orizn-visa-mcp

Orizn Visa API MCP Server

Orizn Visa API MCP Server is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives an AI assistant the visa and entry requirements for any passport/destination pair, answered in 15 languages.

Coverage grows: rather than print a number here that goes stale, the get_coverage_stats tool reads it live from the API (also public at https://visa.orizn.app/api/v1/visa/stats).

It answers questions like "do I need a visa to go from France to Japan", "what documents does a US citizen need for China", "can I leave the airport during a layover in Istanbul on an Indian passport" — with data, not a guess.

Compatibility

The server speaks MCP over stdio and runs on Node.js 18 or later. It works with any MCP client that can launch a stdio server, including Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor. The configuration block below is the same for all of them.

Install

npx orizn-visa-mcp

Nothing to build, nothing to clone. Add it to your MCP client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "orizn-visa": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "orizn-visa-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart the client, then ask: "Do I need a visa to go from France to Japan?" — that works with no API key, 10 checks a day.

For everything else (documents, fees, processing times, transit rules, 15 languages), add a free key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "orizn-visa": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "orizn-visa-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ORIZN_API_KEY": "orizn_visa_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

The key can also be passed as an argument, which takes precedence over the environment variable:

npx orizn-visa-mcp --api-key orizn_visa_...

Example questions

• "Do I need a visa to travel from France to Thailand?"
• "What documents do I need as a US citizen visiting China?"
• "Compare Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia for a Brazilian passport."
• "Can I leave the airport during a 12h layover in Istanbul on a Chinese passport?"
• "How much does a Schengen visa cost for a Filipino passport holder?"
• "Which vaccinations do I need to enter Brazil with a French passport?"
• "What's the fine if I overstay my Thai visa by 3 days?"
• "Does Portugal have a digital nomad visa, and what does it cost?"
• "Réponds en français : ai-je besoin d'un visa pour le Japon avec un passeport marocain ?"

Tools

Tool	Arguments	What it returns	Plan
check_visa_requirement	passport, destination, lang	Full entry requirements for one passport into one destination: requirement type, days allowed, documents, application steps, fees, processing times, passport validity, photo specs, vaccinations, insurance, safety advisory, overstay penalties, entry by air/land/sea, remote-work visa, extension and minor rules, embassies.	Any key
quick_visa_check	passport, destination	One line: the requirement code, the number of visa-free days, and the date the pair was last verified. No documents, no fees, no translation.	None — 10/day keyless, unlimited with any key
compare_destinations	passport, destinations (1–25), lang	Up to 25 destinations for one passport side by side: requirement, visa-free days, description, passport validity, fee, safety, health, vaccinations, insurance, entry by mode, remote-work visa. Each destination returned counts as one request.	Starter or above
check_transit_visa	passport, transit_country, lang	Layover rules only: whether the traveller may stay airside or leave the airport while connecting, and how many free transit hours the main hubs grant.	Starter or above
get_coverage_stats	none	Size of the database: pairs, passports, destinations, translations, languages, and the distribution of requirement types. Says nothing about a specific pair.	None
get_recent_changes	passport, destination, since, limit (all optional)	Visa rules that changed recently, with the source that reported them and the date. The feed is currently off — see below.	None

Country codes are ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 (FRA, JPN, USA), not alpha-2.

requirement is one of visa_free, visa_required, e_visa, visa_on_arrival, eta, no_admission, plus the rarer partial_restrictions, admission_refused, not_applicable and special.

Resource

visa://supported-languages — the 15 codes accepted by lang, available on every plan including free: en fr es pt de ja ko zh ru it ar hi th vi tl.

get_recent_changes returns nothing on purpose

Orizn's policy-change feed is switched off. It was serving inconsistencies detected between two internal Orizn tables as if they were official policy changes, so it now returns HTTP 503 and this tool degrades to:

{ "status": "unavailable", "changes": [], "do_not_conclude": "This is NOT evidence that no visa rules changed..." }

The tool is shipped in this state deliberately: an empty, clearly-labelled answer is the honest one, and the tool starts returning real entries the day the feed runs on verified official sources — at which point entries without a named source and a date are withheld rather than shown.

Authentication and free tier

quick_visa_check, get_coverage_stats and get_recent_changes work with no API key at all. Keyless quick_visa_check is capped at 10 checks per day — the same allowance visa.orizn.app gives an anonymous visitor. Past that the tool says so and points at the free key rather than failing silently. The cap is per running server process and resets at 00:00 UTC.

The other three tools need an API key, sent as the x-api-key header to https://visa.orizn.app/api/v1/visa.

Get a free one at visa.orizn.app/visa-api — no credit card. The free tier is 100 requests/month (5 until you confirm your email address) and includes the core fields and all 15 languages. On the free plan the deeper fields — fees, processing days, photo specs, vaccinations, insurance, transit visas, entry by mode, overstay penalties, remote-work visas, embassies — come back as an {"upgrade": "..."} placeholder, and compare_destinations and check_transit_visa are gated.

Starter is $49/month for 30,000 requests and unlocks all of it, with a commercial licence: upgrade. Higher-volume plans are listed on the pricing page.

Pass the key in the env block of the MCP config — MCP clients do not inherit your shell environment, so exporting ORIZN_API_KEY in a terminal is not enough.

Check a key without any MCP client:

curl -H "x-api-key: $ORIZN_API_KEY" \
  "https://visa.orizn.app/api/v1/visa/check?passport=FRA&destination=JPN"

{ "passport": "FRA", "destination": "JPN", "requirement": "visa_free", "visa_free_days": 90 }

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
"No Orizn API key"	Expected on the key-only tools. quick_visa_check still answers. To lift it, put the key in the env block of the config file — not your shell — then restart the client
"Keyless daily limit reached"	The 10 free checks for today are spent. A free key removes the cap
HTTP 403, "check ORIZN_API_KEY for typos"	Key is wrong, revoked, or has whitespace
HTTP 403, "requires Starter plan or above"	Right key, wrong plan — this tool is paid
HTTP 429	Monthly quota spent
HTTP 404 on a real country	Use alpha-3 codes (FRA, JPN), not alpha-2 (FR, JP)
Nothing works at all	Call get_coverage_stats — it needs no key. If that fails too, it is the network
get_recent_changes returns an empty list	Expected — the feed is being rebuilt. It does not mean the rules are unchanged

Links

• Website — visa.orizn.app
• API documentation — visa.orizn.app/visa-api/dashboard/docs
• Get a free key — visa.orizn.app/visa-api
• GitHub — github.com/MattJeff/orizn-mcp-server
• Support — [email protected]

License

MIT