• It is the responsibility of the student to obtain the appropriate visa to study abroad.  The Education Abroad office is unable to offer assistance with this process.
• Some visas have a processing time as long as 3 months.
• You must have your passport before you can apply for a visa and it should be valid within 6 months of the end date of your program.
• Visa requirements vary by country, citizenship, and length of study.  You can find general travel information about your country, including details about visas, by searching Country Information at travel.state.gov.
• Check the embassy website of the country you will be visiting or your program for more specific visa information.

If you need to obtain a visa for your host country, your visa requirements may differ than those for US citizens. If you are studying at UMBC on an F-1 student visa, you must check with the Center for Global Engagement to obtain the appropriate travel signatures.

While you cannot apply for a visa until you have been accepted to your study abroad program and committed to going, you can research the process ahead of time!  We recommend that you understand what documentation you will need, what paperwork will be required, and where you will need to go to apply for your visa a few weeks ahead of when you intend to apply for it.