Visa for Sudan in addis ababa.

[DIDIER MARTIN]

Does anyone knows for sure if it's possible to get a visa for Sudan in Ethiopia, I travel with an Australian passport.
I will be coming from South Africa.
Thank you guys.
Didier Martin

[GWJ]

Yes it is possible or certainly was about 4 months ago. Unfortunately they required a letter of introduction. As there isn't a Australian embassy, you have to use the British one which charges £25 for the privilage. I think they are on a 24 or 48 hour turn around for issuing visas in Addis. Quite efficient and fairly straight forward. (suggest checking the letter of introduction is still reqiured as it may have changed).

[Bevan]

What exactly is a letter of introduction?
who needs to introduce you?

[GWJ]

Letter of introduction is literally that. Some countries - we found Ethiopia when applying in Khartoum and Sudan when applying in Addis require a letter of introduction. Its provided by the local embassy of your country - if your an Aussie, Kiwi, Canadian, etc, this may well be the British consulate. The consulate basically looks at your passport, says yep, your joe bloggs from the UK as stated in your passport and provides a letter to the embassy where you are applying for a visa saying Joe bloggs from the UK would like to apply for a visa and he is who he says he is because we looked at his passport - which is why you have a passport anyway. However where countries require a letter of introduction, they won't proceed without it. Where we were applying in Khartoum, there were 4 dutch people - the dutch consulate charged them £10 for the lot and put them all on one letter. There was a English guy and a dutch lady, the dutch embassy put them both on the same letter for £10. There was a Dane who got the letter for free. Then there was us, two brits and a kiwi. The British consulate insisted that we had to go on seperate letters - ie 2 brits on 1 and the kiwi on another. They charged us £25 per letter for the privilage or £50 all up. Just great. Oh and they aren't even generic, they are specific, ie from the Brit consulate Khartoum, headed with the vice consulates name to their corresponding vice consulate in the embassy you are applying to so its not even like you can get them photocopied and use them in other instances. All fun stuff.

[GWJ]

Letter of introduction is literally that. Some countries - we found Ethiopia when applying in Khartoum and Sudan when applying in Addis require a letter of introduction. Its provided by the local embassy of your country - if your an Aussie, Kiwi, Canadian, etc, this may well be the British consulate. The consulate basically looks at your passport, says yep, your joe bloggs from the UK as stated in your passport and provides a letter to the embassy where you are applying for a visa saying Joe bloggs from the UK would like to apply for a visa and he is who he says he is because we looked at his passport - which is why you have a passport anyway. However where countries require a letter of introduction, they won't proceed without it. Where we were applying in Khartoum, there were 4 dutch people - the dutch consulate charged them £10 for the lot and put them all on one letter. There was a English guy and a dutch lady, the dutch embassy put them both on the same letter for £10. There was a Dane who got the letter for free. Then there was us, two brits and a kiwi. The British consulate insisted that we had to go on seperate letters - ie 2 brits on 1 and the kiwi on another. They charged us £25 per letter for the privilage or £50 all up. Just great. Oh and they aren't even generic, they are specific, ie from the Brit consulate Khartoum, headed with the vice consulates name to their corresponding vice consulate in the embassy you are applying to so its not even like you can get them photocopied and use them in other instances. All fun stuff.

[AliBaba]

I did it two weeks ago and it is still ok. You will need:

-Letter from your embassy
-Photocopy of ONE of the carnetpages
-61 USD (They don't have change..)

Without the letter from your embassy they will not let you in, i tried..

[DIDIER MARTIN]

Thank you guys for that, one more thing, what if I got the letter of introduction in Kenya where there is an Australian ambassy and then present it at the Sudanese ambassy in Ethiopia, do you think that would work, 25 pound seems a lot.
Thank you all.
www.ride4kids.t2u.com

[AliBaba]

Yes, bring the letter from Kenya (or home) that's ok.

Good luck, have fun!!

[Bevan]

So...
If I'm in South Africa and I go to the British consulate and pick up a couple of letters stating that I am me, I can use them as introduction letters in other African countries when needed?

[GWJ]

Bevan, You might be able to. The experiances we had was 1) we travelled through 21 african countries, we only required a letter of introduction once, that was for Ethiopian Visa when applying in Khartoum (we met other travellers coming north who required one when applying for a Sudan visa in Addis. Else where wasn't needed (ie applying for a sudan visa in Chad, applying for an Ethiopian visa in Kenya - just depends on the consulate).

2)When we did get one, it was specific, ie from the vice consulate (named) in Khatoum, to the vice consulate (named) of the Ethiopian consulate in Khartoum, so no good for else where even if copied (they keep the letter you hand over). I would suggest dealing with it when it happens. You might not need one. Things change. It seems to be at the descretion of the consulate. Just be aware of it.