The real cost of a tourist visaFees compared across 196 destinations, 2026
174 destinations ranked by fee · official sources only
174
Destinations ranked
11
Charge nothing
$50
Median fee (paid)
28 Jul 2026
Data updated
Passport-power rankings measure how many countries you can enter. This measures something no one else has indexed: what it costs. Across 174 destinations with a directly comparable, official published fee, 11 charge nothing at all, the median paid fee is $50, and the priciest confirmed fee is Mozambique at USD 220.
Methodology · Japan's first fee revision since 1978, effective 1 July 2026
11 destinations with no tourist visa fee
No visa fee, no e-visa charge, no arrival levy - the destination charges nothing for the product listed, which is not the same as visa-free access for every nationality.
The 10 most expensive tourist visas in 2026
Full visa fee comparison: 174 destinations ranked
22 further destinations aren't ranked: their fee isn't one public number. Why
Cheapest paid tourist visas in 2026
The ten lowest confirmed paid fees: Eswatini ($4.5), Canada ($5), Israel ($7), Palestine ($7), South Korea ($7.5), Armenia ($8), Haiti ($10), New Zealand ($10), Zambia ($10.1), El Salvador ($12).
Visa fees by region
Europe's median is the flat Schengen short-stay fee. Africa's runs well above Asia's and the Americas' despite far lower average incomes - the same $50-100 is a very different share of a traveller's budget depending on where they're from.
| Region | Destinations | Median fee | Charge nothing | Priciest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | 43 | $97 | 0 | United Kingdom ($189) |
| Africa | 45 | $55 | 1 | Mozambique ($220) |
| Americas | 30 | $38.5 | 4 | Argentina ($150) |
| Asia | 47 | $30 | 3 | Tajikistan ($160) |
| Oceania | 9 | $13 | 3 | Marshall Islands ($100) |
The hidden markup: outsourced application-centre fees
70 destinations outsource visa-application handling to a private company - almost always VFS Global - which charges its own fee for biometrics, document handling and courier, on top of the government fee ranked above. The 23 below are the amounts we could confirm cleanly at India-based centres, so they compare in one currency; 8 more are confirmed in other local currencies on their own destination pages, and the same operator charges a different locally-set fee at each.
| Destination | Service fee | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| Morocco | INR 590 | VFS Global |
| Italy | INR 631 | VFS Global |
| Egypt | INR 800 | VFS Global |
| Japan | INR 800 | VFS Global |
| Bangladesh | INR 825 | DU Digital Global (Bangladesh Visa Application Centre, India); no VFS Global/TLScontact for most other countries - applications go direct to missions |
| Poland | INR 1,026 | VFS Global |
| Moldova | INR 1,350 | VFS Global |
| South Korea | INR 1,380 | VFS Global |
| Algeria | INR 1,600 | VFS Global |
| Israel | INR 1,805 | VFS Global |
| Lebanon | INR 1,920 | VFS Global |
| Denmark | INR 2,109 | VFS Global |
| Czechia | INR 2,220 | VFS Global |
| Luxembourg | INR 2,281 | VFS Global |
| Georgia | INR 2,435 | VFS Global |
| Austria | INR 2,479 | VFS Global |
| Croatia | INR 2,553 | VFS Global |
| Liechtenstein | INR 2,690 | VFS Global |
| Belgium | INR 2,700 | VFS Global |
| Iceland | INR 2,900 | VFS Global |
| Ukraine | INR 2,970 | VFS Global |
| Latvia | INR 2,999 | VFS Global |
| Ireland | INR 3,380 | VFS Global |
Methodology: how this fee comparison is built
Earth Visa crawled the official fee schedule published by each destination's own immigration authority, foreign ministry, or e-visa/eTA portal - not third-party visa-agency markups - and takes the lowest amount among four tourist products: tourist visa (embassy or consulate-issued), e-visa (a full visa applied for and issued online), visa on arrival (issued at the border on landing), and eTA (an electronic authorisation or mandatory digital arrival form). Last refreshed 28 Jul 2026.
Excluded: business, transit and student/work visas; multiple-entry and expedited rates; any fee without a published amount; and narrow-scope rates that aren't what a standard adult tourist pays - child and infant discounts, group/collective and family-passport rates, single-nationality carve-outs. Amounts are converted to USD at the rate recorded at crawl time, with native-currency figures on each destination's own page. The 22 destinations left out are those whose fee genuinely isn't one number: it varies by the traveller's nationality under a reciprocity schedule, or only a range or "contact embassy" is published, and a single misleading average would be worse than omitting them.
Visa fee comparison 2026: FAQ
What is the most expensive tourist visa in the world in 2026?
Among destinations with a single published flat fee, Mozambique has the highest tourist-visa cost we could confirm from an official source in 2026, at USD 220. The United Kingdom's Standard Visitor visa and several embassy-issued African visas (Algeria, Niger, Sudan) also sit near the top. Destinations that price per requesting nationality on a reciprocity schedule aren't included.
Which countries have a completely free tourist visa or e-visa in 2026?
11 destinations charge nothing for standard tourist entry in 2026, including Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius. Some of these are free visas-on-arrival, others are mandatory-but-free digital arrival forms (an eTA or arrival card) rather than a visa in the traditional sense - the table above labels each one.
How much does the average tourist visa cost?
Across the 163 destinations that charge something, the median published fee is $50 in 2026. Including the 11 destinations that charge nothing at all, 174 destinations in total have a directly comparable official fee.
Why do some countries charge an extra 'service fee' on top of the visa fee?
70 destinations outsource visa-application logistics to a private company - almost always VFS Global - which charges its own service fee on top of the government's visa fee. It pays for biometrics collection, document handling and courier, not the visa itself. We could confirm one clean amount for 31 destinations; see the outsourcing-fee table above.
Why isn't every destination in this ranking?
22 destinations are left out because no single official fee figure could be confirmed: several (e.g. Turkey, Nigeria, Syria) price visas per requesting nationality on a reciprocity schedule rather than one public rate; others only publish a range, route applicants through embassy discretion, or had a program under review at crawl time. Each destination's own page lists whatever fee detail is officially published for it.
Does a cheap or free visa mean a country is easy to enter?
Not necessarily. Fee is one input, not the whole picture - some free-entry destinations still require proof of funds, onward tickets, or a separate sustainability/tourism levy paid locally (Bhutan's nightly Sustainable Development Fee is a well-known example, charged in addition to a fee-free entry permit). Check the destination's own Earth Visa page for the full requirement, not just the sticker price.
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