Congo Democratic (DRC) visa summary & efficiency
 

There's getting visa's and getting them efficiently (time,cost,etc). Info is scattered, thought i'd start threads to summarize by country).

Found that this visa is available as follows (single entry, usually 30 day, starting date could be date on visa or date you choose):

1. Togo (Lome). CFA 40,000 and CFA 10k or 15k for "Temporary Residency", next day service Is this "Temporary Residency" a name for a bribe or was it a form with some kind of certificate of Temporary Residency?

2. Nigeria (Abuja) for ________ Anyone been here recently?

3. Gabon (Libreville) for CFA57,500, 3 days service, but will not issue to non-residents since July 2012 so needed to have someone in DRC obtain specific form, fill it out, get it signed by 2 specific type persons

4. Congo (Brazza) ________ Won't issue to non-residents



Seems Togo is the best place.





Seems to be a better deal in Gabon. Any other experiences??

Info on Yaounde???

visas
 

drc i didn't try.

but republic of congo;

cameroon visa issued in 2 days, 51,000 cfa
gabon, deliver passport & hotel reservation by midday and collect 4pm 45,000 cfa
benin, 1 hour while you wait, 50,000 cfa
nigeria, need copy of passport, vaccination card, carnet, registration, hotel reservation. submit monday for return wednesday, price TBA...
guinea, issued in 2 days, 150,000 cfa

cheers
d

DRC visa coming from Rwanda ... they wanted USD and was only $35 for 7-day visa. I wonder if a 7-day visa exists coming from the west side (probably not offered as an option at DRC embassies)

Potential alternative for overland travelers using public transport or bicycle or selling their motor vehicle before/in Angola....

Cheap Flights in Ghana, Angola and West Africa | Fly540Africa.com has flights within Angola and for $88 can ffly from Cabinda to Luanda ..... so why go through all the hassle of getting the DRC visa which
... costs $100 itself
+ cost/time/aggravation of it being one of the four west-side countries which apparently do not issue visas to non-residents
+ all the costs / hassle of the route, ferry ride, etc

:rofl: we wouldn't need most of this forum if we weren't traveling on our own vehicle..!

Now, about entering DRC from Rwanda, I'm not sure it's doable:
1. The fighting has gotten pretty close to Goma lately
2. The DRC border officials used to issue a pseudo-visa which allows only a visit of Goma, but isn't acknowledged by the rest of the country, so you could face some major problems. Idk if it's what you're referring to.

Hi,
We did the Togo residency thing for our DRC visas, it is all proper and not going into an individuals pocket.
The guy at the embassy there is super friendly and very helpful.
We got pretty nervous as the time to cross approached, it is obviously a farce after all!
We crossed at a very minor border south of Mindouli at S4 18.682 E14 19.719
The guys there obviously knew something was up, Togo was mentioned a dozen or so times in discussions between them in their local language.
After a while they asked to use our phone to call immigration in Lwozi, but we were able to give them our non-functional uk one. When this didn't work they let us through without too much more bother.

In summary, it worked fine for us....BUT....not sure i'd want to try it at a larger border and it does seem to have the potential to cause issues.
If you do it, make sure you keep the residency paperwork safe, it could make the difference at the border.

Happy travels
Sam

Getting a DRC visa in Lusaka was quite straightforward and relatively cheap, but - inter alia - you need to have an inventation letter stamped by the DRC immigration in Kinshasa. That was ridicilously expensive.

<< 2. The DRC border officials used to issue a pseudo-visa which allows only a visit of Goma, but isn't acknowledged by the rest of the country, so you could face some major problems. Idk if it's what you're referring to.>>

It was a real visa, but a piece of paper (vs adhesive 'label' type taking full page of passport), allowed access for 7 days, (supposedly) anywhere.
Passport stamped for entry and exit.

We just managed to get it in Cotonou.

Cost 78k CFA, single entry, 2 months.

But this was one of the friendliest visa experiences that we have had. The ambassador's driver gave us a tour of cotonou, is helping us fix our clutch, and the second secretary gave us his contact details to meet him for a beer in Kinshasa when we get there. We didn't even have the name of a hotel and they gave us one. Amazing.

Just to update on this as of August 2015:

This visa has become more difficult according to all the embassies I have tried.

Dakar, Senegal: Not possible unless you're a resident and you need the dreaded DGM/ministry of foreign affairs stamp. 10 day processing time.

Lome, Togo: I was told "no residency, no problem" but a cost of 250usd + 100,000cfa ($415 usd), 10 days processing time. I highly doubt that price is official.

Cotonou, Benin: Seemed like they really wanted to figure out some way to help me but they insisted that Kinshasa would refuse without a 1 year "long-sejour" Benin visa. Unfortunately even if I could convince the Benin government to give me a 1 year visa (who knows what costs or hoops) my passport only had 9 months remaining so I didn't even try.

As it is now, I'm going to be sending my passport back to the USA for that visa.

Gonna get mine tomorrow in Yaounde, takes one day and is straight forward. 100,000 cfa though

Congo democratic (DRC) visa summary and efficiency
 

Hi there,

Congratulations on getting you DRC visa in Yaoundé !

Watch out though if you are planning to spend any time there. As you know, DRC visas should be issued in countries of residence only....and recently even those have had to be referred back to Kinshasa. You may get away with it if you are crossing, say, via Luozi to Luvo. I believe you may be heading for Lubumbashi.

Throughout the country there are numerous barriers manned by DGM, military, police etc. All of them are just itching to find an excuse to relieve you of your money.....a visa irregularity would do it.

Sorry to put a dampener on your hard won visa acquisition !

Yay sounds fun! Will be crossing through Luozi

Did you get in the DRC visa in Cameroon, was it easy ?