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Show HN: IAvisa – Explore visa requirements worldwide

iavisa.com

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Re: Show HN: IAvisa – Explore visa requirements worldwide

#51

Post by sirfz »

supernova87a wrote: post #29

Maybe the OP or the makers of this website don't know, but there is a definitive source of visa, passport, and transit permission info that the IATA already publishes to help airlines determine whether they should allow you on a flight. It's called Timatic. It includes such detail as country of travel origin, country of passport issuance, nationality, duration of stay, country of transit, visa/papers held. I would go…

Yep, also OP's site doesn't seem to hold correct information. For example Belarus->Argentina visa is not required.

Re: Show HN: IAvisa – Explore visa requirements worldwide

#52

Post by [deleted] »

dewey wrote: post #45
supernova87a wrote: post #29

Maybe the OP or the makers of this website don't know, but there is a definitive source of visa, passport, and transit permission info that the IATA already publishes to help airlines determine whether they should allow you on a flight. It's called Timatic. It includes such detail as country of travel origin, country of passport issuance, nationality, duration of stay, country of transit, visa/papers held. I would go…

I agree on most of your points but just because there's a hard to use sub site on some airlines dealing with that doesn't mean there can't be an alternative. This site is probably not it based on the comments about the accuracy but there might be others available or coming in the future. On top of that if people travel by train or other means it's not that obvious to look on the website of some airline. Also it's som…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: IAvisa – Explore visa requirements worldwide

#54

Post by robot »

supernova87a wrote: post #50
supernova87a wrote: post #29

Maybe the OP or the makers of this website don't know, but there is a definitive source of visa, passport, and transit permission info that the IATA already publishes to help airlines determine whether they should allow you on a flight. It's called Timatic. It includes such detail as country of travel origin, country of passport issuance, nationality, duration of stay, country of transit, visa/papers held. I would go…

Apologies for negativity in my post. I did not realize that OP him/herself had made this website and might have been a first effort. Still, I think my points are valid. Unless this is a personal hobby or tinkering effort, I would advise the OP to invest his/her time on something that is sustainable and not already covered at 10x the expertise by an existing service (in a relatively stable industry, more importantly).…

Your points are valid it's just the negativity is classic HN. I think this is partly due to HN design. When all you see is text and not the people writing them it is easy to be negative.

Re: Show HN: IAvisa – Explore visa requirements worldwide

#57

Post by joering2 »

dewey wrote: post #45
supernova87a wrote: post #29

Maybe the OP or the makers of this website don't know, but there is a definitive source of visa, passport, and transit permission info that the IATA already publishes to help airlines determine whether they should allow you on a flight. It's called Timatic. It includes such detail as country of travel origin, country of passport issuance, nationality, duration of stay, country of transit, visa/papers held. I would go…

I agree on most of your points but just because there's a hard to use sub site on some airlines dealing with that doesn't mean there can't be an alternative. This site is probably not it based on the comments about the accuracy but there might be others available or coming in the future. On top of that if people travel by train or other means it's not that obvious to look on the website of some airline. Also it's som…

Literally there should NOT be a website like this, because even with slight misinformation, you can get in a lot of troubles: both financial and even more so safety wise if one of 10,000 info points on some tropical configuration of your citizenship, residency, passport type, stamps you have in your passport, plves you been, etc, will be not updated in time and you take it on its face value .

Furthermore, the owner does not and cannot give you any warranty whatsoever, even if this would be run on membership fees not advertising clicks. Im all for OP first website project and kudos for doing something beautiful and even more so getting it up on HN this high, but this site should not exist. Without this site there is more chances that someone who seeks this info will endup on legitimate site - hopefully government run or airline run, and not take this at face value and move on with packing their bags.

Re: Show HN: IAvisa – Explore visa requirements worldwide

#58

Post by notafraudster »

I will submit my user story as an attempt to offer feedback on the site. I live in the United States and am traveling to Mexico next week.

I put in from: United States to: Mexico. The information I received begins with "Visa Required: Yes". This is news to me, as I have traveled in this manner several times and never had a visa. I don't have a visa for next week, and so I am now worried that I won't be allowed in to Mexico.

The next text presented is "Mexico city is the capital city of Mexico. Mexico is found in North america. Citizens from United states need visa to enter Mexico. In the Mexico country page you can find more tourist information about infrastructure and attractions." I do not think this text was written by someone who is a native English speaker. Some tells include not following English rules for proper noun capitalization, missing articles, and weird diction. This makes me less likely to trust the information. Is that fair? Maybe not. But it suggests the page has not been copy-edited or checked for accuracy. This text also reiterates that I would need a visa.

Then the next text says: "If you have a valid Canada, Japan, Schengen, United Kingdom, United States visa or are permanent resident you do not need visa to enter Mexico for up to 180 days." I do not understand what is being claimed here. If I have a US visa for Japan I can enter Mexico without a Mexican visa? I think what it's trying to say is if I carry a Canadian, Japanese, Schengen (EU), United Kingdom, or United States passport (not the same as a visa), I can enter Mexico without a visa for fewer than 180 days. But this is in contrast to the above text and header which claim I do need a visa.

Finally, I clicked on the Mexico page and saw that although it was missing a lot of essential information, it did tell me it's OK to possess marijuana in Mexico. A brief Google search does not make it clear if this information is correct -- I see a lot of information about how they're going to legalize but haven't yet. I am extremely concerned that this website is making a claim that, if incorrect, could get someone in serious legal trouble.

I then clicked "Visa information". This gave me a list of countries that require and do not require a visa to access Mexico. The list of countries that do not require a visa is enormous, far larger than the number above. What explains the inconsistency between the lists above and the list I'm looking at here? Even more baffling, immediately below this list of countries is text repeating the claim above that people with Canada, Japan, Schengen (EU), UK, or US "visas" do not need a visa for Mexico.

I am not trying to be negative. I am simply sharing my experience trying to use this website for a very simple use case as an actual user. After using the website, I am more unclear and concerned about my upcoming travel than I was when I started, and now I need to seek out external information to find out what is true and what is false.

Re: Show HN: IAvisa – Explore visa requirements worldwide

#59

Post by fareesh »

supernova87a wrote: post #29

Maybe the OP or the makers of this website don't know, but there is a definitive source of visa, passport, and transit permission info that the IATA already publishes to help airlines determine whether they should allow you on a flight. It's called Timatic. It includes such detail as country of travel origin, country of passport issuance, nationality, duration of stay, country of transit, visa/papers held. I would go…

Fwiw even timatic is wrong. I visited your link and entered India and Turkey as departure and arrival for Indian nationals.

The system advised me to apply for an eVisa, however eligibility criteria for eVisas is exclusive to folks who have a valid EU Schengen visa. Someone who casually relied on the result without reading further would have missed this.

The bottom line is travel is expensive and visa rejections have long lasting consequences. It is foolish to rely on anything except the official immigration department website of the country in question, or an official third party who is appointed by the government.

Re: Show HN: IAvisa – Explore visa requirements worldwide

#60

Post by peternicky »

supernova87a wrote: post #50
supernova87a wrote: post #29

Maybe the OP or the makers of this website don't know, but there is a definitive source of visa, passport, and transit permission info that the IATA already publishes to help airlines determine whether they should allow you on a flight. It's called Timatic. It includes such detail as country of travel origin, country of passport issuance, nationality, duration of stay, country of transit, visa/papers held. I would go…

Apologies for negativity in my post. I did not realize that OP him/herself had made this website and might have been a first effort. Still, I think my points are valid. Unless this is a personal hobby or tinkering effort, I would advise the OP to invest his/her time on something that is sustainable and not already covered at 10x the expertise by an existing service (in a relatively stable industry, more importantly).…

What some people call “negativity” is in my opinion concise and honest feedback.

Personally, when I see “show hn” posts, this is a signal that the OP is asking for feedback and often due to time constraints or one’s personal writing style, some folks interpret straight to the point feedback as “negative” when in reality it is generally based on the responder wanting to help.

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