You’re not a big fan of bureaucracy, queues or red tape? Or perhaps a slightly paranoid citizen of i.e. North Korea, where travel agencies offer you a limited option of easy and friendly destinations? Then stay clear of the world’s hardest countries to visit. Instead, go get a ticket to one of the world’s easiest countries to visit as a tourist.
The friendliest ones don’t require a visa from ANYONE, regardless of nationality. But don’t forget your passport, you will be asked to show it upon entry. It doesn’t get much more hassle free than that.
Then again, I’m talking about a very few island states. Let me use one of them to examplify. The nearest country neighbour is a thousand kilometers away, so it will still take you some effort and cost some money to get there. Both The island of Reunion, which belongs to France, and Madagascar are two and a half hour away by scheduled aircraft. And it will take three hours to fly to Nairobi, the nearest city on the mainland that is served by a commercial airline. Add another hour and you’re in Sri Lanka. From Seychelles, that is.
Most countries that are lenient with visas are in fact island nations. Not very surprisingly, really.
100 % visa free!
All nationalities can enter the following countries visa free. You will still need a passport, proof of funds to fund your stay and an onward ticket. And passport stamp collectors, yes you will get your much sought after ink jab in all of these. At least I did.
Visa on arrival to everyone
And three countries are almost as generous. They will give anyone a visa on arrival, but you will need two blank pages in your passport. Some nationals may also only stay for seven days in Togo. Do note that Tuvalu is the third least-visited country in the world. Which proves that the ease of getting legal access isn’t necessarily a winner. I guess the propeller aircraft from Fiji Airways that comes here twice a week doesn’t have all that much space anyway.
It’s almost as easy here, although citizens from most countries can only enter by plane or ship to obtain a visa on arrival. Not much of an obstacle, really. The country only has one land border.
Timor Leste (East Timor)
Close, but no cigar.
Three East African countries have joined forces and issue a joint e-visa for people of any nationality. East Africa Borderless Visa still costs $100 and must be purchased in advance. You will need to first arrive to the country that issued the visa.
There is a similar scheme in place for a Caribbean nation. Some nationals enter without any paperwork, whereas citizens from quite a few countries need to pay $100 for an evisa. It has to be obtained before arriving:
And anyone can visit this country too, but most people need to get an evisa in advance.
There is a little bit of a loophole here. Any cruise passenger can enter this country, but only for 24 hours:
And what do you know, even hard-to-enter Russia can be visited by anyone as long as you arrive by cruise ship, stay only in St. Petersburg and sleep on board. You are then entitled to a maximum of 72 hours in the city, but only under strict supervision by a licensed tour guide. Not ideal, but a little bit of a loophole should everything else fail. Russia
With one exception, only.
Only people from its nearest neighbour, the US island of American Samoa, requires a visa in advance. Go figure, they live only 60 kilometers away and may all of a sudden plan an invasion. Samoa
What is it with nearby countries? In some cases they may be like annoying neighbours, it seems. Morocco is one of the nearest countries on the African mainland, and citizens from that country only need a visa to visit.
Two countries to harass.
One particular country doesn’t seem to get along too well with the people living on the island of Hispaniola. One of those countries even shares a very similar name. Dominica
And one Pacific country seems to holde a grudge against people from Myanmar and Bagladesh.
Nah, let’s double that.
People four countries are less welcome than others.
And again.
Seven Asian countries and a Caribbean neighbour will encounter a little barrier.
Unlucky ten.
Some African and Asian citizens are out of luck.
We love everyone. Well, except people from 12 countries.
Inhabitants of only 12 countries need a visa to enter this beauty of South America. It’s tourism slogan is rather accurate then. For most, at least: “All you need is Ecuador.” Nepal coincidentally also demands that people from 12 countries, although not exactly the same ones, to get the paperwork sorted in advance. Afghanistan, Nigeria and Somalia are on both watch lists.
Did I miss any countries? Please let me know.
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