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 ?

Yeah very easy, and nice people working there. I've come across some real moody arse holes at some embassies. Apply between 9-10.30 Monday-Friday I think and pick up same time next day (Monday for me though because of weekend). 100,000 cfa or express service for 125,000 which must be same day.
2 passport photos
Photocopy of passport, yellow fever, Cameroon visa and entry stamp. No letter of invitation or hotel reservation needed.
Also got Brazzaville visa here, stupid requirements but pretty easy. Takes 4-7 working days depending on how much cash you've got

Thanks thats great info...

To confirm: I got my visa today in Yaounde, Cameroon. 1 day turnaround, very easy visa application, but expensive (however much cheaper than DHL + visa service).

I gave them my invititation letter but I'm not sure if it was necessary.
150,000cfa for a 2 month single entry visa, with receipt.
2 photos.
1 simple application (not like the double 3 page monster at the Dakar embassy).
Picked up the visa 9am next day.

No hassle, no fuss about stamps, no bother about not being a Cameroonian resident. Almost scary how easy it was compared to other embassies I've tried (this is the 5th).


Prior I had tried in Abuja, Nigeria. Residency required, and the 'DGM' stamp on the official invite letter. They recommended I get it in Brazzaville (' it's very easy!' they say) but no way to verify if that's true or just a 'helpful' embassy clerk.


Whether it flies at the DRC border, I'll know before the end of the month and will report back.

Cheers for the info.
Looks like Cameroon is the place to get it then. I do have a DMG stamped letter so I've not been to worried that I was not going to get it. Australians don't have an Embassy at home so that's my trump card. But my friend might have had problems even with the letter from the DMG. I have a mate working in DRC this is how we got those letters.

All going well should be through Nigeria in a couple days if my mate gets his visa. Again I was able to get mine very easy on the road.

Might see you in DRC Jordan? ?

Patrick

To confirm:I crossed through the more remote Louizi crossing Sep 2015 with a non-resident country issued visa. The police in the village were fairly drunk but I got the stamp. I was charged $10usd by the DGM for some sort of processing fee. I got a receipt from the chief himself, but I still doubt that the $10 fee is standard. They did grumble that the visa was not issued in my home country, but I believe this is just a setup for the $10 fee. I can't see anyone really being refused here.

If you read through the overlander log going back to 2007 at the Hotel Hippocampe (Brazzaville, free camping for overlanders, awesome!) you will see many people have been refused at the Kinshasa crossing but nobody has ever reported being refused at Louzi. However, it is a bit remote and rough, it took me a full 2 days from Brazzaville to Kinshasa (taking my time).

The Douanes tried to sell me a 'carte de entre' for $50usd but didn't seem to upset when I refused. Nobody has asked for it yet so I doubt it's necessary. They did not have any sort of laisser passer to issue me either.

I picked up my DRC visa today in Yaoundé. Three pictures, one-page form, and 100,000 CFA (they don't seem to discriminate based on nationality). It's 30-day single entry and valid for three months from date of issue. Show up between 8:30 and 10:30 and pick up from 8:30 the following day.

The location is a few blocks away from OSM / maps.me: 3.896326 11.514029


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Visa available in Lome
 

Just went to the embassy in Lome, Togo. Same deal as previously suggested: need to get residency from the police, then they'll do a visa for you with a 10 day turnaround. I'm not going to wait; I'll try in Yaounde as people seem to be having success there. Just thought I'd let y'all know.

Just a quick heads up from DRC, I've got a yaounde visa and I could only cross at luozi. Doing it in the wet solo with no experience was really hard.

My friend here in Kinshasa took a photo of my visa to the immigration office and they claim to never have seen one before.

Having a proper one with a residency in another country allows you the freedom to cross at any border.

Yaounde was easy, but the luozi crossing was not and its the only option!


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Any chance of getting a DRC visa/transit in Brazza???

Not sure. When I left two guys had been refused. They had planned to get a year long residency visa for Congo-B hoping that would give them the ability to apply for a DRC visa.


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Do you by any chance have these guys contact info..? You can send it privately to
vrijwilligdoorafrika@gmail.com if you'd like.
We got refused in Gabon, so Brazza would be our last opportunity on the road. We already have our Angola visa, which might help..??!

Cheers!

Better send you passport with DHL to Brussel, through cibtvisas.nl for example. Easy application. Should all together not take much more than a week

Just heard from them, got the passports back today.

Whole process took about 3 weeks!

Leaving a second passport at home and getting it posted out to you with the visa is another option if you have time to plan that.


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Just to keep it up to date: got my visa in Yaounde today. Price still extremely high - 100 000 CFA. Apart from this - easiest visa ever. No bookings, no photocopies, not even pictures.

Filled simple application form, passport, money. Ready on a next day at 9am.

Going to look for somebody to join forcing of Luozi road together.