Visa Finder: Which Visa Do I Need?
Which visa do I need?
Four questions. It tells you the category, whether your passport needs anything in advance, exactly which documents that category requires, which office authenticates each one, and where to apply.
Common questions
Is this a substitute for the embassy website?
No, and it does not try to be. It tells you which category applies, what a U.S. passport needs, and which documents that category requires with their authentication routing. The embassy or the official portal is the authority on the exact form and the current fee, and every result links straight to it.
Why does it ask how long I am staying?
Because duration is what usually decides whether you need a visa at all. A U.S. passport gets visa-free entry to most of the world for short visits, and almost none of it for long ones. Crossing the free allowance moves you into a completely different category with a completely different document set.
It says I need a visa but I have travelled there before without one.
Two likely reasons. Either your earlier trip was inside the visa-free allowance and this one is not, or the rules changed. Brazil reinstated its visa requirement for U.S. citizens in April 2025 after six years without one, and the United Kingdom introduced a mandatory travel authorisation in 2025. Both catch out people who travelled recently.
Authoritative sources
Where this tool disagrees with one of these, the official source is right. Tell us and we will correct it.
- U.S. Department of State: Learn About Your Destination Entry, exit and visa requirements for U.S. citizens, country by country. The authoritative U.S. government starting point.
- U.S. Department of State: Records and Authentications Federal document authentication, including the Office of Authentications.
- HCCH: Apostille Convention status table The authoritative list of which countries are party to the Apostille Convention, and the entry-into-force date for each.
- Foreign embassies in the United States Directory of every foreign embassy in Washington, which is where legalisation happens for non-Convention destinations.
- U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide For U.S. citizen services abroad and notarials.
- Smart Traveler Enrollment Program Register your trip so the nearest embassy can reach you.
- CDC Travelers Health Vaccination and health entry requirements by destination.
- IATA Travel Centre The database airlines actually check at the boarding gate.
Verified Sep 7, 2026 Primary sources: travel.state.gov, www.hcch.net
Email this checklist to yourself
A plain-text email you can forward to a spouse, an employer or an attorney. Sent once. No list, no sequence.
- 1 Obtain a certified original From the issuing authority. Photocopies, scans and souvenir certificates cannot be authenticated.
- 2 Notarise, if it is a private document Letters, affidavits, powers of attorney and diploma copies need a notary acknowledgement first. Government-issued vital records do not.
- 3 County clerk, in some states A handful of states require the county clerk to certify the notary commission before the Secretary of State will act.
- 4 Authenticate at the right level State-issued documents go to the Secretary of State of the ISSUING state. Federal documents, including the FBI Identity History Summary, go to the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications.
- 5 Apostille or embassy legalisation Hague Convention destination: the apostille ends the chain. Non-member destination: the document then goes to that country embassy or consulate.
- 6 Certified translation Translate the document together with its apostille or legalisation certificate. Doing this first means paying twice.
- 7 File with the right consulate Jurisdiction is by your U.S. state of residence. Bring originals plus a full copy set.
The two expensive mistakes. Sending a federal document such as an FBI Identity History Summary to a Secretary of State, which cannot authenticate it. And translating before authentication, so the apostille certificate is not inside the translation and the whole set has to be paid for twice.
This resource is provided free by Federal Apostille as an educational tool. It is not legal or immigration advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by using it. Visa rules, fees, processing times and entry requirements change frequently and often without notice, and individual circumstances change the answer. Always confirm current requirements with the official government source and the specific embassy or consulate that has jurisdiction over your place of residence before you book travel or file an application. Every figure on this site carries the date we last verified it and a link to the primary source.
