VISA NOTE: applying for a transit visa for Libya in Tunis (last update November 28, 2010).

Ok, we've just received our 14 day transit visa for Libya in Tunis! Here's how it went:

The first time we went to the Libyan consulate in Tunis (note, not the embassy!) on 74 Avenue Mohamed V, was on Tuesday, the 2nd of November. The entrance to the consulate is on the left of the building, first door. We asked what we would need to apply for a transit visa. We were told copies of our Dutch passport, translations of the main passport page in Arabic and 45 Tunisian Dinar per visa application. We were also told (by two different people) that the application would take 15 days...

So we took our passports and a letter we wrote, to explain why we want a transit visa for the country, to a translator: Maître Abdallah Hafaiedh on 98 Rue de Yougoslavie, second floor (tel. 71347803). He will translate above from English into Arabic. (10 dinar per passport page, ready in one-and-a-half days, 15 dinar for the letter)
If you need translations from French into Arabic, we would suggest you go and see:
Maître Ben Halima Salah on 45 Avenue Habib Bourguiba (the building is called the Colisée), 5th floor, room 508 (tel. 334170).

We took everything to the consulate on November 4, and they accepted all the paperwork, took everything to the back, including our passports and, after returning our passports, told us to come back in ten days. Please note that the guy at reception only speaks Arabic, so most of your conversations will be redirected via phone to a lady that speaks French, somewhere in the building. If you don't speak either, let them know, because there are English speakers there ! At this stage we didn't pay anything!

When we returned after 11 days (on Monday the 15th), the consulate was closed...
Due to Eid (Islamic holiday) on Tuesday and Wednesday, they took an extra day off, being Monday. When we returned on Thursday the 18th, the visa approval was not there. So we returned again on Monday the 22nd. We were greeted by an official, who spoke fluent English (!), who asked us how many days we thought we'd need to cycle through the country.
Would 20 be enough? 20 ??? That would be very nice. He said, "I'll give you 20 days"... We were very pleases indeed! So we filled in the green visa form, with all our details, profession, where we wanted to go in Libya, religion and all that stuff and handed it back together with two passport size photos each and 31 Tunisian Dinar per person (where did 45 come from?). He said, come back in an hour and we'll have it all sorted... So we went to a café and had a few coffees, still unable to believe our luck. I mean 20 days would be awesome and enough for us to cycle the whole country. When we returned, I spoke on the phone with the English speaker and he told me there was a mix-up and that our approval hadn't come in yet !@@##%$

That was a bummer, but at least he told us we could get 20 days if the approval was there. So we left them with our telephone number, so they could call us when they received the approval. We went back anyway on Wednesday, but the visa was not there. The English speaker told us he had send a reminder to Tripoli and that he would be in touch as soon as he heard anything. And on Friday we got a phone call! I never thought they would ring and we were about to embark on another trip to the consulate, when we got the news the approval was there.

So we jumped in a taxi, and we got a 14 days transit visa! Why 14 days I don't know, but anyway, a lot better than 7 days what most travellers get. I think it pays to say that you are on a bicycle and that you need some more days, because the country is quite big...

The visa is in Arabic, and we couldn't decipher how long the visa was for, so we asked to talk to the English speaker again. He told us it was for 14 days and that we had to be in the country within 15 days, otherwise the visa won't be valid. We had somebody at the hotel have a look at it as well, just to be sure.

Well, I think that's it, if there are any more questions, let us know.

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