South African and Indian tourists tell stories of traveling with weak passports

Alex, a South African living in Singapore, travels frequently for work and leisure . However, her passport sometimes becomes a barrier.

“If someone offered me or my child another passport, I would take it,” Alex told CNBC .

The South African passport ranks 51st in the Henley Passport Index - in the middle of the pack based on the number of visa-free countries.

Alex said that people with strong passports, like many of her friends, often have no idea of the amount of paperwork, costs and time she has to spend every time she prepares to travel abroad.

"Why do I have to upload pages of my old passport that expired 10 years ago just to enter Australia? Business travel is even more complicated," Alex shared.

Alex and her partner’s recent trip to Europe required visas for both the Schengen area and the UK – a process that took six weeks. “We had to time things very carefully,” she says. While she was submitting her passport, she was completely unable to travel elsewhere. “For someone like me who travels a lot for work, that was a very significant limitation.”

Roy (fourth from left) and his friends hiking on the island of Crete, Greece in 2024. Photo: Pantha Roy.

Applying for a visa also entails a lot of meticulous preparation. Once, when applying for a European visa, Alex was asked for a stamped bank statement – something she only learned when she arrived at the application center. Unfortunately, many branches refused to stamp it; finally, one agreed to print a watermark for $10 per page.

Not to mention each time we come to submit the application, we also have to pay an additional $50 service fee. "We spent about $600-$700 , maybe more, just to apply for a visa to Italy for 6 days," she said.

That's why Alex increasingly prioritizes choosing visa-free destinations to limit costs and procedures. "The difference is huge. Going on a week-long vacation and having to spend about $1,000 on a visa is hard to keep the fun," she said.

Similar to Alex, Lily - a Chinese citizen (name changed) - was questioned with questions that made her feel awkward, such as: "Do you intend to stay?". She also had to provide a certificate of no criminal record, which made the preparation process take more time.

Alex said the detailed requirements can sometimes feel judgmental. People with restricted passports may be highly educated and have stable jobs, but they still have to be interviewed, explain and prove their finances; while those with strong passports are often exempt from most of these procedures.

Lily studied abroad and encountered many unpleasant situations at border crossings, which made her hesitant to apply for jobs that required frequent international travel. "It's not just the visa process. The way they treat you at the border is no better," she said.

For Pantha Roy, an Indian businessman living in Singapore, traveling as an Indian citizen has cost him extra money, time and effort, especially when it comes to researching visa requirements for each country.

When backpacking in South America, you have to plan far in advance and research each country’s visa requirements, from entry points to transportation, which sometimes takes away from the spontaneity that is an important part of travel.

While his friends could book cheap tickets and fly within the week in Europe, Roy had to plan three months in advance to make appointments and wait for visas.

"Because of the paperwork, I prefer to choose another destination instead of Europe," he said. However, unlike Alex and Lily, Roy said he still does not want to change his passport. "I am still proud of my Indian passport, even though traveling is sometimes a hassle."

Source: https://znews.vn/du-khach-nam-phi-an-do-ke-chuyen-du-lich-voi-ho-chieu-yeu-post1605170.html