Travel On A Third World Passport: My Pakistani Passport Story

Passport privilege – how often in your life have you come across this term? If you are someone from a developed country with a stable economy or perhaps the skin color of people in your country is on the lighter tone, then my friend, I am sure this term must be very alien to you.

In case this is your first time here, allow me to introduce myself – I’m Rahma Khan, a Pakistani national who dreams to travel to every nook and corner of the world. Alas, with a green color passport, which, I guess symbolizes that I might be a terrorist. Okay, let’s not be so harsh, I could possibly be some kind of a national security threat to the country I want to visit.

Yes, this is the reality of many people like me who dreams to travel on a third world passport or sometimes also called on a ‘weak’ passport. For us, traveling is not as straightforward as it is for many of the white folks out there. We have to go through a rigorous process (read: hell), in order to obtain a visa and walk out of the airport mentally unscratched.

The entire purpose of this article is to shed some light on the brutal realities and behind the scenes of traveling on a third world passport. I also aim to help my fellow weak passport holders, on how I travel with one of the weakest worst-rated passports in the world. So, if you’re a strong passport holder, count your blessings by the end of this article, and if you’re someone like me, I hope this article will encourage and inspire you to travel on a third world passport like a pro!

What the eff is Passport Privilege?

By the book, passport privilege is basically the ease of travel one enjoys based on their country of nationality. This includes traveling to many countries visa-free or by obtaining a visa on arrival. This is determined by several factors including the political and economic situation of the home country, strong foreign policy, primarily maintaining healthy diplomatic terms with other countries. Off the book, yes, all of the above-mentioned factors are important and they matter but having a white skin tone and in some cases, being a non-Muslim also matters how much passport privilege you can enjoy.

As I’m a Pakistani, let me state a prime example of passport privilege, which makes me very sad. Many foreign white tourists who visit India or Pakistan can enter in either of the countries completely hassle-free on foot. Moreover, if they have to exit and re-enter, say Pakistan, which is an international norm after visa renewal or visa extension, they can just walk less than a mile to enter India from the Wagah border in Lahore, get their Pakistan exit stamp, enter into India and legit turnaround and walk back into Pakistan – all under five minutes! Easy Peasy! The same goes for someone looking to extend a stay in India and want to exit and re-enter the country.

For the nationals of India and Pakistan, visiting the other country, that too so easily is not even possible in their wildest dreams!

Why Is Pakistan’s Passport So weak?

All the passports in the world are ranked as per the Henley Passport Index, which gives a rank to each passport. The better the rank, the more countries can be visited visa-free on that passport and vice-versa. As per the latest statistics, the ranking issued for 2020 puts Pakistan on the bottom fourth position globally. It is only followed by Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, for being the worst passports to travel with. Even the Palestinian territory, which is a conflict-zone rank better than Pakistan – an independent democratic nation. Much wow!

The reasons why Pakistan’s passport is so weak is mainly due to the disturbing past of the country when security was a serious threat. This was the case, some nice ten years back! However, none of that exists now in the country anymore! Pakistan has been ranked as the best country to visit in 2020 by Conde Nast Travel magazine. With better law and order situations, international tourism has returned to Pakistan with a higher surge in domestic tourism. However, none of this has helped the country to improve its rankings on the Henley Passport Index for years.

Interesting Read: From Terrorism To Tourism – The Emerging Travel Destination of Swat Valley In Pakistan

Visa-Free Countries To Visit On Pakistani Passport

The amazing ranking of fourth position (from the bottom) allows only 37 countries that can be visited visa-free on a Pakistani passport. Most of the countries being small island nations, which a majority of the people don’t even know where they exist on the world map, including me! For a complete list of visa-free countries on a Pakistani passport, click here.

Visa On Arrival Countries To Visit

Some 30ish countries offer VOA for the Pakistani nationals. For a complete list of the VOA countries to visit on a Pakistani passport, click here.

E-Visa Countries To Visit

Recently, thanks to Pakistan’s foreign policy, some 10ish countries started the E-visa rule for Pakistani nationals. E-visas offer a painless process of obtaining a visa for those who travel on a third world passport. Here, is a list of countries offering e-visas to Pakistani nationals in 2020.

Restricted Countries

Yes, while traveling on a third world passport, you sometimes are blessed with such restrictions that completely prohibit you to travel to a certain country. For us Pakistanis, we cannot travel to Israel because the government doesn’t consider Israel as a country. Well, whatever!

While technically, it is permitted to travel to India on a Pakistani passport, the chances of getting a visa are second to none, all thanks to the 70+ years of some sort of political rivalry between the governments of both the countries!

Now that you’re well aware of the sorrows of traveling on a Pakistani passport, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of how to plan to travel on a third world passport.

Also Read: How Being A Third-Culture Kid Helped To Become A Better Traveler

Planning A Trip With A Third-World Passport

Trip planning can be very tricky and borderline the biggest stress of your life when traveling with a third world country passport. As we need to obtain a visa for almost the entire world minus some unknown small island nations – we are deprived of using many useful trip planning tools. The most prominent one being the ‘Everywhere’ tool on Skyscanner, which tells you the cheapest country to visit in a certain month or custom dates. We, weak passport holders, cannot make use of this tool as firstly we have to check if we are even eligible to get a visa to that country in the cheapest month.

Another trip planning tool is Faredrop, which is a very cool program that sends you updates on unbelievably low ticket prices from the country of origin you set in the program. This mostly includes error fares, which are often caused by airlines or due to some random unknown reasons. You can also get a business class return ticket in the price of an economy, yes it is that cool! To know more about it, visit the Faredrop website. We cannot use this tool too because it is impossible to apply and then eventually get the visa approved on such a short notice which comes with error fares.

So, these were the two privileges, which I don’t get to enjoy, due to their spontaneous nature of flight booking, nonetheless, I’d be very happy if someone else can get benefit from these! Now, more about trip planning…

Don’t Make Last Moment Plans

While you travel on a third world passport, I cannot stress enough on for goodness sake, do not make any last minutes travel plans! Always allow yourself enough time to prepare for the visa documentation and the actual visa processing time, which can vary from three working days to fifteen or even month(s) in some cases.

First thing first, get a full understanding of the countries that you can visit easily – visa-free, VOA, or with an e-visa. Select where to go from this list of easy to visit countries, unless you want to go this one fancy out of your league (not technically, but practically) country.

Be Wary of All The Paperwork Required

Once the country is finalized, the next step is the preparation of the documents. And let me warn you, my friend, this is by far the most stressful thing you will experience! Make sure you are equipped with the complete information of all the documents to be submitted to support your visa application. Call the embassy, visit the consulate, ask friends and family if they have been to the country you’re applying for to know each and everything that needs to be submitted with the visa application.

Sometimes, a third world passport is denied a visa due to some very absurd and illogical reasons so over-prepare and submit as many documents as possible. The whole point here is to prove to visa officer that you have no ill intentions to visit their country and you will not overstay.

Maintain A Good Bank Statement

Financial standing is the most crucial factor when it comes to applying for a visa. This shows the visa officers that you have enough funds to support your trip and you will not end up becoming ‘beg-packers’ or pickpocketers in their country. Try to maintain a good closing statement in your bank account for at least three to six months before the date you aim to apply for the visa. Most of the visa applications require a three-month bank statement.

A pro-tip here is to borrow money from family and friends and keep it in your account for a few months. Once you get your bank statement for visa submission, you can return the borrowed money. I have done this many times, it helps a lot.

Ticket Booking

You will need to provide a confirmed return ticket with your visa application for the visa officers to ensure that you will not overstay. However, I feel that it is supremely absurd to buy a ticket for several hundred dollars without any assurance that I will get the visa to fly or not. Therefore, NEVER EVER invest that much money for purchasing a ticket unless you get your visa in hand. Thanks to your passport, you cannot book a flight with self-transfer because it requires a visa to enter the country even if you just have to walk from arrivals to departure. So here you are out of choice and you have to buy an expensive ticket to avoid self-transfer during transit.

The best way to avoid purchasing a ticket is to book a ticket on hold. Many ticket booking websites and also the official airline websites have the option to book a ticket fare on-hold for a minimal price for a few days. Another option here is to look for any local travel agents who can help you in freezing a ticket fare until you get the visa. The latter is easier and cost-effective. In this way, you will get a copy of the return ticket at a very small cost without the need to buying the ticket at full price.

Accommodation Booking

Another negative of traveling on a third world passport is booking accommodation before having your visa approved just for the sake of submitting it as a supporting document with the visa application. Again, DO NOT invest your hard-earned $$ in anything unless your visa is approved. Your best bet here is to use the ‘free cancellation’ feature on booking.com.

There are plenty of accommodations on booking.com that offers the option to cancel the booking for free before a few days from the date of your visit. I have used this tool EVERY SINGLE TIME I traveled! Book a hotel with the ‘free cancellation’ feature and you will get a confirmed pdf copy of your hotel stay in your email. Submit it with the visa application and you are good to go.

If you didn’t get any response on your visa and the free cancellation window is approaching, simply cancel the booking and re-book it again.

Travel Insurance

While most of the countries ask for travel insurance for the duration of your stay while submitting a visa application, there are a few who don’t care about it. When I applied for my Malaysia e-visa, travel insurance was not mandatory. Though it is highly recommended to travel with travel insurance, if you don’t want to buy it, that’s your choice. My recommended travel insurance is Safety Wings – the best service with the cheapest coverage rates at little as $15! Check it for yourself

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Related: How I Dealt With An Eye Infection & Paranormal Experience In Georgia

Employment Certificate

The employment certificate is by far the best means to prove that you will not overstay. If you’re an employed person, you can get a simple document from your employer confirming your employment with the company. If you’re working on a contract basis, it would be good to mention your contract tenure as well. This will assure the visa officer that you have a stable paying job and enough reasons to return to your home country and not overstay. I was asked for an employment certificate while applying for my visa for Turkey.

For the unemployed or self-employed people, you can attach your property papers if you own any, if not, attach your parents/spouse property papers or money bonds. Be as convincing as possible to the visa officer.

I understand travel on a third-world passport is very painful at times, but submit as many documents as possible. It is for your own good!

Tips For Applying For The Visa

• Check a million times that you’re submitting all the mandatory documents, along with supporting documents that can help your case.
• If the visa application has to be submitted in person, make an appointment beforehand. It is recommended to book an appointment at least two weeks in advance as they normally get booked very soon.
• Comply with the photo requirements! Yes, it is very important. Almost all the official websites for visas have photo requirements mentioned, which include the photo background color, dimensions, how much your chin should be up or forehead should be down in the photo, etc.
• If you’re submitting the visa application by hand, ask the officer receiving your documents if everything is complete or any document is missing. They normally check all documents right in front of you and inform there and then if anything is missing.

Visa Interview Tips

Only for a few countries, you might be asked to give a visa interview like the US, UK, or Schengen.

• The number one rule of attending any interview is to dress up neatly and look presentable, the same goes for visa interviews too. A pro-tip is to wear a light color or a white t-shirt as it creates a pleasant impact on the interviewer.
• Be as honest as possible during the interview. If you’re applying for visiting Germany to see the castles, make sure you have sufficient knowledge about the castles in Germany as the interviewer might ask you about it to assure that you’re interested in visiting castles.
• Whenever given the chance during your conversation with the interviewer, talk about your travel history – but very naturally. Having a strong travel history affirms the fact that you are an avid traveler, so it increases your chances of getting the visa.

Dealing With Visa Rejection

Travel on a third world passport makes you prone to visa rejections, so first thing first, do not take it to your heart. The visa rejection reason is always clearly mentioned, however, I recently got my Canadian visa rejected with a reason so absurd that I’m still short of words to write it here because I clearly didn’t understand the reason. Nonetheless, here are two things which might help you:

• If the rejection reason is something that can be amended, such as, any important document missing, errors in filing the application form, etc., then fix these errors and re-submit your visa application right away.
• If the rejection reason is a lack of funds or travel reasons not convincing enough, in that case, you cannot do anything immediately that might help you with your visa application. In this case, take some time to improve your travel history and bank statement before reapplying.

Things To Do Upon Landing In immigration

Yes, my third world passport holders, even if you get the visa and you have already landed in a new country, your nightmare has not ended yet. Immigration is by far my biggest fear! I have a low-key immigration phobia, thanks to the horrific immigration experience I had in Georgia (keep reading for the full incident). As you are a weak passport holder, there is a good chance of getting deported if the immigration officers are not convinced with you. Here are a few things to pass through the immigration unscratched:

• Bring copies of every single document that you submitted with your visa application, including important documents such as return ticket copies, hotel bookings, travel insurance, and bank statement.
• Make sure you have done a vaccination if you’re coming from a country of any disease outburst. Do carry a vaccination receipt
• Some of the common questions you might get asked at the immigration are what is the purpose of your stay, how long you will be staying, and how much cash you are having. Mentally be prepared to answer these. I have been asked some super absurd things at the immigration (keep reading to know it).
• Deal with the immigration officers very calmly and naturally. Do not smile a lot in hopes of looking harmless and also don’t keep a straight face that they might find disturbing. JUST.BE.NATURAL.
• Be prepared for the worst! Yes, you are a third world passport holder, anything absurd can happen with you at the immigration! I know many Pakistanis who were detained at US immigration. The reason being – they were Pakistanis.
• Once you have passed through the immigration and finally stepped out of the airport – congratulations, you have successfully and officially been through hell! Now you can finally enjoy your much-deserved vacation!

Multi-Country Trip Planning Woes

Another gift that being a third world passport holder you get is the real struggle of planning a multi-country trip. For starters, even if we are lucky, we normally get a very short duration single entry visa, which is usually the length of our specified number of days or nothing more from fifteen days to a month. Therefore, this leaves you with practically no chance of planning a multi-country trip or to stay a few more days if you want to. Here are a few tips, which might help you to put your head around planning a multi-country trip.

• Plan a trip to countries with easy or no visa regulations like EU (if you have a Schengen visa) where you have the freedom of movement without the need of a visa or say, Central Asia and South East Asia, where the visa rules are relatively relaxed in all the countries.
• Plan a route in which you do not have to re-enter a country again as you will only get a single entry visa, in most cases.
• If you plan to enter any of the countries by land, check beforehand if your visa permits that as some countries only allow tourists to enter by air.

Interesting Read: Racial Discrimination In Travel – How It Is Like To Travel As a Woman of Color

Long-term Travel On A Weak Passport

Long-term travel can be a real pain on a third world passport. For starters, again, choose countries with relaxed visa extension rules for your passport. If you have a resident permit for any other country, it might give you some benefit. In my case, I have a resident permit of Oman, so it helps me in easily traveling to all the Gulf countries, plus, it also allows me to extend my stay in any of the Gulf countries without much hassle.

Here are some tips on long-term travel with a third world passport which might help you.

• If you’re planning a long holiday in Europe or the Americas, it would be greatly helpful if you have any friends or acquaintances in the country of your travel. Local support can do wonders! Your local friend can attach their reference with your visa extension application mentioning you’re their guest and staying with them so your living expense is also covered by them.
• You can apply for a working holiday visa if you are aged between 18-35 years. This visa helps you stay in a country for a few months to a year or even more. It gives you a temporary short term resident permit in which you can either study or work. However, it depends on your nationality in which countries you are eligible for e working holiday visa. You can check your eligibility here.

Note: My Pakistani folks, we are deprived of this privilege too! (Now you can high five your face)

How To Make Your Third-World Passport Strong

Having born with a weak passport doesn’t mean that you cannot change your fate with it at any time in your life. There are several ways to increase the worth of your weak passport to enhance your chances of obtaining a visa or in some cases eliminating to apply for a visa for some countries. Here is how you do it:

• Improve your travel history – I have said this time and again, having a solid travel history can be a real game-changer for getting a visa. While a journey on a third world passport is not easy, you can always increase your travel history by visiting countries that are easier to get a visa, before applying for that mighty Schengen or US visa. In this case, the South East Asian countries are your best bet – easy to get their visa and cheap to travel to.
• If you’re a resident holder of a country other than your home country, visit places that are easier to get a visa to on the base of your resident permit. In my case, my Oman resident permit allows me to easily obtain a visa for all the Gulf countries. Moreover, I am eligible for a visa on arrival for Georgia and Azerbaijan, all thanks to my Oman resident permit.
• If you have enough funds and reasons to apply for a mighty visa like Schengen, UK, or the US then try your luck there. If you are lucky enough to get a big visa stamped on your passport, it will do wonders for you! For example, you can visit Turkey without a visa if you have a valid Schengen visa. Similarly, with a valid US visa, you can visit many countries in the Middle East visa-free. Just do your research well.

My Experience Of Traveling To 11 Countries With A Third-World Passport

In my very short tenure of traveling, my third world passport has so far enabled me to see eleven countries. Following is a summary of the entire visa/immigration processes I went through for each country.

• Pakistan – citizen status
• Oman – resident status
• UAE – 30 days e-visa with the option to extend it to 90 days (due to being an Omani resident)
• India – miraculously got the visa through manually applying for it in the early 2000s (had supporting docs from Indian relatives whose wedding I was going to attend). Immigration was quite painful. They did an extensive background check and cleared us after some 3 or 4 hours at the Mumbai airport. I don’t think nowadays Pakistanis will get an Indian visa under any circumstances as the diplomatic terms between both countries have hit rock bottom.
• Sri Lanka – ETA online visa (very simple and straightforward)
• Saudi Arabia – pilgrimage visa (every Muslim gets it any way irrespective of their nationality)
• Malaysia – E-visa (got it under less than 24hrs). I was asked some absurd questions at immigration like where is my husband?! I mean, hello, excuse me, do I need a husband to travel to Malaysia? Oh, I think yes, because a brown and Muslim woman cannot be enough physically and financially independent to travel the world alone! She needs a man to support her. *major facepalm moment*
• Georgia – VOA on Omani resident permit. The immigration experience in Georgia was the scariest experience of my life where I was almost detained for some good 20 minutes. I was asked to stand outside of the line to be thoroughly checked before my passport was approved to be stamped. Two tall and grumpy immigration officers, double than me in size checked all my documents (return ticket, hotel stay, travel insurance, etc.) before allowing me to get my passport stamped. I should also mention that along with me, only an Egyptian family with two little harmless kids was asked for this random checking. Why do I smell racial discrimination here?
• Maldives – VOA for all nationalities. I was asked why I am traveling alone, I wonder if all the solo male travelers are being asked the same question.
• Turkey – applied manually to the Turkish embassy in Oman. Got the visa under 5 working days. Immigration was pretty straightforward (thankfully)

Also Read: My Experience of Traveling As A Solo Brown Woman In Istanbul, Turkey

In conclusion…

You will always be in a love-hate relationship with your third-world passport. There will be days when the hate would overpower the love, but believe me, in the end, all the hassle and stress of getting a visa will look worthwhile. Many weak passport holders are traveling across all the continents like a pro despite the never-ending visa hurdles. Do not let these problems to come in the way of your dreams to see this beautiful world.

Never.Stop.Traveling!

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