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I am a Sri Lankan, and obviously I have a Sri Lankan passport which is sadly ranked as one of the least useful passports in the world. So my question is, I have travelled to countries like Australia, etc and there are those visas on my passport.

One of my friends told me that :

Having an Australian visa on your passport makes your passport more useful because then the next time I apply to another country for visa, they have records of the countries that I have visited and so when they know that Australia has granted me a visa that increases the chance of them not rejecting my visa application.

Is this true? Not just for Australia (You can answer generally)

M.S.E
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    Interesting question. Related: http://www.ibtimes.com/best-passports-have-unrestricted-travel-around-world-1422038 – jmort253 Oct 12 '14 at 05:35
  • @jmort253 (upvoted!) Thank you :) I am aware that top ranked passport holders are allowed to travel without visa :) However, my question is very different :) and glad that you think it's interesting :) – M.S.E Oct 12 '14 at 05:40
  • True? No. Each country has their own policies for granting visas. Having a visa only helps with on-going travel (for example, some countries will give you a visa on arrival only if you have a visa for your destination). – Burhan Khalid Oct 12 '14 at 05:42
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    I don't think there's a conclusive way to answer this. I recall that it's easier to get a visa for Bulgaria or Romania for citizens of some countries if they already have a Schengen visa. But this will be different for each pair of countries. Unless somebody has already made a website that tracks this info. – hippietrail Oct 12 '14 at 06:16
  • @hippietrail ,(Upvoted!) ummmm interesting... – M.S.E Oct 12 '14 at 06:24
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    It sometimes makes it easier or more likely to get a new visa if you already have a previous visa for the same country in the same passport. Other countries may care less about it – Peter Hahndorf Oct 12 '14 at 11:34
  • To me, it just seems totally ridiculous. That's my wild guess. – Fattie Oct 12 '14 at 13:56
  • @JoeBlow , hmmmmmm ok – M.S.E Oct 12 '14 at 15:35
  • @PeterHahndorf , (upvoted!) thank you for your opinion – M.S.E Oct 12 '14 at 15:35
  • Hi Tharindu, thanks for being so positive. Just know that we're not all delicate little flowers who will wilt if the things we post aren't up voted. So, just vote up the things you want to see at the top of the page. Voting is a ranking system designed to push the best content to the top and keep not-so-hot stuff at the bottom, so vote based on content, not people. See Why vote for more details. Lastly, votes on comments don't do much other than move them to the top, if there are lots of them. Hope this helps. – jmort253 Oct 12 '14 at 17:27

2 Answers2

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Most of the passport "ranking" systems are based on the number of countries you can visit without a visa. And they apply to everyone who holds that passport. As such the rank of your Sri Lankan passport is the same as the rank of every other Sri Lankan passport.

That said, the fact that Australia granted you a visa and that you traveled there within the terms of that visa, may be taken into consideration by other countries for which you are applying for visas. But the keyword is "may". You still need to fulfill all of the requirements of the country that you wish to visit. If your qualifications are weak, then perhaps the consular official may take your previous visa/trips into consideration.

But having the visa does not increase the value of your passport, nor does it guarantee any better treatment.

  • (Upvoted!) Thank you Tom , this really helped a lot :) However, I hope you don't mind that Im going to keep this un accepted so that I can see if there are any others who have answers :) end of the day I will accept the best answer :) – M.S.E Oct 12 '14 at 06:39
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    Glad to help. And no worries on votes or accepted answers, I am not concerned about accumulating points, I am here to answer questions, to give a bit back to the Stack community since I have gotten much help from StackOverflow. –  Oct 12 '14 at 07:15
  • Ok :) salute ;) – M.S.E Oct 12 '14 at 07:17
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Most top countries are considering two things when you apply for a visa:

  1. Are you going to overstay the visa and work illegally there?
  2. Are you considered someone dangerous? and by that I mean, are you a threat to that country by any means? a potential terrorist for example?

The first point is the reason for most visa rejections, but at the same time is easy to overcome. Holding a job with a decent salary and/or a decent bank account will clear it.

For the second part, countries like USA and the UK hold a large database and use a very complicated process to give an initial approval, but at the end all will depend on the interviewer in the embassy/consulate who will have to use common sense and in many cases improvise just to decide. I guess being someone who have travelled to many countries can be at your side, but at the same time visiting the wrong countries can be against you, but that's not what you are asking about here.

Bottom line, it might be useful to help the interviewer to take a positive image, but also might be totally overlooked, the best thing you can do to get a visa is to fulfill the visa requirements for that country, that's the only thing you can be sure it will help you.

Nean Der Thal
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