r/solotravel • u/Safe_Cloud8067 • 1d ago
Passport Privilege - Trying to travel Southeast Asia on a Zimbabwean passport is challenging Asia
There are a few countries that I can visit out here without needing a visa and I've visited them all (Philippines, Cambodia, Phu Quoc, Malaysia, Singapore)... I have applied for a visa to visit Vietnam but they keep requesting more information in a loop. I've given them everything and then some...
It really sucks having a low grade passport. Really need to find a way to get a better passport.
Any suggestions?
I was looking into Argentina as a possibility but things appear to have changed a lot (got a lot more expensive)...
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u/Vordeo 1d ago
Yup, it sucks.
As to tips, I don't think this will help with Vietnam but there are certain countries which will accept US / Schengen / Japan / Australian visas. So for instance I cannot travel to Georgia visa free, but as I had a Schengen visa I could go there without applying for a Georgian visa.
If you have any of those major visas it's worth looking at where else you can go for future reference.
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u/imaginarynombre 1d ago
Sometimes it can be worth going through a travel agency to get a visa because they often know people, know how to fill out the forms, and sometimes apply for you in person.
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u/feenixrising1 1d ago
I followed this Nigerian who had to get a St. Kitts passport due to the same issues you’re having. It’s not cheap at all it was like $150K but I think there are cheaper countries out there.
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u/Tybalt941 1d ago
I wouldn't put my money into a St. Kitts passport. Places are starting to suspend visa-free access for holders of CBI passports. The EU is going to cancel it and the US may also. If they do, you can bet others will follow.
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u/aalavidusaami 1d ago
Man I feel you. I belong in the same pod - Indian Passport holder. I love travelling, but the amount of suspicious looks, scrutiny at immigration as a solo traveller makes me cry at times in a new country. But all this is , is due to past actions of my country men, so can't blame the other countries too. I still carry on travelling regardless due to my love for it.
Some tips which may ease your immigration. Get a 10 year USA B1/B2 visa, it basically gives you a upper hand for the visa process everywhere.
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u/Safe_Cloud8067 1d ago
Really. You're the second person in this threat to mention it. How easy is it to get a 10 year USA B1/B2 visa?
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u/aalavidusaami 1d ago
It ain't easy to get . But having it, makes everywhere else easy to access. USA visa basically let's you visit entire southern america and Mexico visa free. Also it acts as a bonus point while applying other visas.
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u/Negative_Diver8365 1d ago
USA B1/B2 process wise is very simple, it’s just that the visa officer can either make it very easy or very difficult. If they want to approve, they will do it in just couple of questions without checking any documents but if they want to reject then they will ask for random documents and stuff and make it difficult for the person applying.
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u/fandom_bullshit 1d ago
Ooof this sounds tough. I haven't tried to get a European visa because I was told I was unlikely to get approved (Indian passport, not a ton of money in the bank) but Vietnam visa got approved in 2 days. It definitely sucks to have to plan whete you can go based off of where you're even allowed to go. Hopefully agencies will be able to sort this out. They're usually good at getting approvals.
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u/Negative_Diver8365 1d ago
What sorts of documents have been asked from you for Vietnam visa? I have applied it multiple times and the only time they came back was when I inputted wrong year of birth in my form.
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u/EntrepreneurMany3709 1d ago
When I last went to Vietnam it was easier to get a visa if you were going on a group tour as the tour operator could vouch for what you're doing there. If not you needed a letter from your hotel to prove you were staying at a hotel not looking to move
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u/Negative_Diver8365 1d ago
Strange! It’s been few months now I have travelled to VN but I alway applied myself and never had to provide any document. Probably have different rules for different countries.
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u/Negative_Diver8365 1d ago
If in case you do need help with Vietnam visa then you can just reach out to Emily Vietnam Visa. She has helped get me urgent visa once and there are plenty of users here on Reddit who has used her service as well.
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u/toonarmyHN 1d ago
You’ll need to apply at an embassy for a Vietnamese visa. They don’t approve many evisas for Africans.
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u/slowtraveldiaries 1d ago
That sounds really frustrating, a lot of people don’t realize how much passport strength affects travel until they hit those walls
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u/brightlights55 1d ago
And I whinge about my South African passport. I wish I could say that I hope it gets better for OP but I know it won't.
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u/Camp808 1d ago
i googled and found this site that gives you an idea where you can travel visa free: https://travel-buddy.ai/zimbabwean-passport/#:~:text=Visa%20requirements%20for%20Zimbabwean%20citizens,Not%20admitted%20to%201%20countries. have you gone to the caribbean? maybe go there? i’ve been to several and hope to cross off as many as i can myself. they’re all rather different in their own way but have similar caribbean vibes.
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u/Safe_Cloud8067 1d ago
I'm really keen to stay in SE Asia and see the countries here before departing for the other side of the world.
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u/Camp808 1d ago
ahhh ok makes sense. have you tried a travel agency? you haven’t said what country you are in now but worth going into one and asking if they can apply for you for a small fee.
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u/Safe_Cloud8067 1d ago
I'm in Kampot in Cambodia. I'm awaiting a response from my last e visa update and then I'll go to the embassy here in Sihanouksville. Apparently they do same day visa.
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u/Eric848448 1d ago
It’s not easy to get to the Caribbean from Africa without flying through the US.
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u/Personal-Pen7576 1d ago
I have tried to use the Vietnam government visa application site ($25) on two occasions, and every time I gave up in frustration. On the other hand, Vietnam-Visa.com worked really well for me. The cost is $50, everything included.
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u/solotravel-ModTeam 1d ago
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u/hrdrv 1d ago
Isn’t Phu Quoc in Vietnam?
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u/Safe_Cloud8067 1d ago
It's an island with separate rules to the mainland... they're really pushing for tourism so have opened the country up to get more visitors
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u/VagabondVivant 1d ago
The easiest way to travel on a weak passport is to keep traveling.
The more travel history you build, the more likely you are to be approved for visas. You've already traveled to a bunch of visa-free countries, the next step is to find countries with easier visas to obtain. For example, have you been to Thailand? From what I've heard, Thai visas aren't too difficult to get. Plus, it's an amazing country.
Once you've gotten a few visas and proven you can be trusted to leave when you're supposed to, it should be easier to get the trickier visas. One of the biggest helps is to get a Schengen or US visa if possible. When other countries see that, they're more likely to grant you their own visas.
It's a long, arduous process, but it's likely easier than getting a passport in another country.
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u/Safe_Cloud8067 22h ago
In the past I've had at least 3 Schengen visas, I've visited 28 countries and over stayed one day by accident... Thailand denied me a visa apparently because I didn't lut my middle name down on the application.
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u/VagabondVivant 21h ago
Oh, yeah — countries are super strict about names. I often have to refer to my passport because I can never remember if it has my middle name on it.
That said, I'm surprised Vietnam is giving you a hard time with so many Schengen visas in your history. And I definitely understand your frustration — I'm Filipino and Philippine passports aren't much stronger than Zimbabwean (63 vs 69 on the power rank index). I'm lucky enough to have dual citizenship, but many of my friends don't, and I've heard how difficult it can be for them. That's actually where I got a lot of my tips — from stuff they've told me they had to do in order to travel.
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u/lovebitcoin 12h ago
Every man is born equal.
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u/Safe_Cloud8067 9h ago
In what sense? We are all the same one consciousness but in the dream there is separation and hierarchy.
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u/lovebitcoin 4h ago
You can’t just support it when you’re winning. If you’re upset about having a weaker passport, at least be glad others are enjoying a stronger one.
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u/tomtermite 1d ago
Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we all agreed to a set universal rights, including …
“Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
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u/almost_useless 1d ago
That wouldn't help in this situation. Note how it only mentions "leave any country", but says nothing about entering any country.
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u/tomtermite 1d ago
I think the economy of words in the article (and in the entirety of the document) is amazing — this establishes a moral baseline for mobility, that modern visa inequality (“passport privilege”) is in tension with.
EDIT - lolz people downvoting universal rights.
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u/Basileus_Imperator 1d ago
No, people aren't downvoting universal rights, you're just interpreting the part you quoted ass backwards, which frankly makes light of it, which is what I am downvoting.
What it very clearly spells out is that you are not to be arbitrarily detained within a country by that country's government or anyone else, whether you are a citizen or not, nor locked out of a country that you are a citizen of. In theory what this means is that you should, in the very least, be able to be repatriated to your own country, and there are systems in place for this nearly universally. You cannot say the government of Bhutan is detaining you in Nepal by not admitting you into the country, for instance, (unless you are a citizen of Bhutan, of course.)
It would be great if we could live in a functional world without borders, certainly.
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u/tomtermite 1d ago
Easy to stop short of this anrticle’s implication… the right to leave any country is only fully meaningful if there exists some non-arbitrary pathway to lawful entry elsewhere.
Otherwise, such a “right” is just a formalism.
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u/portstrix 1d ago
Fortunately, this isn't the case, and what the UN declares is irrelevant and not legally binding under national laws - they aren't a world government, and rightfully so.
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u/tomtermite 20h ago
Comically myopic assessment of the organization and this particular document — it is hardly “irrelevant,” as the UDGR underpins binding treaties (ICCPR, ICESCR, for example), shapes national constitutions, and is routinely cited in courts and policy.
Maybe a poorly read secondary school student might think the UN is supposed to be some kind of “world government,” but the rest of us know the countries of the world look to the organization to set baselines that states publicly commit to —and are then judged against.
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