There are few things I hate more than filling up visa applications. I get the problem that rich countries face – they have too many people looking to get in and stay illegally. I get the importance of rigorous checks.
That said, I think the solutions today are completely broken – especially for tourist visas.
Here’s the solution I wish existed for tourist visas –
(1) The ideal solution would be one global database – it would be like a visa credit score. It contains a record of all past travel and has one central repository of the stuff we’re asked for. Every time we travel, we just upload the key documents in one place – bank balances, insurances, etc. We print the latest and submit.
A key feature would be the ability to link individual accounts to families so we can manage it all in one place vs. having to go through a separate ID/application for each person.
Ideally we’d have a private company ink partnerships with authorities across companies. But it won’t come easy – I understand that.
(2) The other alternative that I think would be implementable would be for countries to just pick a nation that has rigorous checks. I appreciate nations that say – if you’ve got a US visa, then you get visa on arrival.
Great, that works too.
And while you’re at it, charge everyone equally. I understand it is a source of revenue. But it is ironic that richer nation visitors are subsidized by visitors from poorer nations who pay exorbitant visa fees. For context, a family of 4 might pay well over $800 for the privilege of submitting visa applications to go the UK or New Zealand.
I’m not holding my breath for anything to change anytime soon. I don’t plan on running for politics in this lifetime either.
But if I did, this would be on the agenda.
