The Best Sovereign States With Tourist And Short Stay Visas In 2021

A visa is a document that is granted to a foreign individual or traveler to enable him/her to enter into or visit a specific sovereign state. A visa also indicates the purpose of entrance and stay in the sovereign state and the specific spell of stay within the sovereign state. There are many visas available in sovereign states, but we will be discussing the tourist and short-stay visas.

What is a Tourist and short stay Visa?

A Short stay visa is a visa that is usually issued for a short period, meaning the bearer or holder of the visa is only permitted to be within the sovereign state for a short specified spell of time, usually not more than 90 days (three months). The short-stay visa can also be called a Schengen visa, which permits the Individual to stay in a Schengen area for a spell, not more than 90 days (three months)

If the individual wishes to stay in the sovereign state beyond this specified spell, the Individual would have to apply to be issued another visa. There are several visas that fall under this category, and the Tourist visa is one of them.

A tourist visa is a type of visa which is usually granted to individuals for the sole purpose of leisure travel/tourism. This visa does not include conducting business or commercial activities within the sovereign state throughout the individual stay.

Sovereign states with Short Stay Visas

The Short-stay Visa is also referred to as a Schengen Visa, and this a list of Sovereign states within the specified Schengen Area which issue a Short stay (Schengen) Visa.

• Austria
• Belgium
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovakia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland

To be granted a short stay (Schengen) visa, the Individual would first have to apply to the sovereign state the Individual intends to travel to. The waiting spell for the issuing of a Schengen visa is within 15 working days. The Individual should also apply for this visa within a spell of three months to the planned trip. These sovereign states have some requirements that have to be met to be successfully granted a short-stay visa. These requirements are:

• A fully and correctly signed visa application document
• Color Passport photographs, which must have been taken recently
• A valid and legal international passport for the application of the visa.
• A travel insurance policy that will cover the individual health care should be within the sovereign state the Individual has a health issue or emergency.
• An itinerary that outlines the various individual activities (leisure and tourism) within the sovereign state for the duration of the individual stay.
• Proof of funds or assets. This will enable them to determine if the Individual can take care and fend for the individual self throughout the individual stay within one of the sovereign states. They would consider a bank statement to show that the Individual has the required money to take care of the trip. If not, the Individual can also present a sponsorship from the individual sponsor in the sovereign state of the particular destination, which will indicate that the person is sponsoring the individual trip and welfare within the sovereign state.
• Proof of payment of the visa fee.

In the case of minors (less than 18 years) making a trip, some additional documents would be:

• The birth certificate belonging to the Individual
• Copies of the Individual’s Identification Card
• An application document has to have been signed by the parents/guardians

Easiest sovereign states to apply for a short-stay visa

Among these sovereign states, some sovereign states issue short stay/tourism visas far easily and have a higher issuance rate than other sovereign states. The sovereign states which are easiest to apply for a short stay visa are:

• Lithuania:

This is the easiest sovereign state to get a short stay (Schengen) visa because they are not as popular a tourist destination as other sovereign states on the list. They also have the shortest waiting spell to make appointments for a visa. Their application success rate is 98.7 %, which means that only 1.3% of applications are rejected.

• Estonia:

This sovereign state is the second easiest sovereign state to apply for a short stay/tourism visa. Their application success rate is also very high, also because it is a less fancied tourist attraction for travelers. Their rate of visa application success is 98.4%.

• Finland:

The visa application success rate of this sovereign state stands at 98.3%.

• Iceland:

This sovereign state received the least amount of short stay (Schengen) visa applications last year, but it also has a very high success rate of 98.3%.

• Latvia:

They have a visa application success rate of 97.9%, which is extremely high.

• Poland:

Chances are if the Individual applies for a short stay (Schengen) /tourism visa from Poland, provided the Individual meets their requirements, the Individual will almost most definitely be granted a visa as their rate also stands at 97%.

• Slovakia:

The sovereign state of Slovakia only rejects about 4.2% of their visa applications, meaning a whopping 95.8% chance of being issued a visa.

• Czech Republic:

Czech Republic has a 95.3 % success rate for short stay visa applications.

• Greece:

This sovereign state is an attractive tourist destination, albeit not as attractive as the most well known sovereign states, but still it accepts about 95.1% of its applications, which makes it an attractive prospect for tourist/travelers.

Visa Fees

In order to apply for a visa to any of these sovereign states, the Individual would have to pay a visa application fee. The visa application fee is non-refundable and is paid every time the individual wishes to apply for a short stay (Schengen) visa to any of these sovereign states. The visa fee could be paid in cash to the embassy or through a credit or debit card, although some embassies might not accept payment by credit or debit cards (They accept only cash). As of last year (2020), the fees are as follows:

Category	Fee (Euros)	Fee (US Dollars)
Children ( younger than 6 years)	free	free
Children (6 years and above)	40	45
Adult	80	90
Holders of diplomatic passports visiting for official reasons	free	free
Researchers traveling for scientific research	free	free

In addition to this, individuals below 25 years who participate in events, seminars, or conferences organized by a non-profit organization within the sovereign state might not have to pay a visa application fee.

Visa applications for short term (Schengen)/ Tourism visa

As of 2019, there has been a real short term (Schengen)/tourism visa application of about 17 million, and the application can be broken down as follows:

Sovereign state	Visas applied for	Visas issued
France	3,980,989	3,291,128
Germany	2,171,309	1,916,408
Italy	2,053,521	1,892,648
Spain	1,912,500	1,668,171
Finland	895,775	875,356
Greece	880,892	827,291
Czech Republic	739,818	699,088
Netherlands	739,248	630,181
Switzerland	611,598	529,906
Poland	454,026	437,420
Lithuania	359,484	354,166
Austria	323,262	306,458
Portugal	297,236	235,897
Sweden	275,239	227,717
Hungary	237,851	217,108
Belgium	248,021	190,222
Norway	178,532	165,973
Latvia	167,743	163,229
Denmark	165,191	148,145
Estonia	145,711	143,582
Malta	34,765	27,701
Slovakia	25,202	23,504
Slovenia	27,722	21,685
Iceland	18,183	18,020
Luxembourg	11,723	11,251
Total	16,955,541	15,022,255

Reasons for short stay visa application rejection

Although the rate of visa approvals in these sovereign states is relatively high, the Individual would still have to follow all the laid down rules, regulations, and procedures to experience a stress-free visa approval. One or more of these reasons could cause most of these sovereign states to reject or withdraw the individual visa application or the individual visa altogether;

• If they find out that the applying Individual has knowingly committed any form of fraud or deception on the application, whether past or present.
• If it is found out that the applying Individual has a felony record or if he has outstanding warrants or awaiting felony charges.
• If it is established that the applying Individual is in one form or the other, a threat to the security of the nation (national security threat).
• If the interviewers adjudge it that the Individual does not have a good moral character or a set definition of right and wrong.
• If the applying Individual is found out to not have any plans of coming or returning to his/her sovereign state after the duration of the visa.
• If the applying Individual does not prove adequate means of survival or financial support while in the sovereign state.
• If the Individual does not possess standard medical insurance.
• If the applying Individual does not show proof of having adequate accommodation travel and living arrangements in the destination sovereign state.
• If the applying Individual is a national of another sovereign state, feuding or enmity exists between the destination sovereign state and the individual’s nation.
• If the applying Individual has an easily communicable and transferable disease (STD’s are included)
• If the Individual’s passport expires in less than three months after the issuance of the visa.

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