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Don’t Make These Mistakes on Your Visa Application

This writer finds out simple errors could get you denied entry on your next vacation

hands holding a passport
You could be denied entry into your intended country if your passport doesn’t have extra pages to place your visa.
Getty Images
By

Jill Schildhouse,

 
AARP
Published November 07, 2024

As I touched down in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, after a 33-hour door-to-door journey from Phoenix, I had my sights set on getting to the hotel as quickly as possible for a shower and sleep. I handed my passport and e-visa to the airport worker in the passport control area, fully expecting to breeze through, pick up my luggage, and be on my way. Instead, he handed the documents back to me while shaking his head: “Denied.”

I assumed there was a misunderstanding since I’ve traveled to 46 countries and have never had an issue, so I got into another line and asked a different worker to help. He looked at my documents and said the name on my e-visa didn’t match the name on my passport. The culprit? My middle name was missing.

After being passed around to various employees for more than an hour, I was told I had two choices. I could fly back to Tokyo (my last connection before Vietnam) or pay for a “very, very expensive” emergency visa. My shock turned to horror, as reality set in: Was I going to miss the Mekong River cruise I’d booked? My imagination ran wild with how much this emergency visa could cost — $500? $1,000? How much money was I willing to throw at this problem to make it go away?

After several difficult conversations riddled with language barriers, I learned the emergency visa would only set me back $130 (what a relief!). It would take an hour to process, and they wouldn’t accept a credit card for payment. They demanded Vietnamese dong, but eventually accepted U.S. currency because that’s all I had on me.

Later I learned how I’d “forgotten” to include my middle name: The electronic visa application didn’t have a designated field for it. My middle name needed to go on the same line as my first name, but I didn’t know that. Why was my visa application accepted if this discrepancy would be an issue? It should have been rejected and sent back to me to complete again.

When do you need a visa?

“U.S. citizens are required to obtain a visa before entering 72 countries,” says Antoinette Hannan Leon, vice president of ItsEasy.com Passport & Visa Services, noting that the number can fluctuate depending on changes between country agreements. “This includes traditional visas, e-visas, and visas issued upon arrival.”

Leon says the timing for obtaining a visa depends on the country and the type of visa — with some countries allowing applications up to six months in advance and others working just a few weeks out. A few months before your trip, be sure to look up your destination using the U.S. State Department’s Learn About Your Destination search tool to review entry, exit, and visa requirements.

Even if you’ve traveled to a country without a visa previously, you’ll want to verify the same rules still apply. For instance, beginning April 10, 2025, U.S. citizens will need to obtain an e-visa to visit Brazil.

An AARP survey shows that 65 percent of travelers 50-plus planned to travel in 2024 and 37 percent of respondents said they would take at least one international trip. Therefore, obtaining an impeccable e-visa could make or break their vacation.

Most common e-visa problems to avoid

Even if think you’ve handled your visa properly, unforeseen errors can cause delays or a denial of entry into your intended country. You may even be denied boarding the airplane. Here are some of the mistakes visa service providers say to watch out for:

  • Inappropriate passport expiration date and capacity. Don’t forget to check the expiration date on your passport as most countries require six months of validity beyond the travel dates to enter. Arli Alexander, owner of Passport Relief, a white glove service that expedites passports and visas, says the passport also must have extra pages on which to place the visa.
  • Making a careless mistake. Not using the exact name as it appears on your passport is just one example of an error — entering an incorrect passport number, getting your travel dates mixed up (while Americans use MM/DD/YYYY dates, the rest of the world uses DD/MM/YYYY), incomplete documentation, and applying for the wrong type of visa (tourist versus business) could all be flagged.
  • Not having a printed copy of the visa on hand. Applicants receive e-visas as a PDF, which travelers must print and take with them while traveling. “We encourage all clients to always carry an extra printed copy since it’s just a piece of paper that can get wet or misplaced,” Leon says. This is only a risk with e-visas because traditional visas will be printed into a page of the passport book.

If you feel nervous about completing this process accurately, a concierge visa service — like ItsEasy.com, Passport Relief, or Travel Visa Pro — can help. It’ll cost a bit more (some services only cost $99, while others start at $1,200, and more if it needs to be expedited), but you’ll have peace of mind.

What to do if you’re denied entry

I was ill-prepared and forced to wing it, but if I ever find myself in this situation again, I’ll follow these steps recommended by Leon:

  • Speak to an immigration officer to inquire about a visa on arrival, learn about the process and fees, and apply for the visa then.
  • Ask whether the error can be fixed instantly; the success of this varies from country to country and may depend on the nature of the error.
  • If the country does not offer a visa upon arrival at the airport, or there is no quick-issue “emergency” visa that can be applied for onsite, you may be forced to return to your home country (or in some cases, the country you connected in) and reapply from there. Some countries offer short-stay visas upon arrival, which may allow you to enter for a limited period, even if it’s not for the full duration of your intended stay.

“Patience, respect, and humbleness can go a long way when a country’s immigration and customs hold you back,” Alexander says. “Truly, it all depends on the matter and officer.”

I’m headed to Australia soon and already have my e-visa for the trip. You better believe I was meticulous in my application, but I’ll still be holding my breath when I land. 

Jill Schildhouse is a Phoenix-based freelance writer whose work has been published in AAA, U.S. News & World Report, USA Today, Outside, Travel + Leisure, Southern Living and other publications. She is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers and has visited 38 countries. ​​

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