How I got my Cameroon visa in just one week

As part of my trip to Africa I also had to apply for a Cameroon visa through the consulate in Washington DC.

The Cameroon consulate website is well organized and instructions and instructions are very detailed - in fact it fills several pages.

Cameroon requires decidedly more paperwork compared to say a Ghana Visa.

For the single-entry, tourist visa I was eying I had to provide:

- two copies of the longish visa application form signed

- two passport sizes photos (though I actually enclosed 4 since the instructions made it sound that you need two per application form - better be safe than sorry)

- my hotel reservations (oddly enough a fully refundable reservations is enough)

- my inbound/ outbound flight tickets

- a recent bank statement showing that I have enough funds to cover my stay

- a money order of $93 for the consulate fees

I tried to reach the consulate beforehand but the numbers on the website always lead to a automated message and voice box that was full. I wasn't sure this would all work out given the many requirements in the instructions.

However just 96 hours after the Fedex reached the consulate the return envelope was given to Fedex. The total processing time was just two business days. This was not an Express application - just a regular processing.

That's quite impressive and given the prices in the neighborhood a simple and affordable visa.

The visa itself looks just like in the example - it seems very manual. Let's hope it works!