Passports, visas and documentation
Passports
Importantly, it’s your responsibility to check you have a valid passport as well as the correct documentation and visa stamp(s) for your journey. You should check that you have the right visas for countries you’re transiting through, as well as any countries you intend to visit which aren't listed on your Travel Nation itinerary.
Most destinations require your passport must be valid for at least six months following the return date of your trip, and if you also need enough blank pages for each country to stamp your entry and exist, so check you have these too. You can renew or replace your passport here.
Entry requirements for each country
It's essential to check the FCO travel advice for any specific entry requirements for countries you're transiting through or visiting. Some destinations may require evidence of your vaccinations (for example a Yellow Fever certificate), and other countries may require you to buy a visa that's only available on arrival, paid in cash, and require a passport photo. We ask you to check before you travel as requirements change from time to time and its best to get the most up-to-date advice for yourself.
Travel insurance
We strongly advise you to take out adequate, worldwide travel insurance at the same time as booking your trip, to ensure you protect the cost of your trip in case you need to cancel for a reason that’s covered by your policy. A high proportion of travel insurance claims are for cancellation expenses.
Your insurance should include cover you for medical expenses, as well as repatriation and curtailment, in case you or anyone insured by the policy has an accident or serious illness. Besides the medical cover, you should include protection for personal belongings, travel delay and personal liability. You can read more advice on choosing the right travel insurance here.
Travel Nation has designed a travel insurance policy to suit the kind of trips we sell - get a quote online here.
Visas
You can find the entry requirements for each country on the FCO website UK Foreign Office website, so please check the requirements for each destination you’re visiting.
Visa advice for non-British citizens
If you’re not travelling on a British passport, please check the relevant requirements for your nationality. You can find these via your local equivalent of the UK Foreign Office Travel Advice. If you’d prefer to use a visa service, you can do so here in English, French or German.
Using a visa service to arrange all your visas
If you need to apply for visas for several different countries, you might find it convenient to use a visa service such as CIBT. Our partner, CIBT and it's subsidiary Visa Central are the largest and most established travel visa and passport company in the world and offer an unmatched speed of service
Rather than visit every embassy individually, you can post your passport to CIBT who will arrange each visa for you, including visiting embassies on your behalf and return your passport to you with all the visas ready to go. There are many benefits:
- Simplicity – apply for multiple visas at once
- Accuracy - get visa application assistance - they verify your application before sending
- Time-saving - many embassies don't accept postal applications and require two visits in person
- Save on train fares – your passport is couriered to the embassies, saving you the ride
- Letters of invitation arranged – where these are required for some countries (e.g. Russia)
Why choose CIBT?
Using Travel Nation’s CIBT visa portal ensures you get a discount on CIBT processing fees. While the actual consular fees for issuing a visa tend to be fixed, via our CIBT portal, you can say up to 50% on processing fees.
Their admin fee is for processing everything on your behalf and making each step as simple as possible within a complex system. You’ll benefit from:
- Live tracking
- Expert checking and correction service
- Your passport will be couriered to the consulate and back to you
