Passports & Visas
Information you need to know about passports and visas as you prepare for your medical mission with International Medical Relief.
Passports
What you need to know:
- Applying for a new or renewed passport can take 6-8 weeks or more unless you expedite it.
- Make sure your passport is valid for six months AFTER the mission ends (or your return to the U.S. or your home country).
- Your passport needs to have a minimum of three blank pages.
- If you have special circumstances, IMR can provide you with a referral to a reputable passport/visa service for additional help and advice. You are responsible for any charges incurred through the use of a passport/visa service.
- IMR must have your valid passport number, your legal name as it appears on your passport, and your birth date as required by TSA to book your international airline ticket (if you are flying on the IMR subsidized ticket).
- You are required to enter the above information in your IMR online application. Please ensure that it is correct, as we use this information and not the copy of your passport when booking tickets.
Visas
What you need to know:
- DO NOT apply for a visa until you have received all of the required information from IMR.
- IMR will provide you with the information needed to complete the visa application. You must apply for the visa on your own. IMR is not able to do this for you. You are responsible for the cost of your visa.
- Not all countries require visas and many visas are “upon arrival.” Some countries will require you to send your passport to their embassy or consulate in the United States for pre-approval. You can check visa requirements for your country here: travel.state.gov.
- IMR will provide you with the specific visa requirements for your country after you have completed your mission application.
- If you do need to apply for a visa, you are traveling as a tourist. You are not working or being paid for services. IMR will secure all of the required permissions for the medical team as a whole. The visa you are obtaining for personal use is a tourist visa.
- If you are not a United States citizen, please contact your embassy or the host country embassy to determine if a visa is required to visit as a tourist.
- If you have special circumstances, IMR can provide you with a referral to a reputable visa service for additional help and advice. You are responsible for any charges incurred through the use of a visa service.
- Remember to apply for your visa only after you have received the needed information from IMR!
