Scenario and Question:

I'm considering going from CI to Guinea (in order to get to Liberia/SLeone).
CI stamps me out.
Suppose then that Guinea does not let me in and i need to return to CI.

Do i need another visa for CI ? OR do they allow "re-entry" within a few hours and not having entered another country?


Facts/Background info:
1. I have only the VTE (ie, single entry)
2. My Guinea visa is BLANK for the number of entries (rather silly of me not to notice before leaving the embassy where visa made).
3. Guinea border immigration/checkpoints have already been a hassle, some bribes demanded but waited patiently and no need to pay. No checkpoint, and no immigration officers noticed the BLANK number of entries.

You get more stamps in your passport
as they annull the exit

or you're up a sewage ditch without a means of propulsion...

people have been stuck in no man's land; one country denying entry due to lack of visa in the first place, and the other because you have officially left and are required to apply for a new one. Both sides not interested in solving the problem, and requiring embassies to intervene...

granted, it's a slight chance, but you won't be the first...

Of all the stuff worth cluttering your brain with, this would rank low on the list.

Of course it could happen anywhere, at any border--but in point of fact it seldom does. I've personally crossed many hundreds of borders on all continents and it's happened to me just once--back in the old days when I hitched up to Canada to visit my sister with 17 cents in my pocket, no valid ID, and a plan to camp out by the side of the road during mid-winter (ca. 1972).

More likely: you depart one country, but the next requires payment of bribes before entry, a proposition which you decline (while smiling, shaking hands, and generally pretending you've got all the time in the world to allow a graceful resolution). This happens quite a lot--it once happened to me while entering Guinea, in fact, but with a bit of patience the problem dissolved on its own. I met a rider who'd spent the night in no-man's land entering Honduras (I think it was) after refusing to pay a bribe, then got bitten by a scorpion in the morning but was STILL refused entry even to head for a hospital. It made a good story, and he's still out there traveling the world.

Prepare adequately and don't fret about minor issues...but always carry a bit of food and water, since issues which do arise often take time to resolve. Don't panic unless you see skeletons lining the roadway in no-man's land.

Mark