Sealord, We have just returned from Hong Kong, Japan and Tibet. Should have gotten the Tanzania visas in Hong Kong if I have talked to you sooner
I have mailed both my husband and my visa applications to Tanzania Embassy yesterday in one big envelope and have provided one return self addressed envelope (all with trackings and 2 days delivery). Will post again when I receive both passports back to share the experience. So far, I have not been able to get through Tanzania Embassy phone line nor get any email replies.
Yes, there is a Tanzania Embassy in Hong Kong, but I don’t know if that would be a way you would want to spend a day of your vacation. I used to spend as much as a week at a time there and after going there many times, I really did not have a lot to do, other than hang out at Ned Kelly’s with the air traffic controllers and drink beer. There is a limit to the number of times you can go anywhere without wearing out the novelty. I also used to spend a week at a time in Tahiti.
Got pretty tired of Tahiti. And I have to admit I don’t have much interest in returning to Bombay (Mumbay) or any other part of India. (;-)
I’m guessing you will have your passports in 14-18 days since they should be there on Monday.
If you have read each embassy’s visa website, and you have read the posts in this thread, then you have the cook book. Scan your passport, pictures, and documents into your computer and know where to find them, put all the materials and info on your desk, and ‘shoot the numbers to it’.
Hi Laurel and Sealord and everyone.
I sent my visa requests to Visa Central around the 1st of the month and received note today they are on their way back to me.
Barry
Tuesday-
They arrived today and all is correct. Tanzania visa is pasted into the passport and Kenya one is a separate paper to be carried with the passport.
Hi Everyone, I sent our visa applications directly to Tanzania Embassy and they received them June 9. As of today (11th business day), they were NOT shipped back yet according to USPS tracking. Looked like it does take longer than 10 business days.
I did the ‘do it yourself’ method, and it took 18 calendar days, but do to the weekends, I calculated that they only had them for ten. Yours should be enroute soon.
Hi Everyone, I sent our visa applications directly to Tanzania Embassy and they received them June 9. As of today (11th business day), they were NOT shipped back yet according to USPS tracking. Looked like it does take longer than 10 business days.
No need for panic yet. June 9 was a Saturday so the earliest a humanoid could have touched them was Monday the 11th. Their website says a ‘minimum’ of ten days processing time, and I’m assuming a minimum of two days for USPS to deliver using Priority Mail. They should show up within the next few days. I actually started an inquiry about our passports with the Tanzania Embassy, and then they showed up the next day.
I receive my passports back from Tanzania Embassy today. It took 22 calendar days from shipped to receipt. It took 11 business days for Tanzania Embassy to process our visas. Everything is working under normal circumstance. However, I like to share some concerns with the "Do It Yourself" visa application. My husband's high school principal passed away this month in Vancouver. We booked air tickets and hotel to Vancouver to attend his memorial service on July 2 when we heard the news. Both of us have totally forgotten that we DON'T have our passports with us when we booked all the nonrefundable air tickets and hotel ( When I realized the mistake, I called and emailed the Tanzania Embassy everyday and nobody ever answered the phone nor replied to emails. I was a nervous wreck and worried that we will have to cancel the whole trip. I called Visa Central and asked if they can track my passports at Tanzania Embassy offering to pay them $200 for their trouble and they said no. I almost tear all my hair out. Fortunately, the passports arrive today just in time for our Vancouver trip. I learn a big lesson - always pay extra for expedited visa service. Life has so many unexpected turns and we really can't part with our passports for more than 3 weeks. Also, if we have engaged Visa Central service, they probably can track the application progress with their connection to the Embassy. Not that I advocate their service but in our case, I was absolutely at wit's end on how to contact the Embassy.
For Kenya evisa application, it was a breeze if you have all information ready.
Hope my experience help you in your visas applications.
This is exactly why I worry about not having my passport and it being out of my possession for the least possible time. Of course having not been born in the US, it always made us aware that we might have to make unexpected trips to the UK, and we have, more than once.
It also means very careful planning. Next year we had planned and booked the China trip and then Tauck offered the new Rwanda tour, which being Africa fans, we could not miss the chance before we get too old to do the climb to see the gorillas. We have to send for visas immediately after we get back from China because the turnaround is tight. I have already been in contact with Visa Cetral to inquire if there will be enough time and of course will have everything ready to mail as soon as we return from China. We looked into getting a second passport some time ago, but although on casual reading about this in the past, in reality it is not easy to obtain a second passport, it is only in really special circumstances. I guess in the future we will all have our own personal microchips and when people talk about the passports we used to carry around it will seem so funny. But until then, if you are lucky enough to travel out of the country a lot, be mindful about going anywhere that needs a visa and plan accordingly to be without a passport at times. I believe that a Visa for Brazil takes months, we could just not do that.
Interesting. I had to do a little searching cuz I have been to Brazil many many times as a crewmember and I never had a visa ... not required. But I did find that they now have an eVisa for citizens of U.S., Canada, Austrailia, and Japan that they claim can be obtained in four or five business days.
I had to think about these stories a little bit. (;-). I do recall that one ‘poster’ here said Visa Central took 37 days to get the visas because someone there thought the Kenya visa was only valid for 60 days ... it is valid for three months. They held up applying for the visa to get into the incorrect 60 day window. Just because you are using an agency does not mean that they have all the correct answers. I would also be a bit surprised if anyone at Visa Central has ever seen the inside of the Tanzania Embassy.
Hello.
Got my pass. and visas back from Visa Central, today... it took 3.5 weeks from the day I mailed them (FedEx) and I received them back UPS overnight. Everything is perfect. I have gotten my documents from Visa Central last 3 trips and it has always been a great stress free experience.
OK. Now I understand. You can do it yourself, and get ‘non-expedited’ visas in 18 days, or you can pay someone around $400 to do it and get the visas in three and a half weeks ... or in one case posted here 37 days (but that was for three visas). To each their own, but I think I will continue doing it myself. (;-)
I agree with Sealord. Looked like it took longer to go through Visa Central. We can't part with our passports for a long time and I will definitely pay extra for expedited service with the Embassy next time.
We just used Visa Central for our Kenya Tanzania August 4 trip. We had been in Spain and Portugal until June 17. Monday June 18 we sent our passports and the packet to them. They received it June 19 using the fedex label they gave us. We received everything back on July 3. We found them very helpful. We called several times with questions. We also sent the Tanzania paperwork via email for them to do their part ahead of time. It all went very smoothly. We did not pay the expedited fee. It was all back to us in 12 business days.
I know having someone ‘walk’ you through the visa process must be popular cuz VisaCentral has offices all over the world. Some companies actually have VisaCentral employees that work in their company offices. The fact remains that you can save hundreds of dollars doing it yourself, and the process is really no more difficult. If the money does not matter and you don’t care to learn how to do it, then VisaCentral is the answer.
Now in Arusha Tanzania. Upon arrival at Kilimanjaro There were a couple of lines with signs that said they were for Tanzania, or African citizens. Those were the lines we were told to use. Most of the rest of the folks went to the area where they were selling visa upon arrival. I didn’t know they had that, but I found on their website that they have what is called a transit visa, It is good for entering one Tanzania border point and exciting another within two weeks. We do that on K&T so it sounds good. I don’t know how many hours it took for those hundreds to get their visas, but we arrived at 8:00 PM, got through immigrations, baggage claim, the bathroom, customs and were in our bus with our TD at 8:40 heading for the Arusha Serena. I think you might not want to get creative, but have your visas before you arrive. The visa on arrival area of Kilimanjaro was total chaos. After 20 hours in an airplane with no sleep, having to deal with that would not have made me a happy camper. Actually, K&T might not qualify because entry and exit are both in Arusha, but one is at the airport, and the other is on a road. Actually, I’m also not sure if Kilimanjaro Airport is physically in Arusha. It would take a bit of research to figure out if K&T might qualify for a transit visa, but from what I saw last night I would not recommend it. The bus is probably not going to wait for someone who is getting a ‘transit’ visa instead of getting the required visa ahead of time.
Unfortunately, as we find on many tours, it does not matter how fast you make it through baggage claim and customs, you are only as fast as the last one booked to travel with you to the hotel. On our last trip thru Arusha our luggage did not make the flight, so the poor local guy had to wait ages for us while we completed all the paperwork. On that occasion there was no one else traveling to the hotel with us. On our current tour there was a whole line of Tauck drivers waiting. We were waiting quite some time for another couple being transported at the same time from our plane.
On another thread about amount of luggage allowed someome says they carry two checked in suitcases, well they would not have fit in our transport vehicle.
We had a very similar experience to what Sealord had. We applied at the end of May with the documents arriving at
Visa Central on June 6th. We are going on the August 17th K and T tour. VC started processing our Tanzania visas and even though their website said they were expecting the documents about 10 days later, they had already received them. When I asked them about the Kenya visas, I was told they couldn't even apply until after July 2nd even though Tauck said to submit the documents 90 days in advance. When I called back to VC after July 2nd, they had submitted my Kenya documents but for some reason held off until July 6th for my wive's. We were supposed to have all documents back no later than July 17th. When that didn't happen, I was told that there was an error on my documents and they would have to re-submit them. I was to expect the documents on the 27th of July. I then called Tauck and the person who is assigned to work with VC made some calls. Amazingly my visas were sent the next day and arrived overnight on the 23rd of July. There are several outfits out there that will do the same job for much less if you want personal service. we paid $700 for the K and T trip and I saw websites that only cost $450. I believe going with Tauck's recommendation was not the best choice in my case. Buy the way I never got any kind of explanation as to why all of this was delayed as I was told when I first called, the process should have only taken 2 to 3 weeks not 2 months and several phone calls.
Perhaps the experience you are refering to was someone else’s experience we were discussing. I had no problems whatsoever .... I did it myself. It took a total of eighteen days from mailing via Priority Mail, and receiving the passports back via priority mail. (The Kenya visas were done online. That was a learning process, but I got thru it.) That included three weekends, so the embassy had them for about 10 working days. Other people on our trip paid well over $700 go get this done via VisaCentral. We paid $300 plus credit card charges of ten or twenty bucks for four visas for two people. And it has become apparent that VisaCentral does not have all the correct answers. There is a down side to full employment. So the questions are these: “Am I at least as smart as someone who fills out visa applications for a living?”, and “Do I want to spend $400 to get someone else to do something that I can easily do by myself?”.
Sealord, I know you just returned from the K and T trip...... did you have trouble with mosquitoes and tsetse flies and what did you use for repellant?
Sealord, I know you just returned from the K and T trip...... did you have trouble with mosquitoes and tsetse flies and what did you use for repellant?
Few mosquitoes but tsetse flies were legion in the area around the Four Seasons. They actually had warning signs (flags) in the bush off the side of the roads. At one time the driver and our TD were in the front seats, we were right behind them, and the flies were all over those two but for some reason left us alone. We were using Skeeter Beater, an all natural repellant that as far as I can tell does not work. It actually seemed to attract flies, but that was in the Masai Mara, and I don’t know if they were tsetse. I think they were just house flies. I was a victim of advertising. We used 40% Deet repellant from REI on previous trips, but I’ve read that the tsetse fly is impervious to any repellant and they can bite through clothes. We never got bitten, but the TD did and it caused a bit of a sore spot. Long sleeves and long pants will provide some protection. I threw away the Skeeter Beater, and will stick with the Deet.
Here is the CDC info, although they mention that there is limited evidence that insect repellents actually work, you should still use it.
We also noticed and it has been mentioned here, that the flies appear to be attracted more to the black skin of the drivers, which makes sense since most of the animals are dark in color and we are told to avoid dark colored fabric. On one of our tours our driver was being constantly bothered by flies around his head and neck, we were not.
Comments
I have mailed both my husband and my visa applications to Tanzania Embassy yesterday in one big envelope and have provided one return self addressed envelope (all with trackings and 2 days delivery). Will post again when I receive both passports back to share the experience. So far, I have not been able to get through Tanzania Embassy phone line nor get any email replies.
Got pretty tired of Tahiti. And I have to admit I don’t have much interest in returning to Bombay (Mumbay) or any other part of India. (;-)
I’m guessing you will have your passports in 14-18 days since they should be there on Monday.
If you sent your passports when you indicated, I figure you should be getting them back in a week or so. Let us know how it works out.
I sent my visa requests to Visa Central around the 1st of the month and received note today they are on their way back to me.
Barry
Tuesday-
They arrived today and all is correct. Tanzania visa is pasted into the passport and Kenya one is a separate paper to be carried with the passport.
No need for panic yet. June 9 was a Saturday so the earliest a humanoid could have touched them was Monday the 11th. Their website says a ‘minimum’ of ten days processing time, and I’m assuming a minimum of two days for USPS to deliver using Priority Mail. They should show up within the next few days. I actually started an inquiry about our passports with the Tanzania Embassy, and then they showed up the next day.
I receive my passports back from Tanzania Embassy today. It took 22 calendar days from shipped to receipt. It took 11 business days for Tanzania Embassy to process our visas. Everything is working under normal circumstance. However, I like to share some concerns with the "Do It Yourself" visa application. My husband's high school principal passed away this month in Vancouver. We booked air tickets and hotel to Vancouver to attend his memorial service on July 2 when we heard the news. Both of us have totally forgotten that we DON'T have our passports with us when we booked all the nonrefundable air tickets and hotel
For Kenya evisa application, it was a breeze if you have all information ready.
Hope my experience help you in your visas applications.
It also means very careful planning. Next year we had planned and booked the China trip and then Tauck offered the new Rwanda tour, which being Africa fans, we could not miss the chance before we get too old to do the climb to see the gorillas. We have to send for visas immediately after we get back from China because the turnaround is tight. I have already been in contact with Visa Cetral to inquire if there will be enough time and of course will have everything ready to mail as soon as we return from China. We looked into getting a second passport some time ago, but although on casual reading about this in the past, in reality it is not easy to obtain a second passport, it is only in really special circumstances. I guess in the future we will all have our own personal microchips and when people talk about the passports we used to carry around it will seem so funny. But until then, if you are lucky enough to travel out of the country a lot, be mindful about going anywhere that needs a visa and plan accordingly to be without a passport at times. I believe that a Visa for Brazil takes months, we could just not do that.
I had to think about these stories a little bit. (;-). I do recall that one ‘poster’ here said Visa Central took 37 days to get the visas because someone there thought the Kenya visa was only valid for 60 days ... it is valid for three months. They held up applying for the visa to get into the incorrect 60 day window. Just because you are using an agency does not mean that they have all the correct answers. I would also be a bit surprised if anyone at Visa Central has ever seen the inside of the Tanzania Embassy.
Got my pass. and visas back from Visa Central, today... it took 3.5 weeks from the day I mailed them (FedEx) and I received them back UPS overnight. Everything is perfect. I have gotten my documents from Visa Central last 3 trips and it has always been a great stress free experience.
On another thread about amount of luggage allowed someome says they carry two checked in suitcases, well they would not have fit in our transport vehicle.
Visa Central on June 6th. We are going on the August 17th K and T tour. VC started processing our Tanzania visas and even though their website said they were expecting the documents about 10 days later, they had already received them. When I asked them about the Kenya visas, I was told they couldn't even apply until after July 2nd even though Tauck said to submit the documents 90 days in advance. When I called back to VC after July 2nd, they had submitted my Kenya documents but for some reason held off until July 6th for my wive's. We were supposed to have all documents back no later than July 17th. When that didn't happen, I was told that there was an error on my documents and they would have to re-submit them. I was to expect the documents on the 27th of July. I then called Tauck and the person who is assigned to work with VC made some calls. Amazingly my visas were sent the next day and arrived overnight on the 23rd of July. There are several outfits out there that will do the same job for much less if you want personal service. we paid $700 for the K and T trip and I saw websites that only cost $450. I believe going with Tauck's recommendation was not the best choice in my case. Buy the way I never got any kind of explanation as to why all of this was delayed as I was told when I first called, the process should have only taken 2 to 3 weeks not 2 months and several phone calls.
Few mosquitoes but tsetse flies were legion in the area around the Four Seasons. They actually had warning signs (flags) in the bush off the side of the roads. At one time the driver and our TD were in the front seats, we were right behind them, and the flies were all over those two but for some reason left us alone. We were using Skeeter Beater, an all natural repellant that as far as I can tell does not work. It actually seemed to attract flies, but that was in the Masai Mara, and I don’t know if they were tsetse. I think they were just house flies. I was a victim of advertising. We used 40% Deet repellant from REI on previous trips, but I’ve read that the tsetse fly is impervious to any repellant and they can bite through clothes. We never got bitten, but the TD did and it caused a bit of a sore spot. Long sleeves and long pants will provide some protection. I threw away the Skeeter Beater, and will stick with the Deet.
Thinking we will go directly to the Deet....
We also noticed and it has been mentioned here, that the flies appear to be attracted more to the black skin of the drivers, which makes sense since most of the animals are dark in color and we are told to avoid dark colored fabric. On one of our tours our driver was being constantly bothered by flies around his head and neck, we were not.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/diseases/african-sleeping-sickness-african-trypansosomiasis
I. Have been bitten by a tsetse fly, it really hurts!