Visa for New Caledonia

I am an Australian resident on a Sri Lankan passport and have recently discovered that I require a visa for visiting New Caledonia.

I am aware that Australian passport holders do not require a visa however passport holders from other nationalities (including Sri Lanka) do.

My cruise is booked for early January 2010 and I do not have sufficient time to obtain the visa given that I live in Melbourne and I am required to attend the French Consul in Sydney in person to obtain the Visa. Earliest appt is mid December.

Has anyone else travelled without a visa and what are the repurcussions.?

Thanks

Neil

I'm not sure, because I hold an Australian passport, but can you not visit the Melbourne office? Or is it only Sydney that does it?

If you do not have the required visas, you will not be allowed to board the ship and you will not receive a refund of the cruise fare. Some think that if they promise not to get off the ship a visa isn't necessary, but that's totally false. Once the ship is in the waters of a country, you're considered to be IN that country and therefore you must have the proper documentation. I know of a couple who were going on a cruise that included China and this poor couple didn't know they needed a Chinese visa, and when they arrived at the cruise terminal and the check in staff saw they didn't have the visa, they were not allowed to board the ship and lost their cruise fare.

I would suggest rechecking to see if their is a consulate office near you. If these is not, then I would recommend paying a visa service to take care of this for you.

Keith

Thanks for the comments and advice. Unfortunately the only way to obtain a visa is by attending the French Consular office in Sydney in person and to this I need to make an online booking appt, earliest is mid December and apparently visa issue is minimum of 4 weeks after that and can take up to 3 months.

I will therefore be cancelling my booking and salvage whatever money I can.

Thanks

Neil

Good news is that we can travel after all, we are considered in transit passengers in New Caledonia and therefore do not require visas. This is because the stay at the 2 islands of New Caledonia is less than 24 hrs.

That's great news ..... Thanks for posting an update.

Enjoy the trip!

Aloha,

john

Dear Neil.

Hope you enjoy your cruise.

Seems that I am in a similar case as yours... I am brazilian but I've been living in Australia as a student. I am planning to cruise the South Pacific in april, spending 2 days in ports of New Caledonia and 1 day in Ouvea.

Where did you find out that you wouldn't need to apply for a visa for New Caledonia, that you would be able to use a transit visa? If you could send me this info, I would be extremely pleased, as the French Consulate does not give any information about visa.

Thank you very much.

Have fun!

Mariana

hi there

Please please let me know where you got the info re the transit situation. I have the same problem, and am about to cancel my trip due to not being able to get a visa in time. Our TA didnt explain anything to us and has honestly let us down... It is impossible to find anything out with the French Embassy in Sydney as they dont have a phone number...

HELP!!!! :confused:

hi there

 

Please please let me know where you got the info re the transit situation. I have the same problem, and am about to cancel my trip due to not being able to get a visa in time. Our TA didnt explain anything to us and has honestly let us down... It is impossible to find anything out with the French Embassy in Sydney as they dont have a phone number...

 

HELP!!!! :confused:

Old thread this, but your post is new... so...

I have had major fun arranging for a World cruise with a Russian passport, and often I have found neither the Consular offices OR the visas services actually know the real facts about visas. The visa companies are pretty good about general visas, but not the specifics of cruising visas (or any other specials clauses which may be attached to you).

There are two places that do seem to know.. the first is actually the cruise line... BUT getting this information out of them is like extracting blood from a stone. I guess they don't want to say in case they get it wrong and you hold them responsible. The normal people you call don't generally know but I have had them pass things on from Carnivals Visa administrator to me a few times now.

However the place I have found MOST helpful when there is no information is the port agent for the cruise line. For my cruise P&O UK gave a big list of port agents.

The ability to stay on a ship without a visa depends upon the destination, so the answer above which says 'you can never do it' is wrong.

Thanks for the repy pobman...

Visa crisis sorted, I had an email from the French Consulate in Sydney saying they would accept a posted application, as my daughter is only 4... so all done and dusted and we cruise in 4 weeks... lots of stress but done...

take care, KJH71

I am in a similiar situation. I have got less than a month and need to get both Fiji and the New Caledonia visas. Any tips?