Most electronic visa applications ask for the same seven things, whatever the destination and whatever the portal looks like: a passport scan, a photo, your travel dates, somewhere to stay, evidence you can pay for the trip, whatever your reason for traveling adds on top, and a way to pay the fee and receive the result. Most refusals and stalled files trace back to one of those seven being stale, blurry or inconsistent with the rest of the application. The checks that catch them are mechanical, not editorial, so all of it is fixable before you submit.
1. A clean scan of your passport bio page
This is the document every other answer is checked against, so it should be the strongest file in the set. The usual floor is six months of validity beyond your intended departure date, though some destinations require only validity for the length of the stay. If your passport expires inside that window, renew it before applying: an electronic authorisation is tied to the passport number it was issued against and does not follow you into a new book. Several countries still expect two to four blank pages for entry and exit stamps, even where the visa itself is digital.
Capture the whole bio page in colour at around 300 dpi, including the two lines of the machine-readable zone along the bottom. Keep all four corners in frame, avoid flash glare across the laminate, and upload the original file instead of a screenshot of it. Screenshots lose resolution and strip the file data that automated readers rely on.
2. The photo
Photo specifications are narrower than most people expect, and software checks them before a human sees the file. The common shape is a recent square image, often 2×2 inches (51×51 mm), taken within the last six months, in JPEG or PNG, under a size cap that is frequently 1 MB. The background must be plain white or off-white with no gradient or shadow behind your head.
The face has to fill a specified proportion of the frame, be evenly lit, and be free of reflective glasses and heavy retouching. Filters, background removal tools and beauty modes on phone cameras are the most common cause of an otherwise fine picture failing. Our guide to visa photo rejections covers the twelve fixes that clear the automated checks.
3. Travel dates and an itinerary
You will be asked for your intended entry date, the length of your stay, and often your flight numbers and port of entry. Where a destination asks for a confirmed return or onward ticket, supply the booking with your name, flight numbers and dates clearly visible.
The important part is consistency. The dates in the form, on the ticket, on the accommodation booking and inside the validity window of the visa all have to describe the same trip. An entry date before the authorisation becomes valid, or a return flight after it expires, will be spotted immediately. If your plans change after approval, check whether the visa is tied to the dates you gave or to a validity period, because countries handle that very differently.
4. Proof of accommodation
A hotel reservation carrying your name, the property address, its contact details and the exact dates is the simplest version. A signed rental agreement works in most places, and staying with a host usually means an invitation letter giving their full name, address, phone number, relationship to you and confirmation that they are putting you up. Multi-city trips may need every night documented or only the first address, depending on the destination. Our guide to what counts as proof of accommodation sets out which formats survive scrutiny.
5. Proof of funds
Where funds are assessed, the standard request is three to six months of statements from a personal account in your name, issued by the bank rather than exported through an editor or captured from an app. The name on the account has to match the passport, the statement period has to be visible on every page, and the balance should hold through the period instead of appearing days before you applied.
If someone else is paying, send their statements with a signed sponsorship letter that names you, states the relationship and says what they are covering. Some destinations accept employment letters, payslips or tax records in place of statements. The formats, minimums and the mistakes that sink otherwise solid files are covered in our guide to bank statements for visa applications.
6. Extras tied to your reason for traveling
The first five items are close to universal. This one depends on what you wrote in the purpose field, and the paperwork has to match that answer.
- Business. An invitation on the host company's letterhead with the dates, the nature of the meetings, and who is covering the costs. Some portals also want your own employer's letter.
- Medical treatment. A letter from the treating hospital confirming the appointment and the expected length of treatment, usually with evidence of how it is being paid for.
- Conferences and events. The registration confirmation in your name, and the organiser's letter where the event is large enough to issue them.
- Study and research. Enrolment or acceptance documents from the institution.
- Health and insurance rules. A vaccination certificate where the destination mandates one, most commonly yellow fever, and a travel medical insurance policy showing the cover amount, validity period and territory where insurance is compulsory.
A national ID card, older passports or copies of previous visas are sometimes requested as secondary identification, so it is worth having them scanned before you start.
7. A working payment method and a stable email address
Two practical items sink more applications than any missing certificate. Government portals often accept a narrow set of cards, decline virtual and prepaid cards outright, and fail silently when a 3-D Secure prompt is dismissed or an international transaction block is left on. A failed payment usually leaves an incomplete application behind rather than a refund, and re-submitting the same card gives the same result. Our guide to e-visa payment failures covers the causes and what to do next.
The email address matters as much, because most authorisations arrive as a PDF by email and nothing else. A typo delivers your approval to someone who is not you. Corporate addresses that filter unknown senders and disposable aliases that expire both lose approvals the same way. Use a personal address you will still be reading during the trip, and check the spam folder before assuming nothing has arrived.
Before you press submit
Almost every avoidable rejection is caught by one pass over the finished form.
- Your name is spelled exactly as it appears in the machine-readable zone of the passport, including middle names and hyphens.
- The passport number, issue date and expiry date match the scan character for character.
- The date of birth is entered in the format the portal asks for, which may not be the format you are used to.
- Travel dates agree across the form, the tickets, the accommodation booking and any invitation letter.
- Every file is under the stated size limit and in an accepted format, with one document per upload slot.
- The email address is correct and the payment card is enabled for international online transactions.
Gather the seven documents before you open the form. Portals time out, and a session that expires halfway through can mean starting again with a fee already taken.