Update: My Venezuela Visa 🇻🇪
- Konrad Tillman
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Intro
Hello from my hometown: London, England!
While I didn't write about this previously, this weekend I headed off to London for a couple of different reasons, and one of them was to work on getting my visa to Venezuela. While I am a resident of the UK, I do not have a passport, meaning that I had to head off to the embassy to begin the process of obtaining a visa.
It seems to be going well!
The Process Has Begun
Obtaining a visa to Venezuela on a US passport is not easy. Most people head to the consulate in Mexico City or Panama, but rumours are that it can take upwards of 3 months to get the visa, and it requires frequent visits. However, due to my UK residency, I headed to the consulate in London, which turned out to be the opposite of what I expected.
Well, the day started by following Google Maps, and let's say that this route took me to the embassy, which is non-operational (I think) at this time.
So that meant that I had to head all the way to the updated Venezuela consulate on Grafton Way. So yeah, if you are thinking about going down the same route for a visa, do not head to the embassy, but head to the consulate!
Arriving at the door with zero paperwork in hand, and not a clue about how this was going to get done today, I knocked on the door to this beautiful consulate.
A couple of seconds later, a man came out and greeted me with a gleaming smile. He was one of those people who just spreads happiness in every conversation, as he quickly grabbed me a chair, and I joined the other 6 people (all from Venezuela).
You know I hate this stigma across the world of the East versus West, and yada yada blah blah blah. We oftentimes forget that people are just people, and that was shown to me today.
As the wait continued, I began chatting with all of the fellow Venezuelans. Never in my life have I had so much fun at a consulate, we chatted and chatted like no tomorrow, about the country and about their lives. Heck, there was even a house dog at the embassy who kept running upstairs to escort different people into their meetings when the time was ready. So cute!
The hour wait to speak to a member of the consulate went by so quickly, as it felt like I was at a pub with a bunch of friends raving about the beauty of their home country. Soon enough, though, the consular manager was able to squeeze me in and have a chat with me about what would be required to apply for my Venezuela visa today. It's a long and complicated process, but we could apply today and have the documents sent to Venezuela as early as the following week.
It took about 15 minutes to go over everything, but eventually he informed me that if I could get everything done and return my application by 2 pm, they could send it out.
Somehow, I got all 9 things done in record time, and managed to get back to the consulate by 1:30 pm, even stopping by for some beer.
Upon returning, there happened to be no one else in the embassy, so me and the whole consulate ended up just chatting on the couch for about 30 minutes. As I spoke to the main man, I said, "I am very impressed with the level of service provided here, as it's not every day that consulates are run this friendly and efficiently".
He responded, saying, "We have a duty in the government business to help people, and that is what we do". That sums up the stay at the consulate; it wasn't just a place to get documents done, but a place filled with kind and fun people.
All that to say, my application will be sent out on Monday after I submit a fit-to-fly certificate, but it's probably going to take a few weeks before my visa is approved. Man, I am so excited to visit Venezuela, and I am so grateful for how kind everyone was at the consulate. I never thought I would say this, but I am looking forward to returning for when I hopefully get my visa lol.
Final Thoughts
For once in my life, I had fun visiting a consulate and would actually return just to talk to the amazing people from Venezuela that I met. If you are looking to get a visa to Venezuela and have residency in the United Kingdom, this is by far the most efficient way to do so. Now I just hope that it gets approved, as I have never been so excited to explore a country. Viva Venezuela 🇻🇪.
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