As a resident of a specific country that cannot help itself but cause wars and doom for all of its citizens, we do not have many countries that we can travel to visa-free. This is troublesome for many reasons, but usually, it all gets resolved within several weeks because you just book a visit to the embassy and submit your documents.
For example, when I applied for a Japanese student visa, I didn't even have to book an appointment. I just came to the embassy, submitted my documents, waited 2 weeks, and claimed my passport. This was easy, and I would recommend their embassy in Moscow to anyone, since all the Japanese workers there are really friendly and genuinely helpful. (Extra credit goes to the Russian security guy, who actually helped me fill out some documents that I did not understand.)
This system does not apply to many countries, however. They heavily rely on outsourced visa application handling, especially through VFS Global. In my humble opinion, VFS Global holds a monopoly