Visa

You will need a visa to study in Cameroon: short stay for one semester or long-stay for the academic year.

You will need to wait and apply not more than three months prior to the start of the program, and you will require an acceptance letter from Middlebury as well as an enrollment letter from UCAC (both will be sent to you) before you can apply.

You’ll start by creating an account here: www.evisacam.cm

The on-line application form itself is fairly self-explanatory, except it bears mentioning that when you are asked for your mother’s name in foreign contexts, they want her maiden (not married) name. Also, your profession is “student”; employer is your school. Please pay attention to the specified date format.

You’ll need a reference in Cameroon, for which you should use our director:
Christiane Magnido
National ID #20190321048020554

And the only address you should reference is that of the university:
Universite Catholique de l’Afrique Centrale
Campus de Nkol-Bisson
Faculte de Sciences Sociales et de Gestion
PO BOX, 11 628
Yaoundé, Cameroon
tel. +(237) 22 33 74 00

If you haven’t yet gotten the yellow fever vaccine, plan to get that at a travel clinic or check with your doctor. That appointment will be a good time for your health care provider to advise you about malarial prophylaxis as well. You can get them in Cameroon, but they’re less expensive in the US. Even though the consulate requires only a copy of the yellow WHO card that lists your vaccines, you must take the original yellow WHO card with you (keep it in your passport) and present it upon entrance to Cameroon. The yellow fever vaccine is expensive (~$400) and not usually covered by insurance so be sure you understand how much the appointment will cost. Also be sure to ask about costs associated with other vaccines the clinic might suggest (the only vaccine required for the visa is yellow fever). 

You’ll follow the directions at the above link to create an account, complete the on-line application, pay your fee*, and upload your documents**. They they’ll send you a QR code, which you’ll need to show, along with your original application materials that you uploaded to their application portal, to obtain your visa sticker upon entrance to Cameroon.

*Many people have difficulty paying the fee because banks and credit cards flag the charge as potentially fraudulent. If your payment fails, call your bank or credit card company and approve the charge for “Doula department store,” the processing agency for the Embassy’s fees. 

**Uploading the required documents can be maddening. Be sure you have everything as a pdf, no more than 2MB. The title should be simple with no special characters (“passport,” “financials,” etc.) If the site won’t accept a material, print it again to a pdf, re-save, and try again. Let me know if you’re having problems and we can sit down and look together.