Quicker and easier? The problems Australians face with e-visas overseas

E-visas are meant to make cross-border travel easier. Offering speed, convenience, enhanced security and cost efficiency, they have largely taken the place of traditional visa applications.

Not so long ago, applying for a visa required filling in a paper form and sending it off to a consulate or even to a foreign country along with your passport. By comparison, completing an e-visa application happens online, whenever and wherever you choose, with an attached scan of your passport.

E-visa applications for India require a huge amount of personal information.Credit: iStock

Sounds easy, yet some travellers are tearing their hair out in frustration at the e-visa process. The Indian e-visa, for example, asks for your religion, educational qualifications, father’s and mother’s place of birth, marital status, every country you have visited in the past 10 years, the name of your reference in India and whether you have been involved in drug or human trafficking. Most travellers will take at least an hour to complete their Indian e-visa application, mid-session hang-ups are not uncommon and if the application hasn’t been saved, return to “start”.

Where the problem begins

The problems begin as soon as you start searching for the official government e-visa website for your intended destination. The e-visa application process has created a business opportunity for agencies that offer to “process” your visa application. In effect, they do nothing except to impose a fee for sending your application to the immigration authorities, which you can do yourself using the official website.

However, as commercial websites they pay for higher visibility on a Google search page, putting them ahead of the official e-visa website. When I Google “e-visa for Egypt”, the first three links are to commercial websites before the fourth link finally delivers me to the official Egyptian e-visa website. The trick is to look for a link with “.gov” in the URL. It’s not foolproof, but a commercial website can’t use that in its URL.

The most common reasons e-visa applications get rejected

The image. A blurry, low-res image; the wrong size; smiling or wearing glasses, the wrong background are all reasons that an image might not pass muster. An image from a smartphone will usually suffice but make sure the subject is well lit, against a plain background and pay attention to the size requirements. The image format must comply with specifications, generally jpg or png. Basic editing tools on a smartphone will normally do the job.

Date mismatch. It’s easy to make a small mistake when filling out your passport details, but it’s also easy to spot, and that’s grounds for an automatic refusal. Your name must match exactly with the name in your passport. Dates are sometimes required in the US-style month/day/year format instead of our common day/month/year.

Documentation missing or inaccurate. Some countries require supporting documents from a travel agent or tour operator. You might be asked to supply proof of inbound and outbound flights. There is no such thing as too much detail in this documentation, any gaps can derail an application. Likewise, you might need to prove you have sufficient funds for your visit, or proof of a travel insurance policy with health cover.

Fuzzy passport scan. Just about any e-visa application requires a passport scan. Once again a smartphone image will do but everything on the data page needs to be clearly visible with no glare or highlights that bleach out important details.

If anything goes wrong with your application, you might not be told the reason, and it’s almost impossible to find an immigration agent to talk to. This is one instance where you might be better off sending your application via an online agency. Despite the surcharge, these agencies usually have an email address or phone number where you can discuss your difficulty before re-submitting your application through their agency.

Don’t forget to print your e-visa. You’ll probably need to show it when you check in for your flight, and again at your destination.

Countries also have problems with e-visas

In August 2024, Sri Lanka temporary suspended its e-visa program, citing allegations of procedural violations, corruption, and breaches of public trust during the contracting process. The problem stemmed from a controversial contract between the previous Sri Lankan government and a private consortium charged with implementing the country’s e-visa system. The private operator was awarded the contract without a public tender, raising transparency concerns. The electronic visa portal was reactivated at the end of September after the government promised an immediate audit “to investigate the irregularities associated with the VFS Global”.

Vietnam’s e-visa snafu

It’s not always the fault of travellers when the e-visa process fails. In 2023 reports began to emerge of problems with Vietnam’s e-visa processing. The common thread in these reports insisted that the fault lay not with travellers themselves but with mistakes being made when the applications were processed at Vietnam’s immigration portal. Their e-visas were being approved, but with wrong names, birth dates or passport numbers inserted. If the traveller didn’t notice and correct the error before appearing at the check-in desk, the mistake would be queried and the traveller denied boarding.

Traveller reader Chris Taylor was about to depart Sydney with his wife for a visit to Vietnam when staff at the check-in desk noted an incorrect date on his wife’s visa. This required a visit to the Flight Centre office in the international departure terminal and an emergency visa, at a cost of $595. More alarming still, there were several other travellers at Flight Centre booked to travel to Vietnam with the same problem.

A document published on the website of the Vietnam embassy in Norway titled “7 Common mistakes in Vietnam e-visa application process” concludes with the statement: “It is not frequent but the errors in e-visa could be made by the Vietnam Immigration Department.” The problem peaked earlier in 2024 but since mid-year reports have tapered off.