The French Embassy in Guinea and Sierra Leone together with CAPAGO International, have in a press release on Monday April 4, 2022, said that they will start to issue Schengen visa on April 19, 2022, in Freetown.
It was said in the release that the Schengen visa application centre would open bi-monthly, every first and third week of the month and that the French Consulate in Guinea is in charge of handling Schengen visa applications for travellers residing in Guinea and Sierra Leone.
According to the release, travellers from Sierra Leone can now apply from Freetown and receive the outcome of their application within two weeks.
It also indicated that until now the travellers from Sierra Leone had to travel to Guinea to apply for their visa and because of that the French Consulate approached Capago to offer a solution for processing visa applications from Freetown in order to facilitate access to their service to the travellers.
This came after the official French mobile biometric system (CAPAGO) decided to open the Freetown visa application as a satellite branch of Capago Guinea, and they had also been appointed as the official representative for the consulate in Guinea and has opened a Visa application centre in Conakry from 2019.
Capago is contracted to automate and assist in visa application processes, including managing contact centres and facilitation centres. Capago International has been the exclusive representative for the processing of Schengen visa applications on behalf of Schengen Countries since 2009. Capago’s Visa Application Centres are located in Azerbaïjan, Bénin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Kuwaït, Mali, Qatar, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Togo. Capago assists more than 200 000 visa applicants per year.
All useful information regarding visa procedures is available on the France-Visas website: www.France-visas.gouv.fr Travellers from Sierra Leone are invited to visit https://fr-sl.capago.eu/ in order to book an appointment to apply for their visa from Freetown.
Travellers can reach Capago by sending an email to: infofrance-sl@capago.eu or by calling Capago’s Guinea phone number: + 224 62 493 3333.
By George M.O. Williams