It's been more than 96 hours since we left Constanța behind and set off on a journey across many seas and countries. If you follow www.funkytravel.ro , you know that it has become a habit to go in the winter to areas with lots of sun and temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius. It's the novelty that kitesurfing has brought into our lives. And if you haven't already seen the photos on Instagram , we are in Cape Town, South Africa, the place where one of the most important kite competitions in the world is organized.
One step away from saying "We wanted to go before, but we didn't go"
To feel the African sun on your skin, you need a tourist visa. Happy that Romanians have the e-visa option (an application that you upload online), we didn't think that we would mess up another vacation, pay consular fees for nothing and sit with emotions that we will lose the plane tickets, not cheap at all.
Here is the MFA notice on travel conditions in South Africa.
“ Entry into the Republic of South Africa is permitted with a passport valid for a period of 6 months. Romanian citizens need a visa to enter the territory of this state. The visa is obtained in electronic format, by accessing https://ehome.dha.gov.za/ePermit/home where, after creating a user account, Romanian citizens can submit the visa application online. After its validation, applicants receive the electronic visa by email which must be printed and presented together with the passport to the border police upon entry into South Africa.
CAREFUL!
It is recommended that applications for short-stay visas be submitted at least 30 days before the planned time of travel.
Bank account statements used to prove financial means must be certified with the stamp of the issuing bank and accompanied by a letter of confirmation of the holder, issued by the bank. All supporting documents must be translated into English."
Said and done! I submitted the applications more than 60 days before the date of departure for Cape Town. Attention: you will be asked for a lot of documents, including your parents, bank statements, signed and stamped by the bank, issued in English, active visas in your passport and previous visas. Here is the first mistake I made. We had bought the plane tickets without taking into account that the online visa issuing system is doing worse than CFR Călători.
BRIDGE – if you want to apply for a visa, it is best to have an accommodation booking with free cancellation. That way you meet a mandatory criterion, and if you don't get the visa, at least you don't lose money on accommodation.
And look how more than 40 days have passed since we uploaded the applications, and the African e-visa system was running out of steam. With a time crunch, we decided to prepare a secondary plan to manage to go on vacation. We made an appointment at the South African Embassy in Budapest (we do not have an official representation in Romania ), paid a fee of 33 euros/person for the interview and looked for solutions for a trip to Hungary on December 1st, Romania's National Day. All this was happening while we were scheduled to go on vacation in Istanbul on December 1st, with other friends. The Africans managed to keep us on edge until the last moment. And here's how we canceled our vacation to Istanbul, ruined our friends' plans, were on the verge of paying for the train tickets to Budapest, and the day before we were supposed to pack our bags to leave for Hungary, we woke up with the confirmation email for our online visas. To give you an idea of what a lottery this e-visa system is, out of a group of 16 people, only three got their entry permit to South Africa. The rest are still waiting for the confirmation or denial email.
BRIDGE – if you want to be sure that you get the visa, you better schedule a visit to the consulate in Budapest from the start.
And to end on an optimistic note, there is information circulating, not yet officially verified, which announces that, from March 2024, Romanians will no longer need a visa to enter South Africa.
PS: I've collected a few adventures in South Africa, but I'll come to them one by one, depending on the inspiration. I'll just leave you with a simple detail: when you drive a car with a steering wheel on the right side, you don't need to signal with the wipers.
You'll get the joke in the next episode!
Enjoy the holidays and Merry Christmas!
