Abstract

As the advent of travel continues to increase, tourism continues to expand, becoming the fastest growing economic activity globally. In order to travel internationally, one needs a passport and in many cases a visa is required. Currently, in order to apply for a visa, consumers have to complete and submit an application: online application completion and submission, visit a website to download the application form(s), physically visit an embassy/consulate, or utilize the services of a third party company to submit the application. Thereafter, there is a great chance the consumer might have to appear in person at the consulate/embassy for an in-person interview. There is a need to streamline the visa application process so that it is more efficient for both applicants as well as embassies.

This paper aims to fill the gap by introducing the Virtual Embassy concept. This concept promises to bring all embassies to an applicant’s fingertip while making embassies more efficient in the process. The Virtual Embassy enables individuals to complete one application form which can be disseminated virtually to one or more consulate(s) of choice, without requiring extensive travel to embassies, or to manually complete multiple visa application forms.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.