Following the example of several African countries, Cameroon has officially adopted the issuance of online visas. After several months of waiting, the country's authorities have announced the date of the effectiveness of the e-visa.

From April 30, visa applications to Cameroon will be made exclusively online, announced the Minister of External Relations, Lejeune Mbella Mbella, through a statement issued on Thursday, April 6.

According to the communiqué, obtaining the electronic visa requires the prior submission of a visa application from the platform www.evisacam.cm, regardless of the geographical area of the applicant, according to the established administrative modalities. The online application is followed by the payment of the visa fees which will be done online via various methods (Mastercard, Visa, Paypal, Mobile Money, Orange Money, Moov, Wave, Safaricom, Airtel, Vodacom, Africell).

An online visa authorisation will then be issued to the applicant who can then go either to a diplomatic mission or to a border post to actually obtain the visa. This final phase will be completed by an enrolment of the applicant consisting of fingerprints, facial image and other information. According to the statement, the visa is issued within three days from the date of the online application.

It should be recalled that the Cameroonian government received the computer equipment for this project last June, which was entrusted to the company Impact Palmarès R&D SAS based in Abidjan, in the Coast Ivory. The bill updating the legal framework was tabled in the National Assembly on 2 July. The decree updating the conditions of entry, stay and exit of foreigners in Cameroon was signed last month by the President of the Republic, Paul Biya.

This reform prescribed by the President of the Republic is the first step towards the digital transformation of the diplomatic apparatus of Cameroon. According to the Minister of External Relations, "the e-visa system in Cameroon responds to the desire to make Cameroon's destination more attentive, to respond to the grievances of the Cameroonian diaspora and to bring our consular system in line with international standards in this area.

Source : Wearetechafrica