How do countries work out visa-free and visa-on-arrival arrangements?

Upvote:0

There are a number of considerations that politicians have to consider when deciding whether to grant visa free access.

  1. Risk level, What is the risk of someone doing something undesirable. (for a modern democracy the main risks are of people overstaying or working illegally, other countries may have other concerns)
  2. Benefit level, How much money will these people bring in.
  3. Reciprocity, Granting non-reciprocal visa-free access reduces bargaining power to get future visa-free access for your own citizens and raises difficult political questions.
  4. The wider political picture, what is the historic relationship between the countries? are current relationships friendly.

Like anything in politics it is messy and different countries will take different strategies.

Upvote:5

The short answer is that it is up to the country being visited. Whether or not Japanese citizens can visit the US without a visa, or what kind of visa they need, is entirely decided by the US. The decision can be for many reasons, such as:

  • How likely citizens of a country are likely to cause trouble or overstay their permissions;
  • How much the country wants to encourage visitors from that country;
  • Historic ties

That being said, visa free access is often reciprocal, i.e. countries A and B often enter into agreements to provide visa-free access to each other's citizens. For example, an EU country cannot (mostly) prevent citizens of other EU countries visiting because the terms of the EU agreement allow free access.

Countries are also allowed to impose whatever other restrictions they like on visitors (depending on whatever other agreements they have signed). Having a criminal record, or a history of overstaying, is often a reason to be denied visa-free access, whatever your citizenship.

All of the above is true for both tourist and business visitors.

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