Angola Visa Update - 01/08/2012
 

Quick update on the infamous Angola situation.

Myself and the girlfriend have just picked up our Angolan Visas from the Accra embassy. We applied two weeks ago with another overlanding Dutch couple and to our utter surprise they were polite and friendly, if a bit slow, and issued 30 day 'tourist' visas so thankfully we dont have to do the 5 day cannon ball run.

Document wise we had to submit the following:

Bank statement of available funds
Copy of bank cards
Two photos
Copy of Driver License
Copy of Ghana visa
Copy of Carnet
Application form
$150 (per visa)...ouch
Yellow fever vacination certificate (copy of)

Happy travels!

Good news indeed. Thanks for the update.

Does this look like the correct location?
N05° 36.60’ W00° 10.62’

And do you know the duration of the visa (time you have to get to Ang)?

The visa is valid from the date of issue till the 29th September 2012. So plenty of time to get there.

Batteries on the GPS are dead (have been at Big Millys Back Yard for the last 3 weeks) so when charged up will post the coordinates of both the Angolan and Nigerian embassies. THe above link looks different to where we went.

Picked up our Nigerian visas yesterday and had to doff our cap to the little 'big' man there and explain why we had not applied for a visa in our home country. After paying an eye watering $170 we picked up a 30 day tourist visa the next day. They wanted pretty much every document we possessed as well.

Application form
1 x photo
Letter of invitation from a Nigerian resident (a random Brit volunteer we met in Kokrobite who happily endorsed our application for a few beers)
Copy of ID card from said Nigerian resident
Copy of passport from said Nigerian resident
Copy of Carnet
Copy of UK vehicle certificate (V5 form)
Copy of International Drivers License
Copy of ECOWAS Insurance (the insurance we had bought in Senegal had actually expired mid July but they did not notice our biro pen adjustment of the hand written '7' of July into a much more agreeable '9' for September)
Copy of Yellow Fever certificates
Copy of Travel Insurance
A wad of dollars ($170)

Not sure if it made a difference but we have been travelling armed with a letter of introduction from my local MP. I emailed the chap last month when we were getting grief at the Ghana embassy in Burkina Faso asking for a letter stating what a splendid person I was and in fairness I got a reply 24hours later on nice House of COmmons paper telling 'to whom it may concern' that I am an upstanding member of the public in good standing with Her Majesties Government etc. Anyway, the twat at the Nigerian Embassy seemed impressed and changed his tone somewhat.

Hi! Thanks for a very useful update.

Just a quick question - why did you choose to do your Angola visa in Accra rather than in Abuja? I am just curious, as we have planned to obtain ours in Abuja.

I am not sure we would make it from Accra to Angola in 2 months ... we are taking a scenic route ;)

At least it looks like a 30 day visa is becoming more probable!!!

Ooooh - another question: when you have to submit bank statements with visa applications, how recent are they? Are they originals, or printed off the internet?

many thanks! :clap:

African GirlChild

Hi there

I guess we had to start applying somewhere and at least in Ghana the embassy staff speak English. Had also heard that the Angola embassy in Abuja were a bit on the unhelpful and gruff side so it was a delight to deal with their counterparts in Accra.

With regards to the bank statements mine were a few weeks old and were just screen prints pasted into a word document. Both the Nigerian and Angolan embassies were happy with it.

Also, last I heard, Abuja stopped issuing them. For a while Dolisie in Congo-Bz was doing them - they stopped too, but now it seems Accra is the best bet.

Accra wpt from Danny F: N05° 36.75' W00° 11.22'

Just received Angola visa in Accra.

Turned up Monday with documents listed above. Staff are really nice and friendly, and provided examples of the letter and itinerary, but translation service not available do went away to get that done. They also said double-entry would be ok.

Went back Tuesday with Google-translated documents...they were not overly impressed but said they could submit and see what they (Luanda) said. However, in the end she corrected my letter and printed it out for me to sign. Dual entry visa promised for 200USD.

Picked up multi-entry today, Friday.

Very nice people, understand the overlanding need for visas on the road. Long may it continue...