Mauritania and Mali VISA at Rabat
 

Hi,


Does anyone have recent information on how long are these embassies taking for issuing VISAs in Rabat? Last year, Mauritania was taking 3 days; any change?

And what about Mali embassy in Nouakchott? Is is it possible to take a VISA there? Does anyone have GPS coordinates for it?

Thanks,
José

Accoding to this page there is a Mali consulate in Nouakchott
Ave de Palais des Congres
N18°06.48' W15°58.73'
Two photos and photo copy of passport, 6500UM. Visas issued in as little as an hour.

Ch

Thanks Chris!
Should have checked the Mali page on STI...

Cheers,
José

Picked up my mauri visa in Rabat 2 weeks ago. Leave your passport in the morning of day 1, pick it up in the afternoon of day 2. I managed to get 3 months. 680 dhs.

Visited embassy of Mauritania today. Arrived at 8 AM. Already a long line, mostly black Africans and Moroccans driving down cars. Two Mauritanian guys, who seem to work for the embassy, were already issuing numbers. I got number 47! In the end more than 100 people were waiting. At 11 AM the embassy closed. Only about 60 people could apply, but at some days only 40, I heard. So I was lucky. The rest had to come back tomorrow, but were not guaranteed a position high on the list. That's for the people showing up first in the morning. So best go there already at 7AM.

Hopefully my visa is ready tomorrow. But I do not think I will apply again in Rabat. One Italian I met was already waiting since friday and was also today not able to apply. Next time I will opt for the Mauritanian embassy in Brussels, I think, through an agency. A lot more expensive, but a lot less hassle.

hi,
let us know if you get it today/tomorrow.
thanks for informations!

Mauri visa v quick in Rabat
 

Hi there
We just got our visa's for Mauritania in Rabat on Thursday 1 Nov. Dropped passports off early Wednesday morning, filled application form in while waiting in the queue, paid our 640dr each - picked passports complete with visa Thurs at 3pm. No problems.

Gemma

640 dirham each? That is triple what I paid last time.

340 dirham each
 

Sorry , typo. They were 340 dr each total 680. That was only option. Everyone paid the same.:(

Mauri visa in Casablanca?
 

Due to bike problems we couldn't use our visa in time so need another! Boo

We are closer to Casablanca than Rabat.

anyone know if possible to get visa there rather than go back to Rabat?

Cheers

HI All!

Got our Mauritanian visas in Rabat on 12.12.2012.

They are now issuing 100 visas per day.

There is a number system in place. We arrived at 0600 and were number 26 and 27 in the queue. (Quite a lot of people slept in cars outside the embassy)

Embassy opened at 0800 and a fairly orderly process of filling applications followed. Submit: application form (fill in the bits you can, we left some blank), 2 passport photos; copy of passport and copy of Morocco entry stamp (not sure if this was really needed, but anyway some seemed to think it was).

There seems to have been a change - the start date of the visa is now the date you put on the application form, rather than the date of issue. This is a big help. 30 days validity.

Picked up visa same day in the afternoon. Queue started forming before 1500, embassy opened at 1530 and we reached the front of the queue at 1545.

There is more information on our blog - please do have a look.
Obtaining visas � Kapp 2 Cape

rgds
Sheelah

Thanks Sheelah!! That's an interesting improvement!! I hope it's still working next month!

System for visas has broken down again.

I arrived on Wednesday to the photocopy and photo stationary shop opposite the petrol station on avenue Mohamed VI. The man in the stationary shop gave me copies of the application form.

On Thursday morning at 7:00am I arrived. A man was issuing numbers. I was 98. Two Japanese arrived at 3:00am and were numbers 27-28. The man issuing numbers does not work for the Embassy. However his fake Hugo-Boss outfit and clipboard was sufficient to hold some authority over the line. He took cash to let people go ahead of the queue. By 9:30am only 46 people had been processed, the queue was chaos, a knot of people were at the door to the embassy and the embassy decided to shut shop.

The next day, Friday, I arrived at 02:00am. I was number 48 with about 20 people hanging around. People were going on the list from 21:00 the previous night - then going home to return in the morning. Hugo-Boss was there organising his list. Then a Moroccan guy wanting a visa, tough cookie that looked military, turned up at 3am and tore up the list, announced that the age of lists is over, no scammers or agents allowed, only legitimate applications by said applicants that are prepared to slog it out in a queue. By 8am the queue was enormous. A German and American played bouncer to keep the line in order, preventing visa agents from pushing their way in. Everyone got seen but there was no list.

There was confusion as to when to collect the visa. The form says for Friday collect at 12:30. The queue began at 12:00. The doors were opened at 16:30. A throng of frustrated applicants tried to by-pass the queue and rush the door. The embassy shut the doors for another 30minutes cool down. It was not until 6:30 that everyone had collected. Some people had their visa dates wrong - the embassy made the corrections there and then which was good of them. One guy had no stamp on his visa. Another was given the wrong passport back. All mistakes were corrected.

I submitted on advise,
2 x photocopy of passport Photo/data
1 x photocopy of passport Morocco entry stamp
2 x photos in colour (and b/w for my daughter)
1 x application form filled out
My passport

Others did not submit copies of the entry stamp, or duplicate copies of the passport photo/data - this was not a problem - nobody's application was rejected.

The photos must be glued/stapled to the form.
Some sections of the form can be left blank e.g. who is your home contact in Mauritania.

For where are you staying, I put down an address of a hotel from LP.

My form had alot of crossing outs and scribbles, not a problem.

Touts standing opposite the embassy can sell copies of the form and provide ink and staples.

I guess overall there are good days and bad days.
But they do still issue visas,as Sheelah stated, on the date requested by the applicant e.g. 45 days from now.

Just a tip - monday mornings are crazy. Came back tuesday at 2 a.m. Had café touba with the senegalese and became nr 3 on the list. At 8 a.m. sharp they opened and closed with no 59, as they had reached one hundred applicants.

New year
 

any ideas on opening times at new year? and what about fridays? if they issue visas at 3:30, the embassy closes at mid day ? or?

am planning to go on monday 31st. hope for the best.
some one wrote above, visa issued same day?

2013-January-02 update for Mauritania visa in Rabat
 

Background:
- read Lonely Planet Thorn Tree (LPTT) frequently, but late Dec LPTT is CLOSED, so looked for another source.
- only found this thread last night when searched for... Mauritania AND Mali ...did not find it searching on only Mauritania (probably on search results page xx)
- Before reading The Hubb comments, intended to arrive MAUR. embassy at 6:30 or 7:00h which i thought would be good enough considering this other traveler Brendan (google "Brendan's Adventures Africa Mauritania visa") who arrived at 8:00h and had no problem.

But, after reading this thread, people arriving at 5 or 3 and not getting visa...well, i headed there and arrived 4:30h.


Facts/Situation:
1. At 4:30h i was #6, but 6 people in camper van, so i was #12. At about8:00h, about 40 to 45 people there
2. 1 person does NOT equal one passport/Visa. A few people, of the people i spoke with, represented multiple passports
3. Opening time: 7:30h .... wow! (not 9h , not 8h)
4. Documents
(a) passport
(b) passport id pages ... 1 copy only
(c) photos ... 2
(d) copy of Morocco Visa registration number/stamp page ... not sure if required ... i did not hand it over at first and asked if it was needed and the Embassy officer did not even answer... and did not even look at it , just added to the other pages and stapled all together
(e) application form .... the Embassy does not hand these out (well, not before 8am). Instead, there's a man 4 metres across the street selling them for 10 MAD ... i think you can find it on internet and print
PUT SOME ANSWER IN EVERY QUESTION, especially PAGE 2 ... many Moroccans and one Spaniard were sent away as their applications were "incomplete"/"missing information". Funny thing, for a couple of us from English-speaking countries, the officer barely looked at our info
(f) Entry Date ... couldn't quite figure out on the application form if it was the Date on bottom of page 1 or middle of page 2 ... i asked and the officer hand-wrote my date at bottom of page 1... although now i am going to try to phone the embassy to change the date to earlier ...just read about mold/dirty/filthy hostels in Essouria and cockroaches in Casablanca and figure to leave Morocco sooner
(g) cost: MAD 340 for Tourist, Ordinary(30 day) visa .... apparebtly there still is a Transit Visa, but no one has mentioned the price, and why should a 3 or 5 or 7 day Transit visa cost the same as a 30 day 'full' visa ?


5. Visa/Passport collection: same day , at 15:00h


6. Transportation from Medina area to "embassies area" (Souissi) ... bus #66 , and possibly other buses. On return, took bus #26 on road Mohammed VI (main road perpendicular to the embassy road) which stops
near Medina with easy 5 or so minutes walking. Cost of bus: MAD 4.00

Taxis charge 50% surcharge from 21:00h to 06:00h (apparently factored into the meter price, because all you pay is the meter price). And after 6:00h , buses are available, so , your choice.

Ok, now for my attempt to phone the embassy to change the Entry Date

well, i connected with the embassy by phone, but...
 

the embassy is apparently very efficient, since at 12h-ish, they have already "scanned" the passports and prepared the visas.

This phone number below works

(+212) (537) 65 66 78
so, i guess i have to stay some extra days in Morocco ... maybe sleeping in my tent is the most clean option for sea-side towns IF there is some organized camping place (otherwise, a solo tent in some location, not good for safety) ... one part of me just wants to get out of morocco , not wanting more filth/dirt/mold.

its all true. i was with the guy above. in fact the hardest part of the whole situation was finding the bus to go pick up the visa. took a taxi back. 20MAD for 2 is ok. and a bus 26A back.
and really..... rabat is quite ok. a hassle free place.cheap food.
YHA is 60. clean. hotel marrakech is 80 for very clean and pink walls.

Kicking off in Mali????

France joins fight against Mali Islamists, Hollande says - MALI - FRANCE - FRANCE 24

Madness at the Rabat Mauri embassy!!!
 

Absolute madhouse this morning!! They started at about 8:30 and by 9:00 had closed as they had gone over the 100 limit. We hung around hopefully until 11:00 together with scores of other people. Tomorrow will be "interesting"!!!

90% of the applicants when I applied were car dealers mostly Senegalese.
If they don't sped up the process it may become hard or impossible to get the visa in Rabat.

Is it possible to get the maur visa at the border from morocco?

No!

Not a chance!!!
I crossed the border two days ago (with a visa from Rabat) and asked the question. The reply was Rabat.

The "customs" officers at Diama - yesterday - charged the usual 250 euros for a 3-day passavant for my 1999 Mondeo, after the normal three hours of negotiations!!

Mauritanian visa in Rabat; Update from July 2013
 

Hello HUBB. First post here from new HUBB members travelling from Denmark to Ghana on two KLR650's.

We referred to this thread quite a bit before leaving, but it has been quiet for a while, so we wanted to post an update based on our experience on June 2, 2013. Since January, it seems that the process for obtaining a Mauritania visa has been significantly improved. We posted a more details version of our experience here (Mauritania visa in Rabat | Holt and Melton Constable) but the main points are:

* The application includes: a form that is handed out around 8:45am (it has both a front and a back, and you must use this form since it is now signed and dated by the embassy), one photocopy of your passport (black and white is fine), two passport photos, and your passport.

* Applications are accepted starting at 9am. Pick-up is the same day at 3pm.

* You can line up before 9am, but note that this line will be disbanded later. We arrived at 7am to wait in line, and we were around #7 (our line established numbers since there's no official numbering system). The people in front of us seemed to have slept in their cars the night before, and even some of the people who slept in their cars went into line behind us. It was relatively calm and organized. At around 8:45am, someone from the embassy will open the door and hand out applications, which are now dated and signed (you can NOT fill out the application ahead of time). Then, the original line disbanded and essentially meant nothing. The real line starts once you have the application form and have filled it out (you have to get back in line).

* There are two lines: one for men (right side of the door behind the red and white railing) and one for women (left side of the door). The order theoretically goes: 1 man, 1 woman, 1 man, 1 woman, etc. (although sometimes they let all the women go first since there aren't that many women there). This is true for both applying for the visas and for picking up your passports. Since we are traveling as a couple, we could take advantage of the line for women and we got our application in and picked up our passports very quickly.

* There doesn't appear to be a limit on the number of visas handed out, or at this point of the year they don't appear to be reaching this limit. We met someone who got his application in at 11am (he was the last application that day because they stop accepting applications at 11am, not because of an application limit)

* The embassy has cracked down on hawkers – there were only two guys there who mostly were helping people fill in the form if they didn’t understand it. You need to get an application form from the embassy yourself because each form is signed and dated.

* It seems that one person = one passport now.

In summary, the process for getting a Mauritanian visa in Rabat seems to be much easier and more reliable than it was in January 2013. We don’t know if this is because it is low season or Ramadan is approaching, but we’re going to credit the Mauritanian Embassy with cleaning up the visa application process significantly. It was a relatively painless and straightforward process and can be accomplished in the same day.

mauri visa
 

We crossed Mauri border at no mans land on the 8th Nov 2013 and outside customs is a paper advertising cost of visa for Mauri 2 different prices one for arabs and one for Europeans the cost here is higher than in Rabat I think the single entry price was 50 euro but it was possible to get your visa at the border after crossing. We got ours in rabat applied in the morning opens at 9 no big queue then, returned at 15:00 started to queue at 14:00 by 15:00 the queue was huge got our visas by 16:30 price was 340 dirham single entry.