Marija

Three weeks ago I sent to the Kenyan embassy via Fed Ex two completed visa applications, photos, money orders and return Fed Ex envelope. Fed Ex tracking shows the package was received. We have not, however, received our visas and Fed Ex tracking does not shown them as sent. I've sent e-mail to the embassy (no response) and called them several times and been put into voice mailbox each time by the receptionist. Is it time to panic?!

sandi

Keep calling.

Note that the embassies (at least Tanzania has) seem to be going with computerized Visas if you send to them, rather than obtaining on arrival where they just place a stamp in your passport.

Because of this, what did take 3 or 5-days, now seems to be taking 3-weeks.

So keep calling. Leave messages. Either you'll get an answer or just find the passport in your mail.

martync

Pardon me, but I don't understand why folks bother to purchase visas in advance. Our recent trip to TZ and Kenya involved at most 15 minutes and in Kenya, maybe 5 minutes to get the visa at the border. It was cheaper and there was no worry about lost passports.

Marija

We attempted to get visas in advance since some people reported mob scenes at the airports.

tuskerdave

hi,the first 6 times i went i mailed everything to the company that took care of my airfare-out of NY STATE. they had a service that did all that. i had sent everything US MAIL certified/reg. which ever i used. but this past time-i tried it not getting it ahead of time. this was uganda and kenya.neither country you needed any papers filled out.just that card they give you on the plane.
no issues at all.i will keep doing that now this way.
if it were me-yes i'd panic.not sure what the next step would be though.
so sorry for this,
d

Toshi

I had a similar problem and in the end it turned out that a temp postal person marked the return envelope as "no such address" (although my building has been here for over 100 years and it was properly addressed). It was sent back to the Kenyan Embassy in DC. Took about 3 weeks to figure out.

In the mean time, I learned that
-they are most easily reached by phone between 10 and 11am (DC time). Be ready to tell them when it was received and who signed for it.
-try other departments - if you reach a live person they can likely help you (there can't be that many people that work there)
-figure out your contingency plan. Investigate what it will take to get a duplicate passport. If there's a passport agency where you live you can have it easily replaced within 2 days - so figure 4 days if you live somewhere without an office.

Good Luck!

matnikstym

when is your trip marija?

Marija

We're leaving on September 5th, so I've got plenty of time. I was just wondering if others are experiencing long waits or if I should start aggressively pursuing the matter. Guess I'll start looking for them...

africnow

You are dealing with the Kenyan embassy in the US?
My experience may not be pertinant then, but - My local travel agency took care of all the details:

I filled out forms for both Kenya and Tz with the details required.

The travel agency used a visa service that picked up the passport, the forms and the payment from their office and took it personally to each embassy.

The embassy phoned the visa service to pick up the passport with the visas in them.

The service then returned the passport to my travel agency who phoned me and I went to pick it up. No mailing of the passport at any time.

The whole thing, for 2 different embassies did take 3 weeks.

Lucia78

If you don't get your visa/passport back in the next 2 weeks and you can't reach someone in the Kenyan Embassy in DC than call your Congressman/woman's office. They can help you navigate the process.

Marija

Thanks for the suggestions/info. I'll keep trying to extricate my passport. I'm sure not going to send it away again for Tanzania!

katesy

Hi Marija,

I also sent my passport to the Kenya embassy in DC 3 weeks ago and haven't gotten anything back yet (also received confirmation that they received it). Will you keep the board posted with any news you hear? I am also getting concerned, as I leave August 16.

comtnboy

If this is in the U.S., here's what I did and it worked perfectly. I also was able to call the embassies very easily and they were very helpful. See below.

A thought about the visa applications. I spoke to the Tanzania and the Kenya embassies today. The Kenya agent did not recommend doing the visa at the airport. He said you would wait in long lines and anything could go wrong.

Based on this info, I did some further research and this is what I recommend. You send your passport with the below listed items to the Tanzania embassy and address it attention: Nema. She will process the visa and send the package to the Kenya embassy attention: CMuendo. He will process your visa and send the package back to you.
The cost is $50.00 per visa per person and the express mail cost. This is a better price than the Sita visa process. The visas will take approximately 2 days each to process. I suggest you do this right away.

Included items in the package:
-passport for each of you
-completed visa applications for both countries
-(to download application forms go to www.tanzania-un.org and www.kenyaembassy.com)
-2 passport photos per person
-1 pre-paid express mail envelope addressed from the Tanzania embassy to the Kenya embassy
-1 pre-paid express mail envelope addressed from the Kenya embassy to you
-a cashier check in the amount of $100.00 to each embassy

Here are the addresses of the embassies

Tanzania Embassy
201 East 42nd St.
New York, NY 10017
ATTENTION: NEMA
212 972-9160

Kenya Embassy
866 United Nations Plaza
Room 4014
New York, NY 10017
ATTENTION: C MUENDO
212 421-4741

katesy

I just called the DC embassy and got put into voicemail too. Noticed on the website that they were adversely affected by the rainstorms - maybe this has caused some kind of delay in their response?? Hope it's something that can be resolved quickly. Am going to try and stay calm, as this is my honeymoon trip, and I have lots of other wedding-related issues to keep me up at night. Based on comtnboy's posting, I wish I had sent to the NYC consulate instead!

Lucia78

Katesy,

Yes we had a lot of rain in DC but everything is up and running again. But this could be why things are more delayed than usual. However, if you are worried and you can't get a hold of someone at the Embassy, really just call your Congressman/woman's office. I work for a Member of Congress and believe me, we get similar requests all the time.

Marija

Hi, katesy,

I did another round of voice mail this morning as well. Now that we know that there are at least two of us, it seems less likely that the problem is a lost passport. They're probably just slow. Congratulations on your wedding! Let's keep each other posted.

npederse

I just got my visa for Tanzania. I sent it in to the D.C. embassy via Fedex - took about 2 weeks total for the whole process. No troubles doing so.

As to why send it in beforehand, we did ours so that we didn't have to wait with everyone else who's getting off the 777 that night at Kilimanjaro airport.

Marija

Katesy,
Fed-Ex shows that our visas were sent back today!

busymomksw

I did it in May and it took about three weeks. I did call three times to ask a question before sending and noone ever called me back. Hang tight! It's on it's way.

katesy

Hi Marija - our passports showed up in the mail yesterday. Glad to hear we're all going to be able to make our trips! Thanks everyone for your help.