visa
Americannoun
-
visas
plural
verb (used with object)
-
to give a visa to; approve a visa for.
-
to put a visa on (a passport).
noun
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an endorsement in a passport or similar document, signifying that the document is in order and permitting its bearer to travel into or through the country of the government issuing it
-
any sign or signature of approval
verb
-
to enter a visa into (a passport)
-
to endorse or ratify
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of visa
1830–40; < French, short for Latin carta vīsa “the document (has been) seen”; vīsa, feminine past participle of vidēre “to see, look at”
Explanation
A visa is a permit to enter a specific country. Without a visa, you might not be able to travel where you want. While you may know Visa as the name of a credit card company, a visa is a little different: it's an official authorization to enter a country. This is different from a passport, which is a type of identification geared toward international travel. A visa is a more specific form of authorization, allowing you to travel to a certain country. A visa may only last for a certain amount of time, and different countries have different standards for granting a visa.
Vocabulary lists containing visa
"Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began" by Art Spiegelman
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Greetings, World Traveler! — List 3
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Viewing Current Refugee Crisis Through an Anne Frank Lens
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The US State Department said the AI agent had filed 20 visa applications using a form on its website, but that they were incomplete and not processed, according to reports.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
The action by Vance’s antifraud task force targets Microsoft, Adobe and several tech recruiting companies over what officials have alleged are widespread abuses of the visa system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Amazon led the list, employing more than 13,000 H-1 B visa holders; Adobe had 777 approved applications.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Software firm Adobe was also being suspended from the visa program, he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
The government had issued him a ten-day visa to leave the country and accept the award.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Last year, Microsoft was the third-largest beneficiary of the program, with 6,258 H-1B visas, according to data from U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
France has long been a staging post for asylum seekers without visas hoping to cross the sea to Britain.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
And dozens of countries now offer visas designed to attract remote workers.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Under a 1947 agreement establishing the U.N. headquarters in New York, the U.S. agreed that it “shall not impose any impediments” on officials from member nations, including granting them visas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
From a distance, he spotted his wife, Barbara, and his parents, who had been granted travel visas from the Soviet government in order to attend the trial.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
The chamber needed two more copies of the original bill, which also had to be registered at the registration office and visaed by the price control office.
From Time Magazine Archive
Last week, for the first time since the War, Dutch frontier guards allowed Germans to enter the Netherlands without having their passports visaed.
From Time Magazine Archive
Hereafter peasants who may wish to move in from the country to Rovigno must apply for a permit 15 days in advance and have it visaed by the Chief of Police.
From Time Magazine Archive
Theirs was not an official military mission such as the Dutch or Swiss had accredited to the Control Council, but simply a purchasing mission with passports visaed by the Soviet occupation authorities.
From Time Magazine Archive
We have been traveling on horseback, since," Ralph said; "and have had no occasion to have it visaed, as it has always passed us without trouble.
From The Young Franc Tireurs And Their Adventures in the Franco-Prussian War by F. T. Young
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
