Administrative stuff

1/ VISAS

COUNTRY	VISA
Italy	Not required (European Union)
Slovenia	Not required (European Union)
Croatia	Not required (European Union)
Hungary	Not required (European Union)
Romania	Not required (European Union)
Bulgaria	Not required (European Union)
Jordan	10€ at any border + departure tax at exit
Syria	60€ for french and 26€ for others EU at the embassy in Paris
Turkey	15€ at any border or airport
Iran	50€ at the embassy in Paris
India	67€ for 6 months at the embassy in Paris
Nepal	33€ at any border or airport
Hong Kong	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
Macau	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
Taiwan	Not required for a visit up to 30 days
Japan	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
South Korea	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
China	65€ multi entry (3 months)
Vietnam	70€ at the consulate in Paris or 30 € at the consulate in a neighbour country in SE Asia
Cambodia	25€ at any border or airport
Laos	30€ at any border or airport
Thailand	Not required for a visit up to 30 days
Malaysia	Not required for a visit up to 30 days
Indonesia	20€ at any port or airport
Singapore	Entry permit for a visit up to 14 days on arrival
Australia	27€ - Online form and application
New Zealand	Entry permit for a visit up to 90 days on arrival
USA	12€ - Electronic System for Travel Authorization valid for 2 years for visits up to 90 days - Online form and application
The Bahamas	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
Cuba	40€ visa at consulate in Sydney and must have an exit ticket from the island
Panama	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
Colombia	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
Ecuador	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
Peru	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
Bolivia	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
Paraguay	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
Uruguay	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
Brazil	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
Chile	Not required for a visit up to 90 days
Argentine	Not required for a visit up to 90 days

This website http://www.visahq.com/visas.php is interesting to have information about visa requirements and application.

Before leaving France, we applied and obtained the visas for Syria, Iran, and India at their consulates in Paris and the visas for the USA and Australia on the internet. It seems that the Chinese visa is also pretty hard to obtain. We will deal with this one in New Delhi.

2/ BANK

We decided to open a joint account to manage our expenses easily and researched for the best offer. After a while, it appeared that banks available in France have not yet developed appropriate offers for long-term travelers. Most of them debit about 3% of every card payment and of every cash withdrawal (plus a 3 euros commission and the local exchange rate)!

We found only one bank which does not charge at all card payments and cash withdrawals, even out

of the European Union: an online bank, MONABANQ. But they refused to open us a joint account (two young unemployed....).

With HSBC, cash withdrawals are not charged in their agencies world-wide but their account fees are quite expensive.

So we opted for BNP Paribas in which we both already have an account. BNP Paribas is part of the Global Alliance partnership with 8 other banks. Cash withdrawals are not charged in all of those banks but the partnership is far from covering the whole globe!

3/ DRIVERS LICENCE

The international drivers licence is compulsory to drive in some countries outside the EU and the Schengen space.

To get it, just go to the nearest police préfecture with two identity pictures and a proof of address. For more information: http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/F11534.xhtml

4/ MANDATE

During this year abroad it will be difficult for us to deal with all the administrative matters we would have to do in our home country: for example to get a registered letter at the post office, etc. To simplify the job of our helpful and beloved parents we decided to establish an official mandate which is a notary deed in France. Cost: about 70 euros.

5/ DOCUMENTS WE ARE TAKING WITH US

- Of course our biometric passports

- identity cards

- certificate of vaccination

- reference of our travel insurance and social security card

- paper with all emergency phone numbers (consulate of the visited countries, our bank, our insurance, etc.)

- diver’s licence & international driver’s licence.

We also scanned all of our administrative documents and stored them in a Internet account.