Getting the Somaliland visa
Please note: things can change rapidly in this corner of the world. This information I give you regarding the Somaliland visa was valid in October 2017 but can be outdated today.
Getting the Somaliland visa was my most difficult hunt for a visa so far. Somaliland is the Northern part of Somalia, a self-declared independent country that is not recognized by any other country. However, Somaliland has an own government, currency, military… and also an own visa. That means the Somaliland visa is not the same as the Somalia visa, and you cannot enter Somaliland with the latter.
However, you don’t need both visa to enter Somaliland. You just need the Somaliland visa!
There are two options to get the visa. The easiest one is going to the embassy and get it on the same day. The catch is that there are only two Somaliland embassies in the world; one in London and the other one in Addis Abeba. Option two is organising it through your hotel or a tour in Somaliland. This can be a bit tricky though, as people got rejected at the airport without having a visa in advance because of the unreliability of the hotel. They never sent the paperwork.
Option 1: get the Somaliland visa in an embassy
Obviously, going to the embassy to get the visa is only the easiest option if you A) live in London or B) in Addis Abeba. However, as many people go to Somaliland from Addis Abeba, this might be the best choice. There are still some hurdles though. First, the embassy is constantly moving from one place to another with little information online. Second, the embassy is only open from Monday to Friday. That means you must be in Addis Abeba on a weekday.
Getting the Somaliland visa in London might be the easier option, as the information you find about them online is more reliable. But still, are you willing to take one day off just to get the visa? I wouldn’t.
Option 2: let the hotel organise it for you
You can also ask your hotel if they can organise it for you. Some of the hotels in Hargeisa such as Hotel Damal or Ambassador Hotel provide this service for you. They will act as your sponsor and take care of the paperwork. It’s sometimes even cheaper than getting the visa at the embassy. The only thing you need to do is sending them a scan of your passport. When they finished everything, they will send the paperwork to the airport.
Sounds easy? It would be easy actually, but I’ve read the one and the other report online from people claiming that they had been rejected, as the hotel never sent the paperwork to the embassy. Therefore, this might be the riskier option.
How I got the visa, and how stressful it was
My quest for the Somaliland visa began back home in Switzerland. I was planning my Horn of Africa tour which started in Addis Abeba. Getting a visa the first day of my trip was necessary, as I only intended staying in Ethiopia‘s capital for one day. I read several postings of people saying that the Somaliland embassy in Addis Abeba is hard to find and constantly moving from one place to another. Therefore, I chose my hotel in Addis near the embassy.
A few weeks before I went to Ethiopia, I wanted to contact the Somaliland embassy to ask about the opening hours, but there was no phone number and no e-mail address mentioned on their website. However, I found the e-mail address of the Somaliland embassy in London and asked them.
Nobody answered my question of course. This is Africa.
My flight to Hargeisa was on October 25th. Therefore, I needed the Somaliland visa at least in the morning of that day so that I could print it out and show it at the airport.
Date: 14 October 2017, arrival in Addis Abeba (11 days before my flight to Somaliland)
I arrived in Addis Abeba early in the morning, went to my hotel first and after that directly to the Somaliland embassy. Nobody answered when I knocked on the door. I tried it a few more times and was ready to give up. Just when I wanted to leave, someone opened the door and we had the following conversation:
“Hi, I’m here for the visa”
“I’m sorry, the embassy is closed today.”
“Can I come early tomorrow morning? I have a flight in the afternoon.”
“No, it’s also closed tomorrow. You should come back the day after tomorrow.”
Okay, that sucked. I didn’t even properly start my trip and already had the first problem. I didn’t want to accept that answer.
“How much does the visa cost?”
“70 Dollars.”
“Is there anything I can do to get my visa today?”
“No…?!”
“Let’s say… I will pay 100 Dollars.”
The guy looked quite irritated.
“Listen, I’m just the housekeeper. I’m not even Somali, I’m Ethiopian. None of the diplomats are here today.”
Okay, damn. I remembered plan B: getting the visa through the hotel. It wasn’t the option I preferred, but I only saw one other option, plan C: getting back to Addis earlier at the end of my Ethiopia trip, (I had a connecting flight from Mekele to Hargeisa via Addis) and try it again at the embassy. However, I would have had only one morning to organise everthing. It was also a tricky option.
I chose plan B and sent an e-mail to my hotel in Somaliland.
Date: 15 October, location: Gondar, Ethiopia (10 days before my flight to Somaliland)
My hotel answered my e-mail and confirmed that they could organize my visa, but I had to send them a scan of my passport. Unfortunately, I did not find a scan of my passport saved in my cell phone or in my mailbox. Therefore, I asked my hotel if they could scan my passport, but they did not have a scanner. I cannot remember when I have been staying in a hotel that didn’t have a scanner. T.I.A. – This is Africa.
Date: 19 October, location: Bahir Dar, Ethiopia (6 days before my flight to Somaliland)
I couldn’t take care of the Somaliland visa the next days, as my tour to the Simien Mountains started the next morning. I tried my luck in Bahir Dar, which was my next destination after the Simiens. Of course, my hotel there didn’t have a scanner either… but they told me I should go to an internet café and try there. After asking in five different internet cafés, I finally found one that could help me. They sent me the document by e-mail.
Mobile internet in Ethiopia is one of the worst in the world. It took an eternity until I could send the document to the hotel (the size of the attachment was 4 MB).
Date: 20 October, location: Bahir Dar, Ethiopia (5 days before my flight to Somaliland)
I did not hear from the hotel yet, and my flight to Hargeisa was five days later. I kindly asked again about the status…
Date: 21 October, location: Mekele, Ethiopia (4 days before my flight to Somaliland)
Still no reaction from my hotel. In the evening, I got an e-mail with confirmation that they applied for the visa and they claimed it would be ready on October 23rd, just two days before my flight.
Date: 23 October, location: Danakil Depression, Ethiopia (2 days before my flight to Somaliland)
I didn’t get the visa, so I sent the next e-mail and asked for the status. I got nervous a bit.
Date: 24 October, location: Danakil Depression, Ethiopia (1 day before my flight to Somaliland)
I didn’t want to loose time after waking up and immediately sent another e-mail to my hotel in Somaliland. I told them that I still did not get the visa, that my flight is the day after and that I would have to cancel the whole trip when I wouldn’t get the visa in the afternoon.
Now I was considering plan C. I was still on the Danakil Depression tour, but I would be back in Mekele between 3 or 4 PM. That would give me enough time to catch a flight at 7 PM from Mekele to Addis. I could get a visa the next morning (I wasn’t even sure, if they would provide a visa within 2-3 hours) and take the flight to Hargeisa at 3.20 PM.
I sent another reminder after lunch, and then finally… A COPY OF THE VISA WAS IN MY MAILBOX!!! Just about 20 hours before my flight.
Date: 25 October, location: Hargeisa, Somaliland
I was waived in by the immigration officer after my arrival. It seemed like everything worked well, or the immigration officer just didn’t want to waste too much time with me.
Conclusion
Getting the Somaliland visa was stressful and I wasn’t sure if it will happen until I IF YOU WANT TO AVOID STRESS LIKE THAT, then be in Addis Abeba on a weekday and make sure you collect the visa the same day!
Click here if you want to read how the trip to Somaliland was.
