Obtaining a Venezuelan tourist visa as US Citizen 2021
Our good friend Sam Goodwin who visited Angel Falls in late November 2019, describes the details of how he managed to get the visa to visit Venezuela.
- January 26, 2021
- 11:52 am
- Ben Rodriguez
- Must Read, Venezuela
Venezuela Tourist visa US Citizen
As of late 2019, I believe the Venezuelan Embassy and all Consulates in the United States are closed. As a result, I applied for a visa in Ottawa. I have heard that it is also possible for Americans to obtain a visa from the Embassy in Mexico City, but I do not have any experience with this.
I applied for my visa by sending documents by mail to the Embassy in Ottawa.
The address is:
32 Range Road
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1N 8J4
The following documents were in my envelope:
· A completed and signed tourist visa application form (it can be downloaded here)
· Physical passport (minimum validity of six months and two empty visa pages in a row)
· A photocopy of my passport
· My flight details (be sure your flight to Venezuela is more than 30 days from your visa application date)
· A letter confirming and detailing my employment
· Bank statements from the past three months (be sure to have an account balance greater than $1,500)
· A passport size photo (this should also be sent digitally by email)
· A prepaid return mailing envelope
Notes:
· When emailing the photo, it must be in .jpg format and have a symmetrical pixel total of between 400 x 400 and 600 x 600. The file size must be between 40Kb and 240Kb.
· Do not use FedEx to mail your envelope – they do not deliver to the Venezuela Embassy in Ottawa. Both UPS and DHL work, however, I found it easier to organize an international prepaid return envelope to the United States with UPS than DHL.
· The cost of the visa is US$30. ( This must be paid in US Dollar cash. Neither UPS or DHL would allow cash to be shipped inside my envelope (some sort of customs/immigration issue). As a result, once my visa was approved, I arranged for a friend in Ottawa to go to the Embassy on my behalf and pay the visa fee.
The phone number for the Embassy is +1 (613) 235-5151. If you are having trouble getting in touch, you can use the direct line which is +1 (613) 447-4576.
When emailing the Embassy, I suggest sending the email to all three of these addresses:
· consular.section@misionvenezuela.org
· consular@misionvenezuela.org
· embve.caotw@mppre.gob.ve
The key people in charge of visas at the Embassy are Patiana and Luis. Patiania does not speak English (only Spanish).
My visa took 17 days to be approved. Inclusive of mailing time (as well as some other minor delays), I was without my passport for approximately one month. I was issued a one-year multiple entry tourist visa. The starting validity date of the visa was the day the physical visa sticker was inserted into my passport at the Embassy.
I entered Venezuela on November 22nd and exited on November 26th, 2019. I traveled on a USA passport with the tourist visa I obtained from the Embassy in Ottawa and had no trouble in either direction at Caracas airport immigration.
Venezuela Tourist visa US Citizen