Visa (document) - Visa Exemption Agreements

Visa Exemption Agreements

Possession of a valid visa is a condition for entry into many countries, however various exemption schemes do exist. In some cases visa-free entry may be granted to holders of diplomatic passports even as visas are required by normal passport holders (see: Passport).

Some countries have reciprocal agreements such that a visa is not needed under certain conditions, e.g. when the visit is for tourism and for a relatively short period. Such reciprocal agreements may stem from common membership in international organizations or a shared heritage:

• All citizens of European Union member countries can travel to and stay in all other EU countries without a visa. See Four Freedoms (European Union) and Citizenship of the European Union.
• The United States Visa Waiver Program allows citizens of 36 countries to travel to the USA without a visa. This scheme is not reciprocal as the US does not allow visa-free entry to citizens of some countries which allow US citizens visa-free entry - though some countries not in the US visa waiver program require US citizens to pay a charge equivalent to paying the US visa fee to enter their country.
• Any Gulf Cooperation Council citizen can enter and stay as long as required in any other GCC member state.
• All citizens of members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), excluding those defined by law as undesirable aliens, may enter and stay without a visa in any member state for a maximum period of 90 days. The only requirement is a valid travel document and international vaccination certificates.
• Nationals of the East African Community member states do not need visas for entry into any of the member states.
• Some countries in the Commonwealth do not require tourist visas of citizens of other Commonwealth countries.
• Citizens of member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations do not require tourist visas to visit another member state, excluding Burma, where its citizens are required to have a visa to enter seven of the ten ASEAN member states: the exceptions to this are Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. ASEAN citizens are entitled to use the Burmese visa on arrival facility.
• Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member states mutually allow their citizens to enter visa-free, at least for short stays. There are exceptions between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
• Nepal and India allow their citizens to enter, live and work in each other's countries due to the Indo-Nepal friendship treaty of 1951. Also Indians do not require a visa or passport to travel to Bhutan and are only required to obtain passes at at the border checkpoints.

Other countries may unilaterally grant visa-free entry to nationals of certain countries in order to facilitate tourism, promote business, or even to merely cut expenses on maintaining consular posts abroad.

Some of the considerations for a country to grant visa-free entry to another country include (but are not limited to):

• being a low security risk for the country potentially granting visa-free entry
• diplomatic relationship between two countries
• economic conditions in the alien's home country as compared to the host country
• having a low risk of overstaying or violating visa terms in the country potentially granting visa-free entry

Visa-free travel between countries also occurs in all cases where passports are not needed for such travel. (For examples of passport-free travel, see International travel without passports.)

As of 2012, the Henley Visa Restriction Index ranks the Danish passport as the passport with the most Visa Exemptions by other nations totalling 169, allowing holders of a Danish passport to take part in the most visa-free travel globally.