Are letters of recommendation required?

[Matt Roach]

Hi,

I have read in Lonely Planet that the Sudanese, Ethiopian and Eritrean embassies in Nairobi can insist that you provide a letter of recommendation from your home country or consulate before they will issue a tourist visa.

Does anyone know if this is enforced? I have spoken to several Australian embassies to obtain this letter, but all have said this rule does not apply

cheers
Matt Roach

[RichLees]

last year in Nairobi on a UK passport, the Ethiopian embassy did not ask for a letter. the sudanese embassy wouldn't consider any application. this may have eased now that the south is a little more peaceful, but I wouldn't count on it. I don't know about Eritrean.

Once in Addis Abeba, the Sudanese embassy required a letter from the British embassy for me, but not for 2 yanks. that said, they had to pay 150USD compared with 60USD for me (plus 60 for the letter!!!)

[Toby2]

We went through about 2 years north to south. The only time we came across letters of introduction being needed in either direction was getting an Ethiopian visa in Khartoum and getting a Sudanese visa in Addis Ababa. Didn't apply to getting sudanese visa in Chad for example or a Ethiopian visa in Nairobi.

[Matt Roach]

Thanks for the info. Sounds like it might be a good idea to get them just in case.

cheers