Easy Tourism Countries for Green Card Holders who Need Visas?

[The White Fiance 22]

My wife is Zambian, so nearly all countries work hard to keep her from visiting. She now has her green card.

 

We are interested in traveling abroad next month for tourism purposes. We are not willing to visit the countries she can go to without a visa. We have been to the best ones already.

 

Has anyone here had experience applying for tourist visas to the Schengen area or the Far East with a green card? I would like to know if any countries are easier than others.

 

It would be very nice to be able to avoid traveling to a consulate or embassy, since it would involve two days on the road plus a hotel for us.

[Verrou 1,906]

some schengen countries are more easier to apply than the others. 

the netherlands is the one that is "easier" in my opinion. i applied once through the netherlands. i heard germany is "harder" so i dont really want to try. also the scandinavian countries famously "harder". i think you should look on travel forum as well, many of them knows in ins and out. 

 

and most embassy/consulat didnt even process directly for visa application. i know for example the netherlands its through VFS. 

one thing for sure, no matter what she need to get her biometric taken in person

 

visa application is usually time consuming and very expensive even when you have a GC. unless u wanna go to canada/mexico. you dont need to apply visa for that countries because you have GC.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Verrou

[The White Fiance 22]

Thanks for your help.

[The White Fiance 22]

Italy says we would have to drive to Miami, so forget Italy. It looks like Taiwan is more reasonable.

[The White Fiance 22]

France has a service that allows people with previous Schengen applications to apply from home, but they want $1000, so that will never happen.

[SalishSea 16,993]

Not sure how a visa application could be done remotely.   Don’t they all require biometrics?

[The White Fiance 22]

Turkey and Egypt let us fill out forms online.

[powerpuff 6,087]

28 minutes ago, The White Fiance said:

Turkey and Egypt let us fill out forms online.

Schengen countries won’t. They will require biometrics. 

 

I successfully received a Schengen visitor visa to the Netherlands during the summer. Took about 2.5 weeks and I applied at the VFS center in NYC. 

[top_secret 2,146]

In our experience, traveling with my wife on her "challenged"  Philippine passport before we were married and before she had a green card, Japan is hands down the easiest first world G7 "visa country" by a long shot.  There are no biometrics and in the US I believe it could all be done pretty easily by mail.  For Schengen she was denied a visa by France, so we went embassy shopping based on statistics that the Netherlands was the most generous towards Philippine passports and she was approved by the Netherlands.  (and then we went to France)  For the OP though be aware that the Netherlands is definitely friendly towards Filipino passports but that does not translate into most friendly towards all nationalities passports.  I seem to recall them having high reject rates towards Muslim and African county's passports.  Chile was a kind of easy visa for a Philippine passport and I was really impressed by that country.  Korea allows US Permanent Residents who are in transit between the US and a third country to enter Korea visa free for up to 30 days.  IE if you took Korean Air from the US to Singapore via Incheon you could stopover up to 30 days visa free in Korea and no visa required for Singapore either.  Korean visas are pretty easy too if you just wanted to go straight there.

[The White Fiance 22]

Thanks for all that help. It's a little hard to tell which of your experiences were pre-green-cart and which came later.

 

Sadly, some of the most attractive countries would require us to drive to Miami. I used to live there, and there is no way I will go back even briefly unless the other option is death. Some countries will let us apply in Atlanta. A monstrous inconvenience, but anything is better than a trip to Miami. I would rather never see Europe again than return.

 

Japan sounds promising. I have been checking out Taiwan, and so far, it looks like she can get in.

 

When she lived in Zambia, she had several Schengen applications rejected because the Europeans do everything they can to keep Africans out. I'm trying to find out if they still have her biometrics. They probably threw them out or deleted them immediately.

[top_secret 2,146]

12 minutes ago, The White Fiance said:

Japan sounds promising. I have been checking out Taiwan, and so far, it looks like she can get in.

 

 

I would recommend Japan as both an easy visa and a fantastic tourist destination.  Also note that generally Taiwan will admit anyone with a used Japanese visa into Taiwan visa free regardless of their ordinary visa requirements. 

 

https://www.atlanta.us.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/visitingjapan.html and search "Applying by Mail"  (but make sure you choose the correct Japanese consulate for your state.)

Edited December 29, 2023 by top_secret

[The White Fiance 22]

I just found out Greece issues visas in Tampa, Florida. Not that far from us.

[The White Fiance 22]

The web claims Schengen countries keep biometrics from rejected applicants for 5 years, but they treated us so badly, I would be surprised if they even entered the information in their system. She applied 5 times, and they took biometrics every single time.

Edited December 29, 2023 by The White Fiance

[top_secret 2,146]

47 minutes ago, The White Fiance said:

I just found out Greece issues visas in Tampa, Florida. Not that far from us.

We recently looked at Greece.  They seem to often be considered fairly easy to approve a visa but frequently give single entry and EXACTLY the time you say with little or no leeway on dates.

 

We fired off an online UK tourist visa application just this week for my wife and stepdaughter as Green Card holders.  Biometrics is at the local USCIS Application Support Center which I assume means the UK Home Office and USCIS are on really friendly terms.  After biometrics with USCIS the rest is online and mail their passports off to New York, hopefully to come back with visas.   I cannot comment on how successful that endeavor will be so far, but I can update whenever we get a decision from UK.  Their biometrics are this coming Tuesday and we will mail off the passports immediately after the appointment.

 

If in Florida the Japan Consulate is Miami but they still take applications by mail https://www.miami.us.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/visa_temporary_visitor.html

Edited December 29, 2023 by top_secret

[Boiler 43,885]

Mexico and Canada.

 

I seem to remember the Swiss were easy with LPRs