Do you wish to travel abroad? In many countries, a visa is required. Often, there are many myths concerning what you should do as a surefire way of getting your visa approved and avoiding denials. However, in this very informative article, you will learn the top 7 reasons why your visa is denied.
The information presented below is given to us by Filipino YouTubers and travelers who have tons of experience and expertise when it comes to traveling. They have general shared these tips which will definitely help you assess your chances of getting approved or denied.
Disclaimer: The information posted here is based on the personal experiences shared by the OFW in the video below. Please let this post serve as a guide only. If you have specific questions, you may ask the OFW by commenting on their video on their accounts.
Do You Want to Have Your Visa Application Approved? Check Out These Tips
The information presented below is generously given to us through the YouTube channel The Poor Traveler. You should check out the original video below, as well as their other content.
The following list is ordered based on least to most crucial reasons why your visa is denied. According to the vloggers, these are based on their travels and vlogging experience over the years and from the reputable friends they’ve gained and learned from.
7. Weak Travel History
This means that you haven’t been outside the country yet. Or this could also mean that you have only visited a few countries. Lots of people are applying to go to countries that are actually difficult to get in to, such as the US, Canada, or Schengen, Europe. In other words, the passport has no stamps. For many of these people, it doesn’t help that they don’t have any past international trips.
It’s a good idea to have stamps that prove you have visited nearby countries, such as Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, and Southeast Asian countries in general. Having said that, this isn’t really a deal breaker. There are people who doesn’t have travel history, who applied visas for the first time, even at countries that are hard to get into, and yet they are approved.
You can still go to the hard to reach countries even if it’s your first time, but it’s a big help if you have travel history. Applying for a visa is like applying for a job. In this analogy, your passport stamps are what constitutes having a great resume.
6. Unjustified Visa Type
There are many types of Visa. These include the following:
- Tourist
- Business
- Work
Apply for the right Visa depending on the exact nature of your visit. For example, if you want to visit someone in Japan, apply for a visit visa instead of a tourist visa.
Another way of categorizing visa is in terms of length of stay. These include the following:
- 15 days
- 90 days
Just make sure you are applying for the appropriate visa type in terms of length of stay as well. The vlogger mentioned that one of their readers got denied a visa to Korea because she applied for a 90-day visa even she didn’t have any work experience, have an insufficient amount in the bank statement, or didn’t have much papers to show to the embassy.
Don’t be too ambitious when applying for a visa. There are requirements you need to comply before being able to get some visas, and if you know you can’t comply with the requirements of getting a 90-day visa then don’t get one.
You could have been granted a visa if you chose the 15-day one. Instead, you tried your luck on the 90-day visa and ended up getting rejected. Don’t push your luck. Simply truly know what the requirements are for each visa type and comply if you can.
If it’s your first time going to a country, it’s best to apply for a single visa first, unless it’s justified. For example, if you are applying for a Schengen visa for the first time, and your itinerary requires that you go in and out of countries in the Schengen area, then that is justified that you need a Schengen visa.
If your itinerary calls for a single entry visa, then apply for a single entry visa.
5. Inconsistent Information
When you’re applying for a visa, you need to supply lots of information. For example, you have to fill up:
- Application form
- Submit certain requirements
- Interview
Make sure that everything you wrote in the application form is supported by the documents you submit. Also, you should be truthful and consistent in your interview. When the interviewer asks you something about a certain document, make sure that you say what’s written in that document.
In fact, someone who used to work for a Schengen embassy, Visa officers are trained to spot lies. That’s why it’s really important to be truthful. By telling the truth, you get to be consistent. The visa officer may change up a question into several versions trying to catch a lie, but if you speak the truth, you have only one answer for that one question.
For example, if in the application form you mentioned that you are only staying for 5 days, then your itinerary and flight reservations should also reflect that.
Also, you should stick with your plan. If the visa officer asks you how long you’ll be staying, don’t say to them that you might extend your stay beyond what’s indicated in your documents. This will most certainly lead to you being Denied a visa.
4. Questionable Financial Records
One of the main requirements when applying for a visa is financial records. These may include the following:
- Bank certificates
- Bank statements
- Credit card statements
- Statement of account for the past 6 month
These documents are required because you have to prove that you are capable of supporting yourself while on travel.
According to the vlogger, one of the most frequently asked questions that they receive is how much the show money needs to be. Or how much should you have in your bank account so that your visa is approved.
There is no exact answer to this because most embassies don’t explicitly say how much you need. The rule of thumb is the following: Figure out the cost of flight, cost of hotels, and allowance per day. Add all of these and that’s what your show money needs to be.
As a general rule, the vloggers mentioned that you should have 10,000 pesos per day. However, you should have more in the bank than this total, since once you come back to the Philippines, you have to convince the embassy that you can still survive.
Questionable financial records mean that your bank documents and other financial statements should be real. There are lots of people who fake their bank documents by borrowing money from their friends and asking them to deposit it in their bank account.
Most embassies, however, require you to submit your recent statements of account in the last 6 months. The visa officers will spot suspicious one-time big time deposits. They will know that this deposit was only done for visa application. Visa officers don’t want this because in a way this implies that you are trying to fool them.
Visa officers will look at your bank activities and transactions. These should be consistent with the salary you declare, for example. They will see that this amount of money will come in every month as your salary, and if they discover that there’s suddenly a huge amount deposited into your account, this will not be convincing to the embassy.
They will also see your average daily balance and account maturity. Through these details, they will find out who is just opening an account for the sake of getting a visa. Therefore, if you intend to travel abroad next year, open an account immediately.
3. Fake Documents
There are people that fake requirements, like birth certificates. This should not be done for many reasons, obviously, but one reason why this is terrible is because if you do this, you will be making it hard for others who really want to go abroad.
If a foreign embassy finds out that lots of people are faking certain documents, that embassy will not think twice about revising its rules and regulations so that they no longer accept that certain document.
This is a deal breaker. If a visa officer finds out that you submitted a fake document, they will not even bother proceeding through the other processes. They will deny your application right away, and rightfully so. If you’re willing to lie during the application process, who knows what else you’re capable of doing when you’re already abroad.
2. Weak Ties to Sponsor
Lots of applicants think that just because they know someone or are invited by someone to enter a country they are visiting, their chances of getting approved are already higher. This is false.
In reality, this is not a case. In fact, having a sponsor can work against you. There are exceptions though, such as Japan. When you have a sponsor or guarantor who lives in Japan, and you plan to go there, that’s okay with them.
In many other countries though, if you know someone abroad, the chances of getting denied are actually higher. That’s why they ask if you know someone.
Why is this the case? Well, according to the vlogger, your application process becomes more complicated if you know someone abroad.
If you know someone from the country you are visiting, this now prompts the visa officer to determine how you are related to that sponsor. The vlogger mentioned that they have friends who have visited to lots and lots of countries, but when they apply for a visa saying they want to visit a friend, they get denied.
In fact, the vlogger said that most of their friends who were denied visas had a sponsor going to that country.
If you know someone from the country you are visiting, your chances of overstaying are higher. You have more reasons to not return. As a result, there’s a higher chance of getting denied that visa.
Most embassies require proof of relationship if you are invited to go to a country by someone. If the person who invited you is a relative, it’s easier to prove this. But if the person who invited you is just a friend, it gets very complicated to prove this relationship, especially if you haven’t met this person yet.
If you put yourself in the perspective of the visa officer, then you will realize how hard it is to believe someone who claims they are related to a person they are visiting, if they haven’t met the person yet. This happens for those engaging in long distance relationships and would like to meet for the first time.
1. Insufficient Proof of Rootedness
Rootedness is how good your life is in the Philippines. In other words, if you have good rootedness, your life is stable enough in our country that you won’t ever leave it. You will never replace our country with another one.
If you have good rootedness, that means you have every reason to go back to our country. According to the vlogger, the primary purpose of visa application processes is to protect the national interests of the country. One of the main concerns is that many Filipinos are overstaying in other countries.
You should convince the embassy that you won’t overstay, and that you will return. To do this, they will ask you for several documents that prove your rootedness.
These documents, if applicable to you, include the following:
- Certificate of Employment
- Income Tax Returns
- Properties, like land titles
- OR / CR of cars
- Deed of sales of properties
- Finances like proof of investments
All these things are to prove that you will definitely want to go back to the Philippines. As a result, if you don’t have a job and you’re applying for a Visa, the chances of you getting denied are really high.
Moreover, your employer know that you have a trip, so embassies may ask for proof of your leave of absence. Based on the vlogger’s experience, when he applied for a Schengen visa, he was called by the embassy to provide additional documents to prove his rootedness to the Philippines.
There you have it. These are the 7 reasons stated by the vlogger, as to why visas can be denied. The embassy really is the final say as to whether you will be approved or not. The important thing is for you to do your part, and to hope for the best.