Visa and passport are two documents that many have been confusing for each other. While they may sound similar in terms of usage, they still have a lot of differences that spans up to the usage again. One thing is, they are all traveling documents from one country to the next. But here are main differences between visa and passport;
One of the differences between the two is on their validity period. While passport can be valid for between 5 to 10 years, visa is only valid for few days to months. A visa owner therefore will need to renew the visa or be taken back to their country after given period but passport owner will have quite long time to renew.
Secondly, while passport is issued by one’s country of birth or origin, visa is issued by a foreign embassy or consulate representing a foreign country. For example, a Kenyan will obtain his or her passport from the Kenya’s ministry of immigration but he or she will get her visa, say to U.S from the U.S embassy in Kenya.
Thirdly, passport is a national travel document used as an identification but visa is attached to a passport and is meant to be used as a permit to enter another country. This means that if one wants to travel to United Kingdom, they will obtain their traveling passport then they will clear with the U.K embassy in Kenya to give them a visa that will be used as entry document in U.K.
Another difference is that a passport is required in most cases when one enters another country but a visa is not really needed as long as there was a visa facilitation between the two countries involved. If Kenya and France signed an agreement to have a visa facilitation, then a Kenyan moving to France will not have to provide his or her visa before being allowed into France.
