Broke Travel Chronicles – That Visa Life

Travelling is wonderful, its glorious, the new sights, sounds, experiences and most importantly tastes (maybe that’s just me…I’m ruled by the planet ‘hunger’). There’s one mighty hitch though – besides finding travel money – that four letter word v-i-s-a. If you’re from a third world country (I know that term isn’t PC anymore) you know that your travel hopes often hinge on your ability to get that sticker in your passport. Collecting all the items (not to mention paying for them) needed for a visa application is almost more exhausting than planning the trip itself.

Applying for my short-stay German visa was like potion-making in Harry Potter – some essence of newt here, a little salamander blood there and add a pinch of your soul, stir counter-clockwise twice, anti-clockwise four times and let brew under the light of a gibbous moon for exactly 6 hours and 12.5 seconds.

Okay, not quite, but it certainly felt that way to me. Caught up in a whirlpool of bank statements, invitation letters, photos, copies of this old visa and that potential itinerary, travel insurance and argh! It was almost enough to make me throw up my hands and simply have the whole damn trip in my head like the true crazy person I am. Almost. But dreams of a eurotrip danced in my kooky little head. So I applied and reaffirmed my fundamental deficiency with filling out forms; I gathered my documents carefully and made my interview when, after the millionth time, I determined that everything was in order. I’m overly meticulous sometimes.

I don’t think anyone lucky enough not to need a visa for casual travel can fully understand how nerve-wracking a visa interview can be. After all your careful planning, the person on the other side can just dash your travel fantasies and toss all that time and application money right down the drain with a big ole fat ‘no’.

“Can you imagine zis girl in our country? We say nein, ja?”

I popped on a dress and heels and pretended to be a decent, upstanding human being; I babbled and smiled (hopefully charmingly, but probably manically) as the Visa Officer asked me ten-thousand-and-one probing questions – I don’t think I’ve ever been asked so many questions before!

I wasn’t immediately informed about the decision, but in just about 3 days I collected my passport complete with German visa – and a thoroughly criminal looking photo of me – yes, the eurotrip was a-go!

The visa process is like seeing Brad Pitt on the toilet – off-putting, but at least at the end of the day it was worth it for me. If going to the US was enough of an adventure for me (10 year visa already in hand) I just wouldn’t have bothered. Too many damn hoops to jump through! How I long to be a visa-less traveller, but alas such is not the third-world lot. But as we’ve already established I’m a few cents short of a full dollar, so I’ve gone and done this whole thing all over again with an Irish visa! This one is even worse because I have to send my passport to Canada and there’s not much time before I need it back to travel – that visa life. Wish me luck!

Brawta

So far I’ve never been denied a visa (let’s hope the Irish don’t buck that trend), here are a few tips I’d say are helpful:

Be over-prepared – you might be asked what your grandmother’s favourite flavour of ice cream was 10 years ago. Not really, but you never know what questions might come up so prepare any documentation that might be helpful to your case. Have answers to any question that could be asked about your trip…plane, train itineraries, tours you might be booking etc. Be thorough and anticipate lots of questions.

You’re going home – Anything that proves you have ZERO intentions to secret yourself away in the country you’re visiting is vital. I’m a freelance writer so I didn’t have a job letter which made my process a little more difficult. I asked one of the companies I write for to give me a letter stating how long I’ve been providing freelance services. Also, it’s not so easy explain on those forms that you’re a contract worker/freelancer; I filled in the work sections with freelance writer/editor as my job title and gave my home address as my work address, in addition I wrote a little cover letter to go with my application explaining my precise work situation.

Double and triple check – meticulously check your information, make sure that everything is correct, ensure that you sign where you need to and compile every scrap of information required for your country.

When in doubt call and ask, I got some good advice when I called the German embassy.

Any questions feel free to ask!