My lovely Pakistani passport is ranked the fourth worst in the world. That fact shouldn’t surprise anyone but it still stings every time I hear it.
When I first started traveling, I didn’t realize how many people just.. didn’t have to try. No bank statements. No interviews. No jumping through flaming hoops of embassy requirements. They just booked a ticket and left. Meanwhile, I was printing out six months of bank transactions, writing cover letters to explain my itinerary, and preparing to be treated like a criminal at border control.
That’s when I first started thinking about ‘passport privilege.’ For travelers from the Global South, especially with a Pakistani passport, “freedom of movement’ is often a myth. The romanticized version of digital nomadism – just pack your laptop and go – isn’t written for people like us. Our nomadism is messy. It’s held together with photocopies, entry stamps, and sheer bloody-mindedness.
And yet, we still go. Because despite the paperwork, the extra costs, the uncertainty – it’s worth it. Travel has given me some of the most joyful, expansive moments of my life.
So, if you’re holding a Pakistani passport and dreaming of seeing the world, here’s what you need to know: it’s possible. Not always easy. But definitely possible.Let’s talk about where you can go.
Note : Please double check with the relevant embassies before planning your trip. I take no responsibility for money lost or deportation. Hope this helps!
What Travel Looks Like With a Pakistani Passport
Being a Pakistani traveler means learning to live with a low-grade level of travel anxiety. Every trip starts not with flight deals, but with embassy websites, application forms, and a little existential dread.
Visa rejection doesn’t just mean a cancelled holiday – it can mean lost money, wasted time, and the creeping sense that the world doesn’t want you. I’ve had friends turned away from countries they had hotel bookings and return flights for. I’ve had visas rejected for no reason I could understand, then approved when I reapplied with the exact same documents.
But I’ve also learned how to work the system.
Over the years, I’ve discovered travel hacks that make life a little easier for Pakistani passport holders. E-visas, visa-on-arrival options, and countries that let you in if you already have a valid US, UK, or Schengen visa – all of these can open doors that otherwise stay firmly shut.
This post is a mix of lived experience and hard-won research. Some of these places I’ve visited myself. Others are on my list, and I’ve included them because I want you to know they exist.
The Visa Stamp That Opens Doors: US, UK & Schengen Loopholes
There’s a strange irony in how much a visa from one “strong” country unlocks others. Same passport, same person, but suddenly you’re not as suspicious anymore. I want to pause here to acknowledge the privilege of even holding a valid US visa. For many Pakistani travelers, that one stamp – along with UK, Canada, or Schengen – opens up so many doors.
Some Caribbean countries only accept US or Canadian visas. European ones might open their doors if you have Schengen or UK. The rules vary, but the pattern is the same: get one powerful visa, and a dozen others fall in line.
That’s how I ended up in Nicaragua. I didn’t exactly plan it – it just happened to be the cheapest flight I could find from Argentina, and it felt like the most affordable path forward. Once you’re in Central America, a few more countries open up if you’re holding a US or UK visa. I crossed the border into Costa Rica, and if you plan it right, you can also enter El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala without much drama.
Nicaragua surprised me. It’s raw and real in a way I hadn’t felt in a while. Think cloud forests, rumbling chicken buses, and volcanoes you can hike before breakfast. Ometepe was a highlight – two volcanoes rising out of a lake like something out of a dream. I’ve got a full itinerary up if you’re thinking of doing the same route. Also, crossing from Costa Rica into Nicaragua is simpler than you think, especially with the right visa.
And then there’s the Balkans – a sweet loophole for anyone with a Schengen, US, or UK visa. I traveled through Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia with very few complications. I wasn’t alone either – a friend joined me with just a UK visa, and together we breezed through borders that would’ve otherwise needed full embassy drama.
Montenegro was an absolute gem. I drove through switchbacks in the Durmitor mountains, stayed in tiny coastal towns, and probably said “wow” 80 times a day. I shared all the highlights in this itinerary – plus tips on renting a car, which made the whole trip way more flexible (and cheaper than I expected).
Bosnia left a deeper mark. Mostar is the kind of place that aches with history, but still manages to feel alive. And Sarajevo is haunting in all the right ways – minarets next to churches, bullet holes in the walls, burek for breakfast. I could’ve stayed for months.Other countries like Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Turkey, and even places in the Caribbean (Antigua, the Bahamas, Dominican Republic) open up when you hold one of these “prestige” visas. Sometimes it feels like you’re playing a game of international hopscotch – using one visa to leapfrog into ten others.
Where You Can Go: Visa-Free, Visa on Arrival & E-Visa Travel
The thing about traveling on a Pakistani passport is that you become an expert in loopholes. I’ve built this nomadic life on visa-on-arrival stamps, e-visas, and strategic timing. Sometimes it’s a US visa that opens doors. Sometimes it’s being a resident in the right country. And other times, it’s just knowing which embassies are less likely to say no.
During one of our long-term nomad stretches, we were planning time in Southeast Asia and picked our destinations with one main filter: where could we actually go without spending weeks stuck in embassy queues? That’s how we landed on Vietnam and Cambodia. Both offer e-visas to Pakistani passport holders, which felt like winning the lottery.
Vietnam came first. I know people who’ve had their e-visas rejected for no reason, then approved a week later with no changes. That kind of randomness is just part of the deal when you travel with our passport. But we made it in, and I fell for the place hard. Da Nang was all sea and sky, Hoi An felt like a movie set, and the train to Hue was straight-up poetic. Hanoi’s Train Street was chaos in the best way. I’ve mapped out the whole route in this Vietnam itinerary, including side trips to Ninh Binh and tips for navigating Da Nang.
Then came Cambodia – our second stop and where I ended up celebrating my 30th birthday. We picked it for the same reason: visa ease. But it gave us so much more than just convenience. Angkor Wat was otherworldly, but it was the slower, softer moments that stayed with me – Koh Rong Samloem especially. All you’re left with is the sound of waves and stars for company.
Sri Lanka happened in a different chapter – a bachelorette trip with a gang of girlfriends. It was meant to be a fun, tropical getaway, and it delivered. But it also surprised me with how deep it went. We hiked Adam’s Peak in the dark, ate our way through Ella, and beach-hopped along the south coast. I’ve laid out the details in my sri lanka tinerary.
On the List: Countries I Haven’t Been to (Yet)
Even with all the places I’ve managed to reach, there’s still a long list of countries I keep bookmarked in my head – and in my messy spreadsheet of visa possibilities.
Dominica, for example. It’s one of those visa-free Caribbean destinations that flies under the radar, but the more I read about it – hot springs, dense rainforests, no mega resorts – the more I want to go. If my dream version of digital nomadism includes a hammock and spotty Wi-Fi by the sea, it’s probably here.
Then there’s St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Visa-free for Pakistanis and supposedly home to some of the clearest waters in the Caribbean. I’ve seen photos of sailboats drifting between islands, empty beaches, and more green than blue. It looks like a good place to disappear for a while.
Trinidad and Tobago is also on my radar not just for the beaches, but for the culture. I want to hear the music during Carnival, taste the food that blends so many cultures together, and be somewhere that feels chaotic and alive.
On the e-visa side of things, Laos, Kenya, and Iran have all been calling to me. I nearly booked a trip to Iran right before the pandemic hit. I was planning on wandering through Isfahan’s bazaars and finally trying fesenjan in its home country.
And then there’s Nepal. Probably the one that hurts the most to keep putting off. It’s visa-on-arrival, it’s close, and it’s got the mountains I dream about when I’m stuck in visa admin hell. But I’ve been saving it – for the right season, the right headspace, the right stretch of time to hike slow and long.
| Visa-Free | Visa on Arrival | E-Visa | Entry with US/UK Visa |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
