Visa confusion, please help

Dear fellow TTers,

my fiance and I are currently in Colombia, flying into Uganda in two weeks and are planning to go to Rwanda aswell. We have studied the Rwandan Immigration webpage but are still pretty confused about the state of the visas. I am travelling on an Austrian (not Australian) passport, my fiance on a New Zealand passport.

the webpage says that you have to apply for a visa at the Rwandan embassy in your country of residence (NZ for both of us), which we dont have. Does that mean that we have to fill in the online form?
How far in advance are we supposed to have done this?
What is the deal with the letter of invitation that they request on the form?

Any clarity on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

This might help.

Dave

thanks dave,
this is the web page we referred to, but it still doesnt explain about the letter of invitation?!
cheers!

Drop off the online application and show up at the immigration desk at Kigali Int. Airport with your passports and $60 for each and there is 99.99% of chances that you obtain your visa without any hassle.

thanks, but we will be crossing into Rwanda from Uganda. Would this work at overland borders, too?

Does nobody know what the letter of invitation is?

As for overland border, fill out the online application form without the letter in question, get a copy and it will work for sure. I am also quite sure that you can obtain visa at overland border without submiting any online application, though you might get asked for.

thanks, we might just try that.
however, the invitation letter is a mandatory field marked w a star, so we cant submit it.
so do you suggest filling it in printing it out and take it along to the border?
cheers

NO! As you may not know anybody that could supply you with the letter in Rwanda and that you might not willing to book a hotel reservation, just omit the letter per se. If asked for tell them that you are a budget backpacker and the guest houses with whom you are willing to stay do not have internet access, or reliable contact or simply you are planing to camp out at any convenient and possible place, period.

Do as I advise you and write us one or two words after you will have passed successfully through.

alright, will do, thank you.
Sorry, one last question, though. If i booked a hostel, would they issue me that letter?

Highly unlikely. Besides, if a letter was required the authorities would want a reputable one, as in from a 3* or more, place.

Rwandan Authorities have now twice lost the invitation letter which was attached to my application. First time, when I entered in Kigali airport i got the visa without any major issues, but the second time in Ruzizi, I was nearly refused the entry because I did not have the visa (only the application number). So I would not be so sure about the entry without a valid visa.

DO APPLY ONLINE if you intend to enter by land.

I tried (as a french citizen) to enter at the Gatuna border, thinking that I could get my visa at the border, and I was turned down along with an Irish citizen. So we had to go back to Uganda (the rwandan authorities at the border will provide a letter so that your exit from Uganda is canceled, therefore you don't have to pay an extra fee) and we are now in Kabale, having completed our online application form and waiting for it to be processed quickly, as promised on the border (we have the phone number of one of the officials at the border).

So, please don't be stupid like me and do apply online !

thanks, #11,
that's good to know! We are having issues with their online form as their webpage doesn't seem to work properly here. We've tried it on a few different computers but it never works properly. We also went to the Rwandan embassy in Kampala, but our timing was bad, as we went on the day of their elections :)