The TL;DR summary Our itinerary: Manila-Beijing-Manila on Cebu Pacific Air and Beijing-Ulaanbaatar-Beijing on Air China We got single-entry Chinese visas for “show” purposes because apparently Cebu Pacific Air does not care about China’s visa-free transit policies and will deny boarding without visas Upon arrival at Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) Terminal 2, we presented our onward […]
visa
How to apply for a Japanese visa at the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines (updated February 2017)
Update February 2017: I applied for a tourist visa again earlier this month. This time, I did it in person at Dusit Thani Manila, as I happened to be in the area. There are actually three accredited agencies which have offices at the hotel: Universal Holidays at the mezzanine, and Reli Tours & Travel and Friendship […]
How to apply for a Timor-Leste visa on arrival at President Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Dili
It’s easy to get a tourist visa on arrival in Timor-Leste (East Timor), the former Portuguese colony that is the youngest country in Asia. The hard part is actually getting there, since one can fly there on commercial airlines from only three cities, namely Bali, Darwin, and Singapore. Except for citizens of Portugal, all tourists are […]
How to apply for a Sri Lankan visa online
It’s very easy to get a tourist visa to Sri Lanka. Out of all the visas I’ve applied for so far, this was definitely the easiest and the quickest. Yes, it is possible to get a visa on arrival, but it costs USD 5 more (USD 35 on arrival versus only USD 30 online), and you’d […]
How to apply for an Australian visa online in the Philippines via ImmiAccount (updated September 2016)
Update September 2016: We applied for tourist visas again last month. It was our third time to apply online. It seems they have gotten more case officers to deal with the high volume of applications, since we got our Visa Grant Notices after only a week. They were also more generous this time: they gave […]
How to apply for a Chinese visa at the Consulate of the People’s Republic of China in Laoag
When W. and I were in Laoag a few months ago for the start of our north-to-south Philippine adventure, we had the spur-of-the-moment idea to apply for Chinese visas there, since I remembered that China had a diplomatic mission in Laoag. We had a three-week trip to Vietnam coming up, and we thought, “Hey, since we […]
How to apply for a Nepalese visa on arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu
It’s quite easy to get a tourist visa to Nepal. Most nationalities can simply apply for one upon arrival at these designated entry points. The only exceptions are citizens of the following eleven countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Cameroon, Somalia, Liberia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine. Indian citizens have a special privilege — India and […]