How's the situation with the Ethiopian visa in Nairobi?
 

So, I am on year 2 of my rtw trip, right now in Malawi, and heading north. I was planning on getting all the final difficult visas sorted in Nairobi (Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan, in that order) but I crossed yesterday a guy in a bicycle who told me Ethiopia isn't granting visas out of the applicant's country.
Anyone has fresh news on this subject? Also, is South Sudan an option in case I need to avoid Ethiopia?

I will post this message in the saharian forum, just in case :)

not possible have to courier your passport to your home country Ethiopian embassy for a visa. they have stopped giving visas in Nairobi. Also in the past Zim was an option but they also do not hekp anymore at the Ethiopian embassy in Zim.

I dont know what nationality you are but i have just flown into Ethiopia with my bike a couple of months ago. for british nationals it couldnt be easier to get the visa on the border. also ethiopia to kenya can be done really easily at the Moyale border and vise versa i presume. Hope this helps.

Flying in is no problem. For most nationalities you will get a visa on arrival but you cannot get a visa on arrival crossing a land border coming in either direction. Also as Michnus says there is nowhere to get an Ethiopian visa coming from the south - you have to courier your passport home. I believe it is still possible to get one in Cairo and Sudan if you are heading south but this is probably only a matter of time.

I can't personally verify this, but a German couple we met yesterday told us that when they were in Nairobi a couple of months back, people were again managing to get their Ethiopian visas in Nairobi. Don't plan on that, as I'm afraid it's only second-hand information. May be good news though?

I finally got my Ethiopian visa in Kampala Uganda, but wait a minute before you start opening your beers ...

They flatly refused me, not a resident, no visa. So finally send my passport back to germany and my parents drove with it to the consulat in Frankfurt. There they wouldnt want to put the visa in the passport, since i was not there in person. No discussion, they confirmed with Addis Abbaba that its impossible BUT no that they have seen my passport they would call Addis and they would authorize the embassy in Kampala to give me a visa.

Sent passport back, went there and you can have a simple guess who knew nothing about this and still didnt wanna give me a visa. It took me 3 weeks of calls between the ethiopian ambassador in germany and me to make this guy get the letter that Addis sent to Kampala and email it to me. With this letter, it was a 2 day buisness, cost me 20 dollars for a 3 month visa. 1,5 month in Uganda, not the worst place to be stuck ...

greetings from Mombasa,

Chris

So - if when we arrive in Nairobi the Ethiopian embassy is still not granting visas (very likely), I presume that the best way to get one would be to courrier our passports back to my family in UK and then have them SENT to the UK Ethiopian embassy (not taken in person) for a visa? They would then be sent back to the UK address that I sent them to, then courriered back to me in Nairobi.

Does anyone see a potential hitch with this?

Thanks,
Ian

Hey man,

This is the way it works for me with the Ethiopian embassy in Brussels. No need to be there in person and a friend of me who is visiting here family, is doing the job for me. (second visa)

My experience is that the Ethiopian embassy was the fastest I ever experienced in getting a visa sticker. It was rainy so I handed over the paperwork (downloaded from the internet) and before I was able to remove my rain suit they gave me back my passport with the sticker. Less than five minutes. :welcome:

Cheers Richard