Cameroon tourist visa: the short-stay visa for holidays and private visits

Decree No. 2023/147 groups short-term travellers under the heading of temporary visitors. For leisure travel two of its categories matter: tourists, defined as people travelling for pleasure who stay in a hotel or other accommodation establishment, alone or on a package tour, and private visitors, who come for pleasure and are hosted by relatives or friends. Both receive the same short-stay visa; the difference lies only in the accommodation evidence.

The visa cannot be used to take up a job, run a business activity for profit or enrol in a course. The decree reserves those activities to the long-stay visa, and a visa cannot be changed from one category to another after arrival. If you expect to stay longer than six months, apply for the long-stay visa from the start.

Article 35 of the decree lists the evidence for a short-stay visa: a passport valid for at least six months, a return or circular ticket, the international vaccination certificates required, proof of the purpose of the visit and of sufficient means for the whole stay, and either a hosting certificate from the host endorsed by the local mayor, an invitation to an event in Cameroon, or a firm hotel booking for the planned stay.

The missions' checklists translate this into uploads: the passport data page, a flight reservation to and from Cameroon, the yellow fever page of the vaccination card, a recent bank statement (the Washington mission specifies less than three months old) or a notarised sponsor letter with the sponsor's statement, and the hotel booking or hosting certificate. When a host in Cameroon sends an invitation, missions expect it to be legalised by the police in Cameroon. Files are uploaded as scans, preferably PDF, and the Washington checklist caps each file at 5 MB.

For a minor, missions ask for the birth certificate, copies of the parents' identity documents and a notarised authorisation signed by both parents, even when the child travels with one of them.

MINREX harmonised visa prices when the online system started: 100,000 XAF for an ordinary short-stay visa valid up to six months and 150,000 XAF for the express version. Missions abroad convert the amount: the High Commission in London lists EUR 153 and EUR 229, the embassy in Washington USD 181.82 and USD 272.73. The charge is paid on the platform only, by Visa or Mastercard card, and the Washington mission also mentions Orange Money and other mobile money through a partner bank. Missions do not take cash for visas at the counter.

The fee is non-refundable, even after a refusal. Card problems such as double debits are handled through the claims site claim.evisacam.cm rather than by the embassy.

After you pay, the application goes to the embassy or consulate competent for your place of residence, or to the nearest one if Cameroon has no mission in your country. If you live in the city where that mission is located, you receive an e-mail or SMS inviting you to a biometric appointment, where your fingerprints and photograph are taken and the sticker is placed in your passport. If you live elsewhere, the mission issues an online visa authorisation with a QR code; you travel with it and the border police check your documents, capture your biometrics, print the sticker and affix it.

Biometric enrolment is repeated for each new visa. Do not board without either the sticker or the QR authorisation; entry is refused without one of them.

The decree gives the mission three days from pre-enrolment to grant the visa or the online authorisation, after the DGSN has returned its opinion within 24 hours; express cuts the total to 24 hours. A refusal must be notified within three days. The London High Commission recommends applying at least 10 days before entry and notes that applications are not accepted more than six months before the start of the visit. The Washington mission counts its three days in business days and warns that incomplete files are put on hold until corrected.

If the officer finds an error, the electronic file is sent back to you for correction; you do not need to open a new account or a new application. A file marked On Hold must be edited and resubmitted quickly, or it may be rejected with the fee forfeited. A rejected application cannot be reopened: a new, complete application with a new payment is needed. Once a visa is issued its validity cannot be changed, so plan your dates before paying.