I Got A Djibouti Visa With No Hotel/Invitation Letter In Addis Ababa: Wow

Intro

I've gotten my fair share of wild visas, and some that are basically never seen, such as mainland Yemen, but this is one hell of a story. I managed to get a visa to Djibouti, without the necessary documents needed to enter the country...

What Happened?

With the E-Visa system currently not working for Djibouti (it was, but not anymore), I had to figure out how to get a same-day visa to Djibouti but with no invitation letter, no in-hand yellow-fever vaccine, and no hotel booking (which I will get to in a second).

At 8 am, I headed over to the consulate to figure out how I would get this visa done today. A lovely man informed me that it would open at 9, but opened up the door and let me take a picture of everything that was needed to apply, and told me to bring it back at 9 am sharp.

Requirements for a Djibouti Visa

Just one issue: where are my passport photos? And pretty much everything else.

I raced over to the hotel as if nothing else mattered, and was able to print out flight bookings, my Yemen visa, and somehow found 4 old passport photos from about a year ago stuffed into my backpack, all dirty. Ooff. Lucky.

With all of my documents printed, it was back to the embassy to attempt to get a visa.

A printed version of my yellow fever vaccine, since I don't have a physical. Not sure where it is.

Now, back at the embassy, problems began. Completely the fault of my own, but they asked for my hotel reservation, which has to be sent by the hotel (not you), as well as my invitation letter.

After an hour of back and forth, I just said frankly: the only way I can get to Yemen is through Djibouti. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to visit, and the visa is so difficult to procure. You can see that I attached it.

They called down the embassy leader, who ended up granting me the visa needed, as long as I brought my flight ticket from Addis to JIB.

After running back to the hotel and taking a taxi back to the embassy, my visa application had been submitted.

Finished! What a ride!

Now, for the last problem, I needed 2 visas and only got one. How am I going to leave Yemen now?

Final Thoughts

If you are looking to get a visa to Djibouti, don't do what I did. The quickest way at the moment is through Addis Ababa, as the E-Visa is not working. Secondly, make sure that you have all of the necessary documents printed out, otherwise you are S**t out of luck. Hope this helps!