How to Read Your Visa Checker Result — and Its Limits

2026-09-09

The visa checker answers one question: what kind of permission does this passport need for this destination?

It is a useful question, and it is a narrower one than most people assume they are asking. This page sets out what each answer means and what it leaves open.

The four results

Visa-free. You may travel without arranging permission in advance. Border officers still decide admission on arrival, and they may ask for onward tickets, accommodation or proof of funds.

Visa on arrival. Permission is issued at the border, usually on payment. Normally for specific ports of entry only, and availability can be suspended at short notice.

eVisa or eTA. Permission is applied for online before departure. An eTA is generally a lighter pre-travel authorisation; an eVisa is a visa issued electronically. Both must be held before boarding — airlines check them, and neither can be arranged at the airport. Where we hold a verified link to the official government portal, the result shows an Official application button. If no such button appears, we do not have a verified official link for that route, and you should reach the portal through the destination's own government site rather than through a search result.

Visa required. Permission must be arranged in advance through an embassy, consulate or visa centre.

The difference between these four is explained in full in visa-free, eVisa, eTA or visa on arrival.

What the result does not tell you

Four things, and all four matter before you book:

How long you may stay. The category is not a duration. Where a stay length appears on the destination list it is a common case, not a guarantee, and your actual limit comes from your entry stamp or visa. See visa validity is not length of stay.

How many times you may enter. The entry count is a property of the document you are issued, not of the category. See single entry or multiple entry.

What you may do there. The category covers admission, not activity. It does not grant the right to work, study or take up residence. See visa-free is not permission to work.

Which documents you need. Required supporting documents are set per country and per visa type. The checker does not list them.

And one more, which is the most common misreading: the result is for travel to that country. It does not cover an airport transit through it, which has separate rules and sometimes a separate visa. See airport transit.

Where the answer comes from, and how current it is

Our visa data comes from the open Passport Index dataset, refreshed automatically every day, with our own verified corrections applied on top. It is not an official government feed.

This matters for how much weight to put on a result. A daily refresh means the dataset we hold is current as of that refresh — it does not mean every entry was confirmed against a government source that day, and we do not claim it was. Visa policy changes are sometimes announced with immediate effect and reach aggregate datasets days later.

So: treat the result as a reliable starting point and a planning aid, not as a final authority. The only final authority for your route is the destination's own government.

If the result looks wrong

It sometimes is. The usual causes:

• A policy changed recently and has not reached the dataset.
• Your situation differs from the default — dual nationality, a residence permit in a third country, a diplomatic or service passport, or a passport issued by one authority while you reside under another. The checker reads nationality only.
• The route involves a territory with its own entry rules distinct from the state it belongs to.

If you believe an entry is wrong, tell us through the contact page with the source you are relying on. Corrections are applied on top of the dataset and survive the daily refresh.

Turning a result into a next step

• 1. Visa-free → confirm the permitted stay and any onward-ticket or funds requirement on the destination's own site.
• 2. Visa on arrival → confirm your port of entry is one where it is issued, and that it is currently operating.
• 3. eVisa / eTA → apply through the official portal, early enough to absorb a delay. See calendar days or working days.
• 4. Visa required → find the responsible mission for your location and read its current document list before booking anything.

In all four cases, check your passport's own condition as well — validity, blank pages and physical state are a separate ground for refusal, covered in valid passport, still denied boarding.

Related

• Visa checker
• Visa-free, eVisa, eTA or visa on arrival
• What a passport ranking measures
• Nationality, residence and where you apply
• Is this visa site official?
• Entry rule changes: what actually changed
• About our data

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