Remember to stay Zen
As you may recall, we were unable to buy a visa for more than 30 days at the airport when we landed in Cape Verde. In theory we should have been able to get a 90 day one. We did a lot of hunting in Praia till we found the Border Police office, where they told us (a) that to get an extension done there we’d have to leave our passports with them for two weeks, (b) that it would be easier to do in Mindelo, and (c) why were we bothering for a measly five extra days? (The answer to c is that you risk a 100 euro fine in addition to the cost of the visa.)
Get a Visa Extended in Mindelo, Cape Verde
Now that we are in Mindelo, today we tackled the project of the visa extension. It is not easy to figure out, so for anyone else who might need to extend a Cape Verde visa here’s the process as it currently stands in Mindelo.
- Get passport photos taken (you only need one). We went to Foto Express (14, Avenue 5 de Julho)
- Get photocopies of your passport – both the page with your info and the page with the Cape Verde entry stamp that you got at the airport. We got this done at a place called Loja Inktoner on Rua Patrice Lumumba.
- Get photcopies of proof of your departure date. We also dealt with that at Loja Inktoner.
- Bring all of these, and your original passport, to the Comando Policial de Sao Vicente between 9 – noon or 2 – 4.
- They will start a dossier for you, and give you 2 copies of a visa extension form.
- Bring those to a bank. Wait patiently for 40 minutes only to discover that because the power went out for a few minutes while you were waiting their system is down. They have no idea when it will be up again.
- Go for a nice relaxing lunch. We had a very good meal at Bom Gusto on Rua Santo Antonio. We will likely go back some evening; they have live music with dinner (starting around 7:30 p.m.).
- Go to a different bank. Take a number. Pay 2100 CVE for the extension. They will keep one copy of the form and give you the other back, stamped with proof that you’ve paid.
- Go back to the police station. Give them the form and your passports.
- Come back in 24 hours or more and all should be good. (We haven’t finished that part yet. I hope we will not need any additions to this list!)
Interesting Thing We Learned at the Banks
Most of the economy here is cash-based. One result is that Monday is a very busy day at the banks. Try to avoid going on a Monday. What blew us away though, was how much cash was being deposited. How did they get these huge wads to the bank safely, we wondered.
Most of the economy here is cash-based. One result is that Monday is a very busy day at the banks. Try to avoid going on a Monday. What blew us away though, was how much cash was being deposited. How did they get these huge wads to the bank safely, we wondered.
Answer: Disguised. Wads of cash are carried to the bank in regular grocery bags. One guy had his tucked inside a cereal box that was visible through the grocery bag. Another simply had it in wads inside a dark bag, so you couldn’t see in. I had thought about using a grocery bag instead of my purse for wandering around town. Maybe that would be the safest thing to do.
