There’s a new brand out there to help travelers negotiate the processes of passport and visa processing for leisure travelers.
Called Entriva, it’s a new digital product from immigration, visa, and document service provider CIBT, which provided service to large organizations for their passport and visa needs for over three decades. CIBT has a staff of over 2,000 in 60 offices in 27 countries to help process passports and visas for corporate clients, and they’re now offering that service digitally.
“Entriva is not just a technology. Entriva is a movement to bring simplicity and peace of mind to an entire market of travelers who are struggling to find a solution for travel preparation,” said Marc Kaplan, CEO, CIBT.
Travelers around the world became quickly acquainted with fast-changing travel requirements during the 2020 global pandemic. The most intrepid among them had a crash course in complicated entry requirements involving vaccination certificates and COVID-19 tests. Now, with the European Union planning to introduce new visa requirements and geopolitical situations constantly changing the diplomatic landscape, it’s helpful to have a single processor for visa and passport services that travelers can return to for future needs.
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The idea is that, rather than the traveler needing to directly contact an embassy or consular office when they’re in need of visa that Entriva will take over the process, using a combination of digital tools and live experts to validate applications prior to submission. It’s a service that was previously only available to top-flight corporate travel clients and other high-touch individuals like celebrities and diplomats.
“Proprietary research showed us that travelers generally experience high stress levels when planning and preparing for international trips,” said Raksa Nazryk, Chief Product Officer, CIBT and President, Entriva. “Travelers describe the ideal travel document experience as one that calms anxiety and builds on the excitement of the trip. Drawing on the expertise of CIBT, designing Entriva for the consumer audience was a natural evolution for the company.”
Visa Services
Travelers will create a profile to learn about the entry requirements for their destination and submit their documents as needed. The requirements for each country as updated in real-time, giving travelers a single source of information for their documentation needs. They can continue using their account to track the status of their applications, and Entriva will have experts available for live contact throughout the process.
The service will be available for travel to 190 countries, and plans to be “sensibly priced for leisure travelers”—offering plans starting at $30, with a variety of options designed for solo travelers, groups, and families traveling either to a single destination or on multi-country tours. Pricing will vary based on the origin, destination, and complexity of the itinerary. Entriva users can also keep all their data stored within their profile so that subsequent visa applications can be processed even faster.
U.S. travelers can enter 148 countries and territories visa-free. Among the countries that require an e-visa or a traditional visa, India, Kenya, Türkiye, Vietnam, and China are the most popular for U.S. travelers. E-visa applications are typically processed online, while traditional visas often require a courier to take the travelers passport to an embassy or consulate along with a paper application for processing.
There are complications, however, for dual nationals, non-citizens with U.S. permanent residence, and other uncommon situations, so those travelers might especially benefit from the expertise provided by a visa processing service like Entriva.
Passport Services
2023 has seen a surge in international travel bookings. AAA Travel reports that international travel from the United States is up more than 200% compared to 2022. The surge in international travel also caused a backlog of passport applications, leading to wait times longer than the routine eight to 11-week processing window.
Entriva’s passport services offer renewals as quickly as one to three days. However, it comes at a hefty price: for $599, passports will be handled within one week, and often within mere days. Travelers can go for less expensive options if they have the time: $499 within two weeks, and $199 for nine weeks (which is within the current U.S. passport processing window). However, Entriva promises a satisfactory outcome or they will refund their service fee.