Design And Implementation Of An Online Visa Processing System

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

A visa (from the Latin charta visa, meaning “paper which has been seen”) is a conditional authorization granted by a country (typically to a foreigner) to enter and temporarily remain within, or to leave that country. Visas typically include limits on the duration of the foreigner’s stay, territory within the country they may enter, the dates they may enter, or the number of permitted visits. Visas are associated with the request for permission to enter a country and thus are, in some countries, distinct from actual formal permission for an alien to enter and remain in the country. In each instance, a visa is subject to entry permission by an immigration official at the time of actual entry and can be revoked at any time.

A visa is most commonly a sticker endorsed in the applicant’s passport or other travel document. The visa, when required, was historically granted by an immigration official on a visitor’s arrival at the frontiers of a country, but increasingly today a traveller wishing to enter another country must apply in advance for a visa, sometimes in person at a consular office, by mail or over the internet. The actual visa may still be a sticker or a stamp in the passport or may take the form of a separate document or an electronic record of the authorisation, which the applicant can print before leaving home and produce on entry to the host country. Some countries do not require visas for short visits.

Some countries require that their citizens, as well as foreign travelers, obtain an “exit visa” to be allowed to leave the country. Uniquely, the Norwegian special territory of Svalbard is an entirely visa-free zone under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty.

Some countries such as those in the Schengen Area have agreements with other countries allowing each other’s citizens to travel between them without visas. The World Tourism Organization announced that the number of tourists who require a visa before traveling was at its lowest level ever in 2015

1.2. Statement of Problem

Manual systems of visa registration always put pressure on people to be correct in all aspect of their work. With manual systems the level of service is dependent on individuals and this puts a requirement on management to run training continuously for staff to keep them motivated and to ensure they are following the correct procedures. It can be all too easy to accidentally switch details and end up with inconsistency in data entry or in hand written orders. This has the effect of not just causing problems with customer service but also making information unable be used for reporting or finding trends with data discovery. Reporting and checking that data is also a problem and can be time consuming and expensive.

Other problems found during manual visa registration system are:

Inconsistency in data entry, room for errors, miskeying information.

Long term visa issue.

System is dependent on good individuals.

Reduction in sharing information and customer services.

Time consuming and costly to produce reports.

Lack of security of data.

Duplication of data entry.

High cost

Fraud

1.3. Aim and Objectives of the Study

The main aim of the study is to design an online visa processing system to ease the visa application process. To achieve the stated aim, the following specific objectives were laid out:

To design a computerized system for online application.

The system should receive payments from users in form of bank transfer, PayPal or otherwise

The system should display the visa application status to users.

1.4. Significance of the Study

The study will aid in reducing errors, fraud, increase speed and also aid growth in organizations if successfully implemented. Manual visa registration systems in organizations will be totally eliminated with this computerized system in place. The study will also serve as a guide to other student researchers who may want to conduct further research on the subject matter. Findings and recommendations from this system will aid in developing newer versions to serve optimally.

1.5 Motivation of the Study

From all the flaws noticed from the manual method of visa application management, it can be deduced that implementing computerized visa system is of great importance. This project is not narrowed down to embassies but also an applicant as it saves cost, time and business identity. The system is not a liability in any sense because there is no extra cost of usage and money paid for unskilled persons in charge of visa application collection and collation will be downsized or stopped.

1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study

The scope of this study is centered on the design and implementation of an online visa registration system. Web-based technologies

Limitation

Financial constraint

Insufficient fund tends to obstruct the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint

The researcher will at the same time engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.7 Project Methodology

This system underwent all the stages of system development lifecycle (SDLC). According to the nature of this system and the data collected, a waterfall methodology was used to develop this system. This methodology included the following stages: feasibility study, requirement analysis and specification design, coding, testing, integration then maintenance. Each phase required a different amount of effort and every phase had a well-defined starting and point. Every phase had to be completed before beginning the next stage.

The waterfall methodology was worthwhile because this approach produced a complete quality system and error-free system due to the fact that every phase had to be completed before the next one began thus leaving no phase unattended. However, according to the data collected on the user requirements, there was a clear understanding of the user requirement hence no doubt on what was to be developed. Similarly, the approach was also less costly since there was no repeating of a process once completed and thus minimized wastage of resources as compared to other approaches such as the rapid prototyping methods.

1.8 Definition of Terms

Visa Management covers every step in the visa application procedure—from fee payment and appointment scheduling to background checks, registration of personal details, biometrics capture, and the printing of visas—everywhere in the world.

Embassies: a body of diplomatic representatives specifically one headed by an ambassador to grant people access into a country

Software specification: is a document that describes what the software will do and how it will be expected to perform. It also describes the functionality the product needs to fulfill all stakeholders (business, users) needs.