The 30+ Countries You Can Go With a Valid US Visa: Make Your B1/B2 Work For You! (+ Video)
Hello hello!
Yes, she’s back with some more visa-hacking tips to help us all eat the world! Well really it’s a list of the other countries you can visit with your US visa that I bet you didn’t know!
Whether you’re a little far from the USA and are not keen to spend the bulk of your life savings on flights, or have been and have no intention of ever returning for political, ethical or myriad other reasons, you can still make the visa work for you – hard. Because I know it wasn’t a casual affair getting it.
So.
WHY Can You Use a US Visa to Enter Countries Nowhere Near the United States?
This is just a hunch, but I would think it’s because many countries/governments recognize how much of a task it can be for people to get a visa to enter the United States – there’s rigorous checking and sometimes in-person questioning involved including clarifying a person’s financial stability, occupation/studies/assets that would tie them to their home country and ensure they return, possible criminal background, etc.
With that out of the way and possibly knowing the US consistently gets quite a lot of visitors, why not skip the whole process of taking in all these applications for someone and trust that they’re legit if they’ve passed all the US immigration department’s tests?
It’s actually really amusing to me and I still maintain that visitor’s visas and their application requirements are JUST a pile of manure (if people from one nation need them, people from ALL nations should require them. Period. So simple).
But for the moment, it is what it is and you can always work with what you have to open up more of the world for yourself.
This is my unimpressed face at the very existence of visa restrictions on some passport-holders and not others.
Who Can Use this US Visa Hack?
Wherever your passport may be from, if you have a valid US Visitors Visa (also applies to Green Card and Residency holders, but that’s even more open), then you can go to these countries visa-free as well!
Visa validity differs from country to country but I do know that holders of Kenyan passports like me are generally granted a B1/B2 tourist visa valid for 5 years from the date of issue. I have used mine exactly once for 10 days in 2016 (see here!) and would be so sad to waste the remaining 3 years I still have on it by not traveling anywhere with it. BUT, as it turns out, it opens up a little bit of Central America, Eastern Europe and Asia to me, so the next 3 years promise to be more exciting than I had anticipated.
NOW – these may vary depending on your specific citizenship, so if you’re unsure then a quick check on the website of the consulate/embassy of wherever you want to go in your own country/city should clear up any doubts you have.
Without further ado, here are:
The 30+ Countries You Can Visit on a US Visa
The Americas & Caribbean
1. United States and its below territories:
2. Puerto Rico
3. Northern Mariana Islands
4. Guam
5. US Virgin Islands
6. Mexico - 180 days. (Read more info here)
7. Panama (Kenyans don’t need a visa anyway. Double win!)
After much time dreaming and stumbling on signs I should be hanging out in the Caribbean and North/Central America, it’s probably time to make that happen.
Europe
Africa, Asia & Middle East
26. Sao Tome & Principe – 15 days. Read more.
I might have headed East from here and saved myself some coint had I known about this hack in 2016!
There are some cases though where this visa exemption only applies to a select few passports:
27. Taiwan
28. Oman
29. El Salvador
30. Honduras
31. Nicaragua
32. Guatemala
33. Aruba
34. Bahamas
35. Curacao
36. St. Maarten
37. Colombia
38. Peru
39. Chile
40. Argentina
And there you go - a little hack to make your visa take you further. Watch the video below for my top 5 and let me know your thoughts!
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