Regarding this part of what is an acceptable visit:
"After consideration as to how long one must have stayed in a country or territory to qualify, it was decided that even the shortest visit would suffice — even if only a port-of-call, or a plane fuel stop, provided that you disembark from your aircraft, ship, or vehicle and set foot in the territory."
Does anyone know/remember whether this has been changed at some point to include this last part "provided that you disembark from your aircraft, ship, or vehicle and set foot in the territory."
I have a vague(?) memory that at some point this addition was not there.
I'm totally for it, but as I in the past calculated my visits based on this rule without the "provided" part, I now need to substract one country and as I have been publishing my numbers in my travel blog I'd like to explain at the same time that this changes is because of this addition.
Or then, the rule has always been like this, and I just didn't get it right a few years ago ...
Br, Pirkko Schildt, Finland
Replies
Almost three years ago now, in response to member questions for clarification on the topic. There was also an article in the December 2012 Centurian on this, which was also just a response to commonly asked questions, not a change in rules. Thanks for your question though as it shows there is still some question on the topic.
So this was updated at some point? Probably after I last read this part, which might have been several months ago.
It wasn't so much a change as a clarification. We often refer to it as the "feet on the ground" rule, which in itself has caused some confusion as we have been asked if bringing ground from a place onto a ship and standing on that counts. It does not.