How to Use IATA Travel Centre to Check Visa Requirements

When planning an international trip, the first thing you would need to know is the visa requirements. If you need a visa, you must start planning from there. 

These days the internet is littered with so many unofficial websites posing as authentic sources of visa information. Especially with the rise of AI, unofficial websites are popping up more rapidly than ever. 

Through this website, we provide as accurate information as possible. But I and my team haven’t been to every country in the world. So we can’t offer visa requirements and application guidelines for every country. I’m sure we will get there soon, but until then you can rely on some trustworthy sources.

IATA Travel Centre is one of those trustworthy sources. You can use this website to check visa requirements for any country. 

In this article, I will walk you through how to check visa requirements using the IATA Travel Centre. 

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What is IATA Travel Centre?

IATA Travel Centre is a trusted source for the latest passport, visa and vaccination requirements of all countries. IATA Travel Centre is powered by TIMATIC, a database used by airlines to check visa requirements for its passengers during the check-in process. 

IATA (International Air Transport Association) is a global airline association. It has over 330 airlines as members which accounts for about 83% of total air traffic. 

IATA maintains relations with governments and sources the latest visa information from foreign ministries, consular offices, immigration departments, border control offices and health ministries. 

IATA Travel Centre is free to use and the visa requirements are mostly accurate. 

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Should you trust IATA Travel Centre?

Yes. You can trust IATA Travel Centre. It’s powered by TIMATIC, a real-time database of visa requirements used by all major airlines. 

Even though it is powered by TIMATIC, I don’t think IATA Travel Centre data is real-time. I have run into situations where the information was outdated. But in most cases, the visa requirements were accurate and up to date. 

Even though the visa requirements are accurate, I still recommend cross-checking with official government sources to confirm. 

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How to check visa requirements of a country

To check the visa requirements for a specific country, follow the below steps. 

• Go to the IATA Travel Centre homepage
• Under “Passport, Visa & Health regulations”, select the country whose visa requirements you would like to check
• Click on the “CHECK” button

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01. Travel Information

Enter the following in the “Travel Information” tab. 

• Destination [Instruction: This is auto-populated with the country that  you have selected in the previous screen]
• Departure country/territory [Instruction: Select the country where you will start your trip from]
• Arrival date [Instruction: Select the date on which you will arrive at the destination country]
• Depart date [Instruction: Select the date on which you will depart from the destination country]
• Carrier code [Instruction: No need to select anything, just leave it as “Other”]
• Countries/territories visited in last 6 days [Instruction: No need to select this too, leave it as whatever it auto-populates]
• Duration of stay [Instruction: Enter the number of days you will stay in the destination country (technically it should populate based on the arrival and departure dates, but it doesn’t)]
• Purpose of stay [Instruction: Leave as “Tourism/Vacation”]
• Transit – Country/Territory [Instruction: If you will be transiting through a third country, select it here to check the transit requirements of this third country. If it would be a direct flight, leave it as default “None”]
• Do you hold a Return/Onward ticket? [Instruction: Leave it as default “Yes”]

Check the box for “I agree to the IATA…” and click on the “NEXT PAGE” button.

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02. Personal Information

Enter the following in the “Personal Information” tab. 

• Nationality [Instruction: Select your country of passport]
• Document held [Instruction: Leave it as default “Passport: Normal”]
• Issue country/territory [Instruction: This will auto-populate from what you have selected for Nationality above]
• Expiry date [Instruction: Select the expiry date of your passport]
• Residence country/territory [Instruction: This will also auto-populate from Nationality, but you can change it if you reside somewhere else]
• Date of Birth [Instruction: Select your date of birth]
• Document Feature [Instruction: Leave it as default “Biometric”. But if you do NOT hold a biometric passport, select “Machine-readable document” from the list]
• Type Code in [Instruction: Type in the captcha]

Click on the “NEXT PAGE” button.

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03. Results

On the “Results” tab, you will see the passport, visa and health requirements for the destination country.

Pay close attention to the “Visa” section.

If there is a RED CROSS, it means a visa is REQUIRED. If there are any exceptions, they will be listed below. 

If there is a GREEN CHECK, it means a visa is NOT required. You are VISA-FREE or Visa Exempted.

In the above screenshot, the destination is Japan and the passport is India. There is a RED CROSS for the visa and it says “Visa required”. This means, “Indian passport holders REQUIRE a visa to travel to Japan”. 

You can click on the “Print” link to print the visa requirements page for your records. You may need to show the visa requirements to the check-in staff to convince them of a certain visa requirement or exception. A print of visa requirements from the IATA Travel Centre will help in such cases.

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How to check transit visa requirements

If you have a stopover or transit in a country, you can use the IATA Travel Centre to check transit visa requirements as well. 

You will enter all information as you would to check visa requirements for a destination country. In the “Travel Information” tab, for “Transit – Country/Territory”, you will enter the following information. 

• Transit – Country/Territory [Instruction: Select your transit country]
  • Transit – Arrival time & date [Instruction: Enter your arrival date and time in the transit country]
  • Transit – Departure time & date  [Instruction: Enter your departure date and time from the transit country]
  • Transit – Onward Ticket [instruction: Leave as default “Yes”]

In the “Results” tab, along with visa requirements for your destination country, you will also see the visa requirements for your transit country.

Example

You hold an Indian passport, traveling to Japan with a 4-hour transit in Singapore. You want to know whether you would need a visa to transit in Singapore. 

Select Singapore as your transit and enter the date and time of your transit as shown in the above screenshot. Continue with the rest of the steps.

In the results tab, along with visa requirements for Japan, you will also see the transit visa requirement for Singapore as shown in the below screenshot. 

In the above screenshot, notice the GREEN CHECK. It also says that Indians do not need a transit visa for Singapore if they remain in the international transit area. And this does not apply to budget airlines such as AirAsia. In that case, you would need a transit visa. 

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How to check visa requirements for special cases and exceptions

Not all visa requirements are straightforward. There are some special cases and exceptions. To check such special cases and/or exceptions, you must query IATA Travel Centre slightly differently. I have provided a few examples below.  

Mexico: 180-day VISA-FREE entry for certain visa holders

This one is straightforward. You will simply query IATA Travel Centre with Mexico as your destination. 

If you require a visa for Mexico, the result will say so. But below that you will see an exception that you are visa-exempt with if you hold a substitute visa such as the US, UK, Canada, Schengen and Japan. 

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South Korea: 30-day VISA-FREE entry for transit passengers holding certain visas

This one is a bit tricky. Even though this is a transit visa requirement, you will query IATA Travel Centre with South Korea as your destination country.

If you require a visa for South Korea, the result will say so but will also show the special case where you can get a visa exemption with a substitute visa. 

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Singapore VFTF: 96-hour VISA-FREE entry for transit passengers of certain countries holding certain visas

Singapore VFTF is a transit visa requirement using which you can leave the airport for up to 96 hours while transiting through Singapore. 

To check whether you are eligible for VFTF, you must query IATA Travel Centre with Singapore as your transit country. The transit time must be at least 48 hours. Otherwise, the system will assume you will remain airside and not leave the airport. 

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UK TWOV: 24-hour VISA-FREE entry for transit passengers holding certain visas

Passengers transiting through the UK holding a visa from the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand can leave the airport for up to 24 hours. 

To check whether you are eligible for 24-hour entry, you must query IATA Travel Centre with the UK as your transit country.  

If eligible, the result will say that you can make a “landside” transit (meaning, you can leave the airport) provided you have a connecting flight before 11.59 pm the next day.