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I spent three months traveling through Central America and the stories I heard of the difficulties people face trying to just visit America are absurd. It’s ju

I spent three months traveling through Central America and the stories I heard of the difficulties people face trying to just visit America are absurd. It’s just ridiculous that Americans can show up basically anywhere on earth and get waved in and we don’t extend that courtesy to others.

xaranke 8y ago
Not true; US citizens can't get into any of the BRIC countries without a visa. China and Russia require traditional visas, India and Brazil require eVisas. In any case, you can't just show up in these countries like you can in the EU.
- bruceb 8y ago
  US/EU citizens can visit some cities in China for 3-5 days without a visa if you then proceed to a third country and only have 1 stop in china.
wholien 8y ago
True for Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Brazil... all of Europe mostly...
selectodude 8y ago
Americans aren't at a very high risk of staying. That's the bottom line for visas.
usepgp 8y ago
When it comes to tourist visas, its really all about how likely is a person from X going to overstay their visa in Y. This is why many places conduct interviews and ask for travel details. I know a few wealthy people from countries like Myanmar who have no issue getting visas.
macdice 8y ago
I think most countries would prefer to do it reciprocally as a matter of pride (for example Brazil started fingerprinting US travellers after the US was the first to start doing that to all foreigners), but in some cases they can't afford to put up barriers to tourism dollar inflows, so they make a difficult choice. Plenty of countries won't let Westerners waltz in without a visa -- for example India and China.
- xaranke 8y ago
  It ultimately comes down to balancing priorities - bringing in tourist money vs keeping up diplomatically. Both India and China have realized this - India allows an eVisa and China allows you to transit visa-free for upto 144 hours.
- robocat 8y ago
  > China You can just waltz in to the Shenzhen economic zone (if you have a privileged passport). A day trip if you stopover in Hong Kong - highly recommended to all electronics nerds.

xaranke 8y ago

Not true; US citizens can't get into any of the BRIC countries without a visa. China and Russia require traditional visas, India and Brazil require eVisas. In any case, you can't just show up in these countries like you can in the EU.

bruceb 8y ago
US/EU citizens can visit some cities in China for 3-5 days without a visa if you then proceed to a third country and only have 1 stop in china.

wholien 8y ago

True for Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Brazil... all of Europe mostly...

selectodude 8y ago

Americans aren't at a very high risk of staying. That's the bottom line for visas.

usepgp 8y ago

When it comes to tourist visas, its really all about how likely is a person from X going to overstay their visa in Y. This is why many places conduct interviews and ask for travel details. I know a few wealthy people from countries like Myanmar who have no issue getting visas.

macdice 8y ago

I think most countries would prefer to do it reciprocally as a matter of pride (for example Brazil started fingerprinting US travellers after the US was the first to start doing that to all foreigners), but in some cases they can't afford to put up barriers to tourism dollar inflows, so they make a difficult choice. Plenty of countries won't let Westerners waltz in without a visa -- for example India and China.

xaranke 8y ago
It ultimately comes down to balancing priorities - bringing in tourist money vs keeping up diplomatically. Both India and China have realized this - India allows an eVisa and China allows you to transit visa-free for upto 144 hours.
robocat 8y ago
> China You can just waltz in to the Shenzhen economic zone (if you have a privileged passport). A day trip if you stopover in Hong Kong - highly recommended to all electronics nerds.