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There are endless reasons why high school students should get a chance to study abroad. You learn a new culture, improve your foreign language skills, get hands-on experience, boost your resume and enjoy being independent for the first time.

 

The process of going abroad after choosing a study abroad program requires adequate preparation. This includes having all required documents read. Forgetting essential documents can result in unnecessary inconveniences. Here are the essential documents when traveling to study abroad.

 

Passport

A passport is an important document when traveling abroad whether to study or for other purposes. The passport verifies your identity and nationality. It grants you safe passage and protection while in a foreign country. And, you have to present your passport various times at the airport when flying and at the border when traveling by car.

 

To get your passport, you have to apply early enough before your travel date. The process of acquiring a passport can take about 10 weeks or more to get it in the mail. You have to check the passport requirements of the country you’re planning to travel to. Some can ask that the passport should be about six months old before your trip.

 

Student Visa

The student visa is endorsed in your government passport. It permits foreign students to study in any institution in a foreign country. You have to obtain a student visa as a requirement to study abroad. When wondering how to study abroad in high school, getting the appropriate visa should top your list of things to do.

 

Every country has particular visa requirements for students. You have to contact your country’s embassy to get details on how to obtain the student visa for the country you wish to travel to. A good idea is to apply for the visa about two months before your travel date. Getting the visa might require you to show proof of financial support, intent to leave the country after completing your studies, a valid passport, and an acceptance letter from the educational institution.

 

Proof of vaccination

With the coronavirus still in our midst, it is very important to have proof of vaccination. The rule of thumb is to check the vaccination requirements of your destination country. This is because there were other vaccination requirements before the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

You have to keep your COVID-19 vaccination passport at all times. In some countries, you need proof of vaccination for yellow fever or malaria.  Getting the appropriate vaccinations makes your travel hassle-free and protect you from preventable disease.

 

Proof of age

For proof of your age, you need a birth certificate. It is an essential travel document when going abroad. However, you can use it as an identification document in some situations. Traveling with a birth certificate will help you access some places like clubs or purchase particular items like liquor. You have to check the requirements in your destination country such as attestation requirements for the birth certificate.

 

Health clearance form

Countries don’t have the same medical facilities. So, there’s a chance that your host country’s health care system is sub-par. It is very important to ensure that you won’t get health complications while abroad. Therefore, students traveling abroad need to have a health clearance form. This verifies that you are mentally and physically fit to study in a foreign country.

 

The clearance form also ensures that your health care needs align with those present in the foreign country. Additionally, it verifies that you can live in a different setting from that you’ve been used to. And that you won’t get complications that might aggravate your health condition. The medical practitioner will review your overall health and will indicate on the clearance form any special medical requirements you might need.

 

How to keep your essential documents safe while abroad

After knowing which documents to carry when traveling abroad, it is equally important to understand how to keep them safe. Losing them will result in stressful and inconveniencing moments. Here are some tips to keep your documents safe.

• Make photocopies of every document
• Save a copy of every document on your devices
• Keep a soft copy on your flash drive
• Keep hard copies of your documents in a file
• Move with your passport, visa, and birth certificate all the time
• Carry a copy of your ID

Traveling abroad can be a very exciting moment. However, you need to plan to save yourself stress when you’ve embarked on your journey. You have to prepare your passport, student visa, birth certificate, and health clearance form. Another important document you can’t forget to move with today is proof of COVID-19 vaccination.