In order to vs If you wanted to

Question

I've read that In order to is often followed by would in hypothetical sense.

Here are two sentences:

In order to visit America, you would first need a visa.

If you wanted to visit America, you would first need a visa.

Do these both sentence mean the same?

If they mean the same,

It could be:

In order to=If you wanted to

could you tell me what how should I understand it ?

My openion about this is as follows:

'In order to' is followed by 'would'.

In order to do sth . .. . You/I/She/he would do sth. . . . .

here, 'In order to' means a purpose, purpose itself is hypothetical. That's why 'In order to' is followed by 'would', right?

For example: "In order to pass in first division, you would need to study hard."

In this sentence, In order to pass in first devision' is not planned, only imagained or hypothetical. That's why it follows 'would' , Right?

Answer 1

They are sometimes similar in usage, but I wouldn't say they're identical. In order to means something like "for the purpose of" or "so that you can" or "as a means to accomplish".

For example, "In order to show how the motor works, we have taken off the cover." Obviously, that isn't quite the same as "if you wanted to", but since a goal or purpose that you are trying to accomplish is something that you want, they do mean something similar.