Visas: How They Work—An India–Bangladesh Case Study

A visa is issued to facilitate an individual’s travel to another country in a regulated way. There are agreements between some countries on a no-visa regime; however, most countries do follow some sort of visa system. Typically, a visa allows a person to travel to the destination country as far as the port of entry (airport, seaport or land border crossing) and advises the immigration officer to allow the visitor to enter the country. It also stipulates the purpose of the visit, maximum duration of stay on each visit and number of entries allowed to the traveller within the validity period of the visa. Although most countries use printed visa stickers, e-visas have recently also come into vogue.