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I arrived in Burkina Faso the the key task of getting the West Africa Multi-Country Visa Touristique Entante.
I stayed at Grand Calao, a retreat in the suburbs, and the proprietor was excellent at providing information. Monday morning I set out with a driver and he navigated the process for me at the national police.
The visa, obtainable once in one of the member countries, allows one entry to each of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger and Togo.
This can save money and time. It is only CFA 25,000 (USD 42) which is less than most of these individually. For US citizens, the main benefit other than cost is for Niger and Benin, as the Burkina Faso and Togo visas are available on arrival, while Cote d’Ivoire has advance e-visa.
US citizens can get a Burkina Faso visa on arrival though it may be duration as short as 5 days and you need their visa to be valid at least as long as the Entente, so those in such a situation first lose of a day extending the visa. I got my visa in advance from the embassy in Washington, DC which issues 5-year multiple-entry visas.
Officially in Burkina Faso you are to allow 72 hours however they had it for me by next afternoon for no additional fee. Only other requirement is 2 photos.
I will have a more detailed post on this when I have a speedier internet connection as I am already in Niger!
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How was your experience using the visa? I have heard that some countries are reluctant in recognizing it like Niger.
And does it offer multi-entry?
@Abhinav Gautam – no one batted an eye for using it to enter any of the countries, including Niger, all were arrival/departure by air so I can’t speak to land borders. Only small issues was convincing ASKY Air in Accra that it was a valid visa for me to board the flight. It is only single-entry for each country.
I recently used the East Africa visa and it was a breeze. Hope West Africa copies them and makes the visa entente available on arrival or in advance. You had great luck getting the visa in 24 hours. I read reports of some people getting stuck for 3 days.
Great to know. That would save a lot of time and money. Also, there is a East African Visa entente that is available prior to arrival. It allows entry to Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda (basically the price of one visa that covers all three).
That’s great to hear! I’ve always heard differing stories on which of those countries still offer the visa entente. As far as I know, none of those countries’ embassies in the USA issue the visa entente. Let us know if you encounter any issues upon entry to Benin (since obviously you had no issues with Niger.)
the spotty Internet version of a blog post is hilarious