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Contributed by – Shubham Kumar Panjyara
In order to apply for a visa, in most cases, flight tickets are required. Do you know why are they required! Actually, the visa issuing authorities ask this to ensure that you are actually going to come back from their country & not make an illegal attempt to stay there. However, buying flight tickets is an expensive affair. What happens if the visa application is rejected! Read on to know how to score a visa without having a flight ticket.
How to get flight tickets for a visa without actually buying them!
Airlines holding tickets
Some airlines give you the option to hold the tickets, I did with AirAsia and indigo. But through airlines, it is valid for 3-4 hours only. So I use such tickets just to show to the immigration officer. Usually, I travel overland, so this trick helps me pretty well.
Online Travel agencies
Travel agency like Yatra.com gives you the option to hold flight ticket for 3 days. When I applied for my Malaysian Visa, I gave them the ticket which was on hold by Yatra. I did this for getting Thailand’s sticker visa as well. Please note that it is valid only for 3 days, so if the visa takes longer than expected, there is a risk.
Online travel agent
I found there are lots of online travel agent who can book a dummy flight ticket. I used this for getting my Chinese visa. The agency was bookingforvisa.com. They charged 20 US$ for 5 flight tickets. Layover is not considered in this case. Suppose you are flying from India to Germany with a layover in Turkey, so it will be counted as One ticket only.
How I got a Thailand visa without flight tickets!
I got two visas this way. I used this website for getting Thai and Chinese visa. I will be using it again to apply for 2 more visas in the coming days. The best part of buying dummy tickets through an online agent is that tickets are generally valid for 3 to 4 weeks if your flight is not too early. I bought tickets on 26 April and I applied for my Chinese visa on 29 April. Got my Chinese visa on 7 May and then on the same day I applied for Thai Transit Visa, I got it on 9 May.
After 2 weeks, I checked my dummy tickets are still valid.
Benefits of booking dummy tickets for getting a visa
- It will save a lot of money on actual flight tickets if your visa is rejected.
- It will also give you the flexibility to travel. Like my Chinese visa is valid for the next 3 months and I can travel whenever I want.
- You can also use the dummy tickets for getting a transit Visa.
Feel free to ask questions in the comments.
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Check this for finding cheap flight tickets
Once you are done with the visa formalities. You can use this tool to find the cheapest flights for any destination in the world on a given date.