Welcome, $100 please: The countries with the weirdest entry requirements

Will there soon be a new hurdle when visiting Japan? Earlier this month, the country’s media reported that Tokyo is considering introducing a requirement for travellers to prove they have medical insurance – and that they don’t have a history of unpaid hospital bills – before entering the country.

As one of the most popular destinations on Earth, the Land of the Rising Sun has long had relaxed rules around tourism, allowing most Western nationals to obtain a visa upon arrival. But several cases of foreigners fleeing the country with unpaid medical bills has led to calls for a stricter approach.

While compulsory insurance would create more admin for travellers, the new rule wouldn’t make Japan too much of an outlier by international standards. For when it comes to entry requirements, there are plenty of examples of strange ones out there. Here are some of the most bizarre and extreme.

Take a COVID test: Turkmenistan

Keen travellers will shudder to recall the days when going abroad meant surrendering to cumbersome COVID testing rules and vaccine passports. But did you know there is one country that still requires international visitors to place a COVID swab up their nose on arrival?

It’s true that the former Soviet Republic of Turkmenistan is hardly a holiday destination. And when it comes to strange rules, the country is practically synonymous with autocratic eccentricities – such as renaming the days of the week at the whim of the president. But could there be some method in the madness on this one?

Turkmenistan probably isn’t the only country sitting on piles of unused flimsy PCR tests since the pandemic.

But how many other countries have found a way of offloading them on international visitors at the princely sum of $US31 ($47)?

Sign a climate pledge: Palau

For understandable reasons, tiny island nations tend to take sustainability seriously. But in 2017, the Micronesian nation of Palau (population 18,000) took things a step further by requiring all international visitors to sign a special environmental pledge committing them to “tread lightly” and minimise their carbon footprint during their time on Palau.

As with a lot of climate stunts, the jury is out as to whether it adds up to more than a clever gesture. But at least it leaves travellers with a nice talking point, given the signed pledge is affixed to the pages of their passport as a novel souvenir.

Pay $US100 tourist tax: Bhutan

Tourist taxes are all the rage in Europe these days. But the controversial charges levied by Venice and Amsterdam among others look positively puny compared with that of Bhutan, which has imposed a $US100 daily fee on international tourists (excluding those from neighbouring India) to be paid upon arrival.

Unsurprisingly, Bhutan’s “sustainable development fee” (to give it its proper name) is the highest tourism tax in the world. Despite that, the country’s prime minister, Tshering Tobgay, insists the hefty charge is welcomed by adventurous travellers who come to marvel at the kingdom’s breathtaking landscapes.

“Most tourists are delighted that they can play a small part – a small, meaningful part – in the sustainable development of Bhutan,” he told a US news network this spring.

Provide proof of parental permission: Canada

In the era of widespread international travel, the abduction of children by a parent has become a serious problem, with countries around the world co-operating to stop spurned parents from taking their offspring out of the reach of their ex-partner.

That said, few countries take such a proactive approach to the problem as Canada, which advises that any parent travelling alone with their child (or children) bring a letter from their spouse proving the arrangement is consensual.

In theory, it’s a clever safeguard against parental kidnapping. In practice, it’s the sort of unexpected requirement that could also trip up unsuspecting travellers with perfectly innocent intentions.

Leave chewing gum (and handcuffs) at home: Singapore

Singapore’s “zero tolerance” approach to chewing gum has been part of travel folklore for decades. What is less well known, though, are the similar prohibitions on Christmas crackers and (ahem) handcuffs, both of which are taken equally seriously.

One benefit to Singapore’s strictness is that it presumably encourages travellers to check the bags – and the rules – carefully before their trip. Given the city state’s extremely tough rules on drugs, including some prescription medicines, that is probably a good thing.

Hire a tour guide (with one exception): North Korea

Most people are aware that the only way into North Korea is to sign up for one of those tightly controlled propaganda tours that have become a fixation for a certain type of adventure tourist. But did you know there is an exception?

For all its embrace of authoritarian socialism, the hermit kingdom contains a semi-capitalist “special economic zone”, where foreign investment is welcomed and entry requirements are considerably lighter for foreign nationals.

Getting to the city of Rason isn’t easy, given you’ll have to obtain a Chinese visa first and make your way to the North Korean border. But if you’re looking for novel entry requirements, it must be one of the most counterintuitive on Earth.

The Telegraph, London