Countless times I have been faced with clients who come to me for last minute business travel, and find out that they don’t have the necessary visa’s to enter the country of choice. It is very frustrating since most travelers are unaware of the visa requirements for the countries they visit. Can I blame them? It’s not as cut and dry as one might think, especially if we are looking into work visas. Also, most people don’t realize that depending on what type of business you will be conducting your visa requirements change. In an article I recently read in ACTE’s global business journal, they discuss the difference between business visas and work visas by quoting a senior counsel at Pro-link Global (law firm) who states “If you’re just setting up an audit, then you can have a business visa. If you’re actually auditing, you must have a work visa.” The article goes on to explain that both employees and employers can face “stiff penalties” if using the wrong visa. “If not simply turned back at the border, employees can be arrested, fined, deported, imprisoned, and even, in some countries, flogged” (yes flogged and not flagged). Now does this seem worth the hassle? We know getting a visa can be tricky, but, we also know that the most common problem is time constraints in getting your visa, and that waiting times on average are between 4-5 weeks in emerging countries. Also, take note that in the US the visa processing time doesn’t include the homeland security checks, which as per the ACTE article, can take an indeterminate amount of time, from a few days to six months before getting your first visa stamp.
Here are some key tips to keep in mind when traveling on business.
1. Verify visa requirements for the country you are entering (laws change all the time), by contacting their local consulate. You can also use the website: http://projectvisa.com/ whose aim is to keep you up to date with visa and embassy information for all countries.
2. Act on getting those visas ahead of time. As soon as there is talk about travel, even if you are not sure whether you will be going, please start the visa process right away. It is easier to stop a visa application once it’s started than getting a visa last minute.
3. Make sure you have the appropriate visa for the type of business you will be conducting. This means making sure that business activities are within the visa parameters.
4. Please keep in mind that visas for commercial flights and those for private charters are different. Even if a commercial flight doesn’t require a visa, this doesn’t automatically mean that chartered flights don’t. Please always confirm this directly with customs at your point of entry.
5. And please don’t wait until the week of travel to check into visa requirements!
If you follow these key pointers, you should avoid a lot of headache when traveling on business.
That’s it for now, I’m wheel’s up! 
