A visa is the remark, annotation or seal of approval on a legal and valid passport or other travel credentials of a foreign or domestic citizen, which is issued by the international representative of a sovereign government, an Embassy or Consulate. It is a necessary legal requirement indicating that you are permitted to enter and exit that country's frontier, also we may say, the visa is an annotating-like proof of legal entry.
A Visa is a measure adopted by a sovereign state to maintain the country's sovereignty, dignity, security and protection. It is an important method for a sovereign state to implement the vetting and supervision of visitors. If a country's citizen wishes to go abroad for travel, emigration, business, to study and so on, the visa is the must have credential other than a passport or its equivalent, or you can not enter your target country.
All the countries in the world have their own special organizations for visa issuing. Generally speaking, the organizations for issuing the passport and visa are the same one for a country. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassies/consulates or the specially-authorized organizations stationed abroad are all the legitimate organs for issuing the visa.
The immigration offices or police stations also are the visa issuing organizations in some countries. The official responsibility of the visa issuing organizations is to issue the visa; simultaneously they have the authority to cancel or refuse a visa issue, or announce the invalidity of all visas issued.
Types
Based on different reasons of entering or departing the country, visas are generally divided into 6 categories: The departure visa, the entry visa, visa for leaving first and then reentering, visa for entering first and then leaving, again-entry visa and the transit visa.
Some countries (regions), according to different purposes for entry, classify the visa into many kinds like the diplomatic, official, immigrant, non- immigrant, courteous reception, tourist, work, study and business visas as well as the household visa and so on.
At present, most countries of the world mainly have the three kinds of visa: the diplomatic, official and ordinary visa.
Now, there are four categories of visa are issued in China: the diplomatic, courteous reception, official business and standard visa.
Four Types of Visa
Countertendency Visa: The countertendency visa issued by immigration organizations or departments who are responsible for the management of entering and/or leaving a country, is a kind of proof of approval to issue a visa to the applicant. After the applicant is issued a countertendency visa, he also has to visit the embassies or consulates of his target country stationed abroad to transact the visa. Some countries stipulate that the applicant can handle the visa upon arrival at the port of his destination country.
Transit Visa: After you obtain the entry visa to your target country, if passing through a third country via any transportation vehicle, a transit visa is required. Some countries stipulated that if the duration of stay doesn't exceed 24 hours or other defined period of time when passing through here as the transit country, no visa is required (but going out from the airport is not allowed). But some countries stipulated that no matter how long you will stay or whether you leave the airport or not, a transit visa must be obtained. As with other visas, the transit visa also stipulates the period of validity and duration.
Visa on Arrival: If the applicant can not directly obtain the visa in his own country, upon arrival at the port of his target country by holding a passport and the entry permit issued by his own country, a visa will be issued. However, the applicants should pay great attention on this point as there are only a few countries that will issue this kind of visa (visa on arrival). Before your departure, you should check whether you're chosen destination issues visa on arrival or not, only then can you go on your way.
Visa in Paper Form: Visa on a separate document, and not affixed to a passport is another kind of visa form but has the same function and validity as a visa in a passport. What is different is that this visa is on a special-purpose paper outside the passport, which must be used in conjunction with the passport. The photos on both of the two should be consistent with each other.
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