Visabureau.com/australia/touristvisa.aspx
I am a Ghanaian living in SA and want to travel to Denmark. Can you please assist me with a visa? I’d also like to know whether a Ghanaian may embark on a cruise to Europe.
Citizens of Ghana do need a visa to visit Denmark, but the Sunday Times cannot assist with a visa application — you need to apply for a Shengen visa through the Danish Embassy. You can call the Danish visa call centre on 012 425 3001.
The Danish Embassy in Pretoria is at iParioli Office Park, Block B2, 1166 Park Street, Hatfield. Phone 012 430 9340 or e-mail pryamb@um.dk.
As far as I know, there are no cruises that go directly to Europe from SA, other than the MSC ships at the end of their SA season If you intend to disembark the ship you will need a UK visa to spend time in Harwich. Check with your cruise liner — many require that you have visas for all ports of call even if you do not plan to disembark, as there could be circumstances under which you would have to, such as for a medical emergency. Note from a reader: I do not know whether you are aware that British-passport holders who are British subjects (children of British parents but themselves born outside the UK) rather than British citizens can no longer travel to Australia on an ETA (electronic travel authorisation) as British citizens do. They have to have a full visa, the same as South African passport holders.
My wife, having travelled to Australia on four previous occasions on an ETA, was in December refused boarding in Auckland for a flight to Adelaide. She had to apply for a visa in Auckland and wait until it was issued before we could re-book our flights. We were told that it could take up to a month but it was through in a week.
This was inconvenient as well as costly as the visa was more than NZ$200 (about R1 900) and the rebooked fares for myself and my wife were more than NZ$800.
Even then our troubles were far from over as the visa was not registered against her passport and entry into Australia was still a mission. It was an expensive lesson that I hope this letter will help your readers avoid. — Peter Reynolds
Thank you for this information which will certainly be of interest to some of our readers. There is indeed a footnote at
that says “Holders of UK passports which indicate their nationality to be British National (Overseas) can only be processed for an ETA if resident in and applying in Hong Kong.” — Andrew Unsworth