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My unpleasant experience as an arriving tourist in Guyana
Dear Editor;
I am a very typical middle aged man from North-Europe, who travels a lot, both for business and for vacation and adventure. I had in fact visited over 63 countries until last September when I decided that Guyana was going to be my 64th country to visit. I do consider myself an experienced traveler and used to all sort of airports and rules regarding international traveling.
I had been told that I would have to apply for a tourist visa with the immigration officers when I landed in Guyana, and this was nothing to worry about. I did ask in my own country (that is not in EU) if I could apply for the visa from home but I couldn’t, neither could I do it in the USA where I transited on my way to Guyana. The airline that took me in also reassured me that this was not an issue; it would all be clear when we landed in Guyana. Even though my stay was only about 48 hours, Guyana and Georgetown left a big and lasting impression on me, some very positive and other less positive.
My story begins when I landed in the Cheddi Jagan, international airport. The 100 passengers on the plane were not allowed to disembark for some 20 minutes because the immigration was not ready, but that was perhaps understandable since we landed over 3 hours late, and the time was well after midnight. When we disembarked and went into the immigration hall I could see two sets of lines, one for residents and on for non-residents and I of course took the latter one. The line moved slowly, but it was not that long so I got to the booth in some 40 minutes time after I entered the hall.
I handed my pre-filled out form to the immigration officer who examined it closely and told me I needed to apply for a tourist visa. I said “I know, how do I do that?”; “You have to fill out a special form” he replied, without handing me the form or telling me where to get it until I asked him directly where I would get one. I finally got the form, from another booth, and I was sent to some tables where I could stand and fill it out. On none of the tables where there any pens that had ink, and I had given my pen to some people on board the plane so they could fill out their forms and never got it back.
It took me a good while to find someone to lend me a pen but finally a nice young lady gave me a pen so I could fill out my form. I then had to go back to another line so that tourist visa form could be processed. When it was my turn I was really the last person in the immigration hall, but I had no issues with that, someone has to be last any way. The officer took my form and processed it carefully asking me some question, which I thought were all fair and normal. Then he told me it costs 25 US dollars to get tourist visa for 1 month.
I didn’t know that but I had some dollars on me. He then he asked me if I had a photograph, and I told him I did not. I had clearly not been reading the fine print, and no one had told me these things. The officer who by the way was always polite to me, hummed a bit, and I was not sure what was going to happen, but I kept on finding the cash to pay him. I found a 100 dollar bill which he quickly took and gave me 50 dollars back, and said I could enter the country now.
I was not sure if I had paid the first bribe in my life or if I he just thought it is was fair since I didn’t have any photgraphs with me. In any case I decided that I was not even going to ask for my receipt, and just hoped that it was all going to be worth it. I then approached the customs people and handed them my slip, but they refused to accept it. So my only choice was to return to the immigration hall, ask for a new form (that I had filled out in the plane) and fill it out again. Again I had to ask someone to lend me a pen because there were still no working pens at the desks.
I returned to the customs officers and this time I was allowed to pass. It had taken me 2 hours and 20 minutes to clear immigration, including the time the plane had landed. Most of those delays can be written on my expense, I didn’t study the rules well enough, but not once in the whole process in the immigration was there anyone to actually help me; however no one was rude either. My first impression of Guyana was well below par, and when I was finally walking out of the terminal, I did wonder if this whole trip was a big mistake.
Einar Alex
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