Ghana was going to be another headache for me and I
wanted to speak to some-one while I was in London to see what options were
available for me to apply for a visa to their country. Ghana was a little different to Senegal as
there IS a consulate in Nairobi and after I had called them a few weeks ago
they will only issue visas for residents of Kenya, which I am not (yet). So I asked them about applying to the high
commission while I was in London and they replied back that they would only
issue visas for UK residents. So the
next obvious question was HOW am I supposed to get a visa if all the consulates
only issue for their own residents taking into account that Australia doesn’t
have a Ghana High Commission I could see the issues already arising from this
one conversation in Nairobi. There was a
solution for people in my predicament which is to apply for a visa online, you
get preapproval and then pay for the visa upon arrival. Sounds easier enough and I was given a website
which I looked at after the call, and it seemed I did fall into the preapproval
guidelines BUT after reading what the process entailed there was no link or
email to send the online application. I
checked the whole web site to no avail.
There was an info email address, so I sent my enquiry asking them where
I applied online. Needless to say that
was 7 weeks ago and I never received a reply, which makes the trip to the high
commission here in London so much more important and at the end of the day all I
wanted was the link/email address of where I need to apply.
I rang the Ghana High Commission on my last Wednesday
before I was due to fly out of the UK. I
had no real intentions of actually getting the visa, but I wanted to speak to
some-one and if I had to I would head to the high commission to see some-one
face to face. There is nothing worse
than the thought of not being able to get the visa and it can be very
frustrating when you don’t get reply emails back from the consulates. I went on to their web site, and tried the
online application but the drop down box only gave 2 options of a British or
Irish passport holder. So I rang the
phone number supplied and after getting through a few automated menus I got
through to a ‘real’ person and explained to them my predicament and asked them
what was the best way to apply. She
asked if I had an address in the UK and I said I was staying with friends, so I
could use their address and she said that would be fine. WHAT!!!!
I felt like I had to double check that the ‘visa lady’ had understood me
and again she said if I went online today and applied, I could make an
appointment tomorrow to drop off all the documents and I could pay for an
express application and I could have it all ready for collection on Friday! WHAT!!
I couldn’t believe it!! I had
resigned myself to the fact that I would have problems with this visa and to be
told the process could be that easy and that it could be done in 2 days was an
AWESOME surprise and without wasting a minute I jumped online to complete the
online application and having the UK address I finished the online form in 10
minutes and with a reference number given at the end of the process, and an
appointment made between 10.30-11.30am in the morning, I just now needed to get
it all printed out before tomorrow and make sure that I had all the other
documents required and I can’t tell you how happy I was that it was a very real
possibility that I was going to leave the UK with my Ghana visa.
When Paps and Em came home I told them the amazing news,
but Paps had obtained a Ghana visa a few years ago and he said that I should be
prepared to wait a long time, the high commission was a bit chaotic and when he
had to go and collect his passport he got there at 10am and didn’t leave there
till 6pm that night! Gosh, I hope that
doesn’t happen to me, but then if I have to wait 8 hours, then 8 hours I will
wait-I’d pretty much do anything to get this visa while I was in the
UK-especially now that I had hope that it was actually possible. So with my train/tube route planned out, it
was easy enough to get to with only one change on from the Bakerloo to the
Northern line, it was going to take 55 minutes and then checking Google maps
the high commission was a 15 minute walk from the Tube. This was all on Wednesday morning and I had
to collect my Senegal visa that afternoon and I was going to find an internet
café somewhere on High Street Kensington while I was out to print out the
things I would need for tomorrow. I
asked the stationary shop near the Tube at Kensington where there was an
internet café and they said there wasn’t one around there and the closest would
be Earls Court. I didn’t want to catch
another Tube, so I decided to just head to Senegal, collect my passport and
then decide where I would be able to print my stuff off. I had to walk past a hotel called the
Kensington Place on my way to the Senegal Consulate and decided on a whim to
ask if I could use their internet (paying of course) and save me the hassle of
hunting down a café. So I walked into
the hotel with an air of confidence and went straight to the concierge desk and
asked if they had a business centre to print some things from email. I was told yes and directed to the business
centre and told that the things that I printed would come to them at the desk
and to come back to them to pick them up.
So I found the centre, there was no-one else in there and no codes or
passwords required for the internet so I just ‘helped’ myself and printed the 3
forms required for the Ghana application, a bank statement and a letter from
Dragoman confirming the tour and entry dates.
With all that done, I logged off and walked back to the concierge desk
and said I had 5 things to pick-up from the printer and they were handed to me
and then he turned to finish what he was doing!
No asking of payment or a room number-so I took the opportunity to say a
quick thanks and I high tailed it out of there pronto and you just couldn’t
wipe the smile off my face!!!
I headed from home on the 9.07am train on Thursday
morning and being the planner that I am, all my directions and times were
accurate to the minute and after arriving at Archway Tube Station and checking
with a booth seller which way was Highgate Hill and I arrived at the consulate
at 10.25am-perfect! You had to present
yourself to the security office next to the driveway, he checks your
appointment printout and then you are told to follow the yellow line into an
adjoining building. The waiting room was
massive, full of around 150 chairs of which maybe just less than half were
occupied. There was an information
counter that you had to present yourself where a number was produced from a
small machine and then it was just a sit and wait game till your number was
called. As busy as the waiting room
looked the last number called was 914 and I was 925 so it didn’t seem like it
would take too long and I was right, I waited 30 minutes and my number was
called and within 5 minutes I had paid the visa fee, paid the express fee and leaving
my passport I was out of there in a total of 40 minutes!!! No problems being an Australian passport and
no worries about not getting it all back tomorrow, which could be collected anytime
from 11am thru to 1pm. It was that
EASY!!!! When I got home and told Paps
he couldn’t quite believe it and said just wait till you have to go and collect
it tomorrow.
So I traced the same steps back again on Friday arriving
back at the Ghana High Commission at 11.30am and you could imagine my surprise
that after checking in at the security office again and getting to the waiting
room there were 2, TWO, yes TWO people in the whole waiting room. It seems that maybe Fridays are the day to
come to the Ghana High Commission!
Needless to say with my ticket in my hand I was the next number in line
and after 5 minutes my number was called and in 30 seconds flat I was out of
there with my Ghana visa in hand. It
took me 1.5 hours to get to the consulate, there for 10 minutes and then the
1.5 hours to get home, but I didn’t care as I now had 2 of the 8 visas that I
need for West Africa and as far as I was concerned my 2 hardest visas to
get. My trip to London was not only a
success socially, but also for the visas it was priceless. I couldn’t wait to get home to tell Paps that
what took him 8 hours took me 5 minutes so I had to call him and have a brag on
the phone!!! I couldn’t believe it. I have always been so lucky applying for
visas in London, everyone has always been so helpful and Senegal and Ghana are
further proof of that.
THANKYOU SENEGAL AND GHANA HIGH COMMISSIONS-LONDON.
I don’t think they realise just what stress they have
saved me from and I will take a small amount of credit making sure I had
everything I needed to facilitate them as well but WOO HOO!!!
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