What countries in Latin America still need a visa to visit the UK
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- BBC News World
Colombia, Peru and Guyana celebrated Tuesday by announcing that their citizens will no longer need a visa to travel to the United Kingdom for up to six months.
This was announced by the British Foreign Office through its ambassadors in the two countries.
This measure was taken with the aim of strengthening cultural, commercial and academic relations at the bilateral level, and It will come into effect on November 9.
The three countries in question join Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay, whose citizens are exempted from applying for permission to visit the UK as tourists.
However, there Some requirements That travelers from these countries will need to provide for their trip.
Among them: a passport valid for at least 6 months, a round-trip plane ticket, proof of economic solvency and accommodation information (whether in a hotel or with family or friends).
travelers They will not be able to study, work or settle down permanently.You are in the United Kingdom. So they will have to start a certain visa process.
UK authorities also advise citizens of these countries that if they have a criminal record or have previously been denied entry to the UK, it would be best to apply for a regular visitor visa.
Who in Latin America needs a visa?
This standard visitor visa is still required for nearly a dozen countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
citizens Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Haiti, Suriname s VenezuelaThey will have to go through this process.
The online application must be submitted at least three months before the trip. The visa is worth £100 – about $113 (at current exchange rates) – and is valid for six months.
If the plan is to visit the country frequently, a multiple visa of 2, 5 or even 10 years can be requested, but the costs are $422, $753 and $941 respectively.
For those passing through the UK just to stop, heading to another country, they will need to order transit visa Which costs the equivalent of $72.
It should be noted that there are exceptions for nationals of the nine countries mentioned.
permission is Free if your partners or family are British, EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein. But they must have been living in the UK before 1 January 2021.
El Salvador case
Salvadorans They are the only citizens of Central America Who need a tourist visa to travel to the UK.
El Salvador enjoyed the same privileges as its neighbors, but the imposition of the visa regime on its citizens became effective as of May 11, 2022.
On its GOV.UK website, the British government said the decision was made “because of the continuous and significant increase over the past five years in the number of Salvadorans not intending to make a short visit”.
According to British authorities, many Salvadorans who have arrived without a visa on a supposedly short visit, Apply for asylum as soon as they arrive in the UK.
According to GOV.UK, the country “received less than 40 asylum applications per year from Salvadorans; in 2021 the number was 703. This makes El Salvador a source of asylum applications in 2021 more than any other country whose citizens can visit the UK without a visa.”
For everyone who wants to travel to the UK, for whatever reason, it is recommended to visit the official website UK government Which contains all the necessary information for each country of origin.
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