. But more often than not, the visa application itself ain't that difficult, too. Yes, some do require the applicants' bank statements for the past three months, but once you get passed that, you are likely to be fine. So don't be discouraged, okay? If it gets you to the place you wish to be, then it's definitely worth the effort!
Visa
Teman saya Jimmy paling alergi kalau bicara soal visa. Bukannya mencoba, dia malah lebih senang berdalih. Ada saja yang alasannya, misalnya, "masih banyak negara yang bisa dikunjungi tanpa perlu memohon visa." Sikapnya ini cukup mencengangkan. Padahal paspornya, yang sebentar lagi berganti menjadi sampul merah, sebenarnya tergolong lemah.
Dan tentu saja saya tahu, sebab saya pun dulunya memegang paspor yang sama. Visa pertama saya diperoleh di bulan April 2009, saat saya menyeberang dari Vietnam ke Kamboja. Proses mendapatkan visa on arrival (VOA) ini cukup unik. Kita disuruh makan siang dulu di kedai mie sementara visanya diurus di pos imigrasi yang tak jauh dari kedai tersebut.
Yang berikutnya adalah visa ke Cina. Liburan ke Nanning ini terjadi lima bulan setelah kunjungan ke Kamboja. Saya masih baru dalam hal jalan-jalan dan biro perjalanan masih dominan pada saat itu. Karena tiket ke Cina saya pesan dari Muhibbah Travel di Singapura, saya minta agar visa saya sekalian diurus pula. Setelah itu situasi berkembang pesat dan aplikasi visa berikutnya saya urus sendiri di Chinese Visa Application Service Center.
Visa ketiga saya berkaitan dengan kunjungan ke Laos di tahun 2010. Saya antri di belakang orang Malaysia saat saya mendarat di Vientiane. Di luar dugaan, saya diarahkan ke loket visa. Di situ saya menyadari bahwa paspor Malaysia jauh lebih kuat dari yang saya pegang. Kamboja ternyata bukanlah satu-satunya pengecualian. Bahkan Laos pun perlu VOA.
Kalau Jepang memang perlu visa (atau visa waiver, tergantung paspornya). Berdasarkan permohonan visa yang saya jalani di tahun 2014, 2015 dan 2018, bisa dikatakan bahwa proses visa Jepang adalah yang paling efektif dan efisien. Anda hanya perlu melampirkan berkas dokumen sesuai dengan yang tertera di daftar dan anda akan baik-baik saja. Pokoknya sangat... Jepang. Kedetilannya tidak lebih, tidak kurang. Pas.
Visa Inggris jelas lain cerita. Bukan saja rumit, tapi juga misterius. Banyak yang harus diisi di formulirnya, sampai-sampai saya hampir menyerah. Saya dan istri lantas pergi ke VFS untuk menyerahkan dokumen, lalu paspor kita pun dikirim ke Filipina. Setelah itu saya menerima email bahwa aplikasinya telah selesai diproses, namun tak ada kejelasan bahwa visanya dikabulkan atau tidak. Saya hanya tahu hasilnya setelah menerima kembali dan membuka paspor saya.
Kendati begitu, setelah melalui proses permohonan visa Inggris, visa Schengen terasa mudah. Hanya dua halaman yang perlu diisi, lalu kita datang ke Kedutaan Perancis karena tujuan kita adalah Paris. Saat itu ada dokumen yang kurang, tapi bisa dikirimkan lewat email. Saya pun memesan tiket Eurostar untuk dilampirkan.
Ya, paspor Indonesia memang memiliki banyak kekurangan, tapi ini tidak berarti bahwa paspor Singapura sama sekali bebas visa. Saya sudah dua kali memohon visa India lewat internet untuk kunjungan ke Kolkata dan Bangalore. Kali pertama adalah pengalaman yang tidak terlupakan. Meski pembayarannya berhasil, tapi situsnya menampilkan kegagalan sehingga saya kebingungan. Selanjutnya ada lagi asumsi saya tentang visa yang biasanya berlaku tiga bulan, tapi tidak demikian halnya dengan visa India. Bila pesawat malam saya ditunda, bisa-bisa saya tiba di India setelah visa saya tak berlaku lagi. Jadi saya pun kirimkan email dan bertanya, hehe:
Jawaban yang saya dapatkan sama sekali tidak membantu: the applicant can arrive on any date till 11:59 PM of expiry date as mentioned in the visa. E-visa will be valid for 30 days from the date of arrival in India. Artinya pemohon visa harus tiba paling lambat pada jam 11:59 malam di hari terakhir sebelum tanggal kadaluwarsa visa. Jadi hikmahnya adalah, tak perlu terburu-buru jikalau perlu memohon visa India.
Jadi secara keseluruhan, saya bisa katakan bahwa persyaratan visa ini memang menyebalkan. Jalan-jalan terasa jauh lebih praktis bila anda tidak memerlukan visa. Akan tetapi perlu disampaikan pula bahwa proses visa ini seringkali tidaklah serumit yang dibayangkan. Ya, ada yang terkadang memerlukan rekening bank selama tiga bulan terakhir, tapi anda cukup lampirkan seperti yang diminta dan seharusnya tidak akan ada masalah. Jadi jangan putus asa duluan. Jika visa itu bisa membawa anda ke tempat yang anda inginkan, niscaya upaya anda tidak akan sia-sia!