Category
Browse by visa category
Pick the kind of trip you are planning, then see which countries have an officially published option that fits it.
These fourteen groups are a planning vocabulary for browsing this site. They are not official visa names, and their presence is not evidence that a country operates a visa in that group. A country is listed under a group only when an option named on an official page maps onto it.
- sourced options
- 607
- countries
- 107
- Not grouped
- 390
Tourism and visits
Holidays, sightseeing and short private visits.
131 sourced options · 69 countries
Business
Meetings, negotiations and short commercial trips.
61 sourced options · 38 countries
Study and students
Enrolment at a school, college or university, and research stays.
70 sourced options · 46 countries
Employment and work
Paid work. Permission to work is often a separate document from the visa.
138 sourced options · 56 countries
Family and dependants
Joining or visiting a spouse, child, parent or other relative.
60 sourced options · 31 countries
Transit
Passing through on the way somewhere else, including airport transit.
59 sourced options · 40 countries
Medical treatment
Travelling for treatment, and accompanying a patient.
15 sourced options · 9 countries
Conferences and events
Conferences, sport, culture and other organised events.
12 sourced options · 9 countries
Religious and pilgrimage
Pilgrimage and religious activity, where a country names such a route.
10 sourced options · 10 countries
Working holiday
Youth mobility schemes that combine travel with limited work.
1 sourced options · 1 countries
Remote work and digital nomads
Staying while working for an employer or clients outside the country.
6 sourced options · 5 countries
Investor and entrepreneur
Investment, company formation and self-employment routes.
23 sourced options · 14 countries
Retirement
Routes aimed at retired or financially independent applicants.
3 sourced options · 2 countries
Diplomatic and official
Diplomatic, service and official duty travel.
61 sourced options · 28 countries
Grouping is derived from the official option name as published, plus the purpose that name states. Where a name is ambiguous, the option stays ungrouped rather than being guessed into a group.
eVisa, visa on arrival and consular application describe how an application is made. Visa-free entry and electronic travel authorizations are different again: they are not visa categories, and they depend on your nationality.
Residence and settlement routes are permission to live in a country, which is different from a short-stay visa. They are listed separately when an official page names them.
Protection routes such as asylum or refugee status are shown separately, only where an official page names them, because they are not ordinary travel visas and are not open to everyone. Nothing here says a protection route is available to you.