What is Difference Between Passport And Visa

What is Difference Between Passport And Visa

Whenever it comes to traveling outside one's country, the first two terms that come to mind are passport and visa. Many of you must have a passport and perhaps a visa too. However, many people would not be aware of the distinction between a passport and a visa. In today's article, we are going to give you information about passport and visa, which you can read later. Your confusion will be cleared, so read this article completely.

Know in detail about passport and visa. 

Passport is a travel document that the government of a country issues to its citizens. This document verifies the identity and nationality of the holder for the purpose of international travel. Apart from adults, it is also necessary for children and babies to have a passport. Passport is a small booklet in which all the details like name of the person, date of birth, place of birth, gender, photo, signature, passport date of issue, date of expiry, and passport number are mentioned. Before issuing the passport, the applicant is carefully examined and only after that the passport is issued, hence when going to another country, the passport is accepted as the most important ID.

However, visa is an official document through which you can legally enter a foreign country. If you want to visit America then you will get Visa from American government. Indian government will not have any role in this. Visa is usually stamped on the passport or it is affixed on the passport. There are many types of Visa which are associated with different rights in the host country of the Visa holder, that is, according to the purpose for which you are going to which country, you will be issued a visa, that is, we can say that passport will be our identity card while visa will be our identity card. It is a right which only after taking it you can roam in the country which has issued it.

How many types of passports are there?

Mostly passports are of three types-

1. Ordinary passport: Ordinary passport which is dark blue in color and is issued for ordinary travel and business trips.

2. Official passport: Which is a white cover passport and is issued to government officers who represent the Indian government in another country.

3. Diplomatic passport: This passport is maroon in color and is issued only to Indian diplomats, diplomatic couriers or top ranking government officials.                     

You already know how important a passport is and how many types it has, but you should also know that what will happen if the passport of an Indian traveling abroad gets lost? How is that Indian national going to return to India? Many such questions.....?  

So the answer to this question is that the Indian embassy present in that country will grant an emergency certificate to that Indian citizen, through which that person can return to India. This emergency certificate is also called emergency passport or temporary passport.

How many types of visas are there?

There are many types of Visas, they are issued according to the requirement of the Visa holder, such as - 

1. work visa: This Visa is given to a person who goes to work in the host country or is engaged in business activities. There are many types of work visas which depend on the nature of work and duration of stay in the host country.  

2. Travel visa: This type of visa is given only for tourist purpose. Through this visa the holder cannot do any kind of business activities or work in that country. By the way, there are two types of travel: immigrant or non immigrant visa.

Through immigrant visa the visa holder can stay permanently in the host country whereas through non-immigrant visa. Entry can be taken in the host country only on a temporary basis.

3. Working holiday visa: With the help of this type of visa the visa holder can also take temporary employment in that country. Where he has gone to visit. Not every country offers this type of visa but countries like Australia, Argentina, Canada, Belgium, Japan and UK do. This type of visa is offered.

4. Business visa: with the help of business visa you can do activities like attending a business conference or doing business with a company in the host country. For this you will not need to join the labor market of that country. The visitor will have to show that he is not receiving income from the host country.

5. Spousal Visa: When the life partner is not from the same country, then through this they can go to meet each other. 

6. Transit visa. This is a short term visa. It is issued to a person when he is traveling in a country but does not stay there i.e. does not live there. This visa is usually valid for five or less days, its duration depends on the country.

7. Student visa: It is a kind of non-immigrant visa which is issued to the visa holder to study in the host country. 

8. Refugee or asylum visa: This type of visa is issued to such people whose life is in danger due to disasters, war and other such situations.

So after knowing the types of passport and visa, you should also know about e-passport and e-visa.

E-passport:

Electronic passport is a regular passport booklet, which has an electronic chip embedded in it. This chip contains the information of the passport holder and it provides extra layer security against passport fraud.

E-visa:

That means electronic visa which is a digital visa which is stored in the database. This visa is linked to the passport number of the holder.

So friends, in this article we have tried to give you general, but important information related to passport and visa.