After leaving Rabat with only one visa (fortunately/unfortunately I have to go back through anyway) I realized that my original layout wasn't nearly as helpful as I wanted it to be, so I revised the first post with the cities you hit as you progress and which visas you can/should get at each stop.

Again, any further information please share so I can update!

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Nigeria visa in Accra. Any over-landers (non-Ghana-resident) with experience since late 2012?

Spoke with Embassy (High Commission) just now.
Administration Fee for Residency removed since late 2012 (confirms Japanese travelers' mention)
BUT according to Embassy Officer (EO) on phone
(1) they are strictly adhering to not issuing visas to non-residents. The EO told me my situation is more negative than positive, because of the non-residency status
(2) can submit application and write out your situation, but no guarantee
(3) Visa fee must be paid in advance and is non-refundable, whether visa issued or not

Any over-landers (non-Ghana-resident) with experience since late 2012?

Visa cost is good (only USD 55.00, payable at Guaranty Trust Bank so it seems currency doesn't matter as bank would tell you the equivalent of USD 55 in CFA/EUR/etc) BUT this non-refundability and the EO on phone saying the non-residency is a problem suggest the outcome is not in an over-land traveler's favor ... maybe that's what they want you to think?


note to AJCTraveller: why would you get the Nigeria visa in Bamako -- some person got it there but it was CFA 135,000 .. crazy price! (tho' it was 1 year). There is "getting visas" and "getting visas... efficiently"

Hi,
We will post a detailed visa update on our website tomorrow under the blog section!

Team Indlovu

Okay, blog updated on our website with visa summmary Indlovu

We've also just posted a brief summmary of best ways to get the 'tough' visas here: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...286#post414675

Happy travels!

Anton and Tina
Indlovu

Just got my Guinea visa in Rabat. Very friendly, dropped off at 0930, it was ready at 1430. For an American, a 3 month visa was $100 or 850 dirhem. Their quality control is a bit lacking, because I very clearly specified to the english speaking interviewer that I wanted a three month, two entry visa starting at a specific date. What I ended up with was a three month, single entry visa from today! I don't think I need double entry, and the three months was only to give me flexibility, which is a good thing in retrospect.

Tried to drop off at the Burkina embassy down the road at 2:30, but the woman wasn't having it. Said to come back at 9am. I'm going to see how helpful they are in the morning, otherwise I may just start heading south and deal with the Burkina visa in Dakar..

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Got Burkina Faso in Rabat today. Dropped off at 0830 and it was ready same day at 1330. Friendly staff, 525 dirhem for a 90 day multiple entry visa. 90 day single entry was 405 dirhem.

What they needed:

2 application forms filled out
3 photos
passport copy
ID copy
hotel reservation
letter of intent or invitation. (I just put a few lines of nonsense in english and a google translation into french below that)

I am now thinking that I'll go for Ivory Coast here in Rabat tomorrow so that I can avoid Dakar completely.. Anybody have coordinates for the embassy or is it in the same area as the rest? I wish I'd thought of this yesterday and stopped by today :/

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Got my Ivory Coast visa in Nouakchott. It was expensive at 130 euro for a 3 month, multiple entry visa, but it was done in two hours without any reservation or invitation required. 2 photos, form filled out and it was completed by time I drove to the bank and had lunch.

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Where is embassy located, I can't find it on CI webpages nor on GE maps of Nkt?

Thanks, Peter.

The embassies in Nouakchott are a clusterfcuk..

It's behind the Air France compound though. Ask for directions there, it's on a main road and people should be able to find it easily.

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=A...p=1&sz=18&z=18

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Got my Guinea Bissau visa in Ziguinchor. Super easy, took about ten minutes and cost 20,000 francs, about $40. One picture needed, they filled out the form for me and all I had to do was sign. It almost felt too easy to be a real visa application. The visa itself is more official looking than most in my passport though.

Crossing into Bissau illicited a couple of bogus charges and the checkpoints are pretty annoying, but nothing too much. Had a passavant issued in Santo Domingo for a few dollars.

The countryside is beautiful, Bissau on the other hand is a mess. If I trusted this place with my truck I might explore the islands, but at this point I'm not keen to stick around any longer than I need to to pick up a couple of more visas, hopefully..

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Got my Nigerian visa today in Bissau. Stopped in yesterday to inquire and the ambassador seemed amiable, and chatted for a few minutes, told me to come back today at 10am.

55,000 francs for a 30 day post-dated visa
one photo
form filled out

Dropped off at 10am, ready at 1:30!

I tried the embassy in Bakau, Gambia earlier this week, but they wanted me to be a resident and tons of other information, avoid that place for sure.

Thanks to team indlovu for the tip, not sure I'd have ended up at this embassy if I didn't read your tips!

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Thank you AJC. Peter

West Africa really is the most amazing place..

So I walk into the Sierra Leone embassy in Conakry on Monday morning and after waiting a while I'm ushered in to the consular head and I ask for a visa. He speaks English and seems nice enough. Despite the fact that I have everything I might need to apply he asks me to come back the following day at 10am and he will take care of my visa. I didn't think much of it and decided to just do what he said and take a day to relax considering how difficult the road from Bissau had been.

This morning I am there at 10am and I ask for the visa. He asks, when are you planning to go? Today. "It's not possible, it takes 72 hours" I was here yesterday, you said I could get the visa today. "Ok, you can get it at the border, can you come back at 1430?" Yes, the only reason I'm in Conakry is to get this visa.

1430 rolls around and I walk into his office for the third time. He takes out a business card and writes my details on the back along with his signature and the line "Seen at the embassy before departure", charges me $20 and says to just show that at the border and I'll be fine.

I'm not sure what makes me more angry, the fact that he issued me nothing, the fact that he charged me for it or the fact that I needed to go there three times to get him to sign the back of a business card.

Hopefully it works and I can be on a beach tomorrow night though..

West Africa really is a train wreck..

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AJC, you're getting some visas (good), and seem to be trying to get them very early on geographically (not so great/efficient/paying a lot for the visas).

Supposing you're in Ghana,
Getting Visa's Efficiently When Non-resident (in Country where embassy is located), ie for multi-country overland travel

Efficiently means
(i) embassy will actually issue the visa (ii) shorter processing time (iii) lower cost
(iv) easy to navigate to find embassy (close to other embassies, low cost of transport, bank to pay/exchange money is close by)



I. Documents (not all always required, buy be prepared).

1. Application Form
2. Photo (passport size)
3. Photocopy of Passport ID page and visa/stamp of the next following country (if you have obtained it)
4. Invitation Letter (IL) ... print reservation from hotel for at least a few nights [cancel after getting Visa]
5. Letter of Introduction (LOI) from your country's embassy... if they ask for it, show them email correspondence with your country's embassy that says they will not provide such LOI
6. Financial sufficiency ... bank statement from internet banking
7. Medical vaccinations ... Yellow Fever copy.
8. Forward itinerary approximate ...listing the countries and number of days in each country
9. Unique things about you/your trip ... past volunteer activities, website with a big following, etc



II. Visa's for west-side of Africa (from Togo onward)

1. in Togo, get visa's for
(a) Angola (US$100 for 30-day single entry visa; is cheaper than the 5 or 7 day Transit visa; yes, it's true)
(b) Gabon (is cheapest country as price for Togo/benin/Ghana "residents" is lowest and there's only a Gabon embassy in Togo); CFA 35,000 for 3-day processing

2. in Benin, get visa's for
(a) DRC ... they would even do it same day if submitted early in morning; they don't care about residency; CFA 50,000
(b) Angola ... within 7 minutes slow walk of DRC embassy ...they don't care about residency; same price as in Togo

3. in Nigeria (Lagos), get visa's for:
(a) Cameroon ... if you didn't get it in Senegal of CI, and your traveling south & eastward, this is the next place to get it.
Pay in Euro's since it's Euro 80 OR US$120 (which means exchange rate of 1 Euro = 1.50 US$ which is not true) OR
or CFA 60,000 but they would not let foreigner pay in CFA (i think consulate guy being a jerk and lazy).
Same price in Calabar. Abuja might be slightly less CFA 50,000....but there's no reason to go to Abuja if you got DRC and Angola visa's elsewhere

4. in Cameroon, get visa's for Chad, CAR, and bribe the Eq.Guinea border guards at a non-busy time of the day.

5. in Gabon, get visa for
(a) Congo Republic (Brazzaville) ... it's next day processing; don't do it Cameroon b/c processing is 3 days for same price , and if want it faster, then price is DOUBLE

In Monrovia I tried for Cameroon and even after an hour of looking over my documents and telling me it wouldn't be a problem and I could collect it the following day, I arrived to hear that they couldn't issue because I wasn't a resident. idiots. Fortunately they gave me my money back without any questions asked.

I did manage to get my Ghana visa here though, pretty hassle free, was ready in two days. I made the mistake of only saying I'd be in the country for two weeks, so they only issued the visa for 14 days from entry (within 3 months) cost was $70 for the single entry.

Needed 4 photos, four copies of application (they only give you one, so you need to go photocopy it) and a copy of your passport. They wanted a bunch of other stuff, invitation, reservation, introduction, but after a bit of talking they didn't seem to care that I was too lazy to have any of it

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