I’m travelling to Suriname for a tournament. I’m flying from Singapore, so I need to overnight in Amsterdam. It’s alright, Amsterdam isn’t so bad.
I land in Amsterdam Schiphol and get my shuttle to the airport hotel. It’s freezing cold. Middle of winter. No way I’m going outside. I hate cold.
I order a burger and fries on Uber Eats. It’s actually pretty good. Not cheap, but good.
And then I just do…nothing. I lie in bed and stare at the ceiling. I’m travelling to Suriname tomorrow, no visa required, just pay $50 when you arrive. At least that’s what I read online. Whoops.
Flight is at 9 a.m. No worries. I get the shuttle at 7 a.m. Airport is ten minutes away, it’ll be fine. I stand in line. 7:20. 7:30. 7:40. My turn.
I hand the pretty lady my passport. Load my suitcase on the belt.
“Do you have the ICF for Suriname?”
Hmm. Oh yeah, I read about that. That form you “need to complete before you fly”.
“I’ll do it on the plane,” I’ll tell her.
“I need to see it before I check you in. Have you got your visa confirmation?”
I look at her confused.
“Isn’t it visa on arrival?”
“No…”
She explains; I actually need two documents to board the plane. The e-visa which is $60, and the ICF customs form which requires my visa receipt to complete.
Now I panic. And I can see in her eyes she’s panicking for me.
“So I can’t board the plane without it? Can I do it after check-in?”
“I’m afraid not…”
“How long does it take to approve?”
“I can take some time…” she replies softly.
Now I’m in emergency mode. This often happens when you travel. It’s not new to me. It’s the same gear my brain had to click into in Bulgaria, and Sydney, and countless other times.
I Google suriname visa and start swiping furiously on my phone. She’s right. Oh shit.
The lady is just the kindest, she writes down the sites I need and hands it to me. I’m barely hearing her, I’m trying to cram the Suriname immigration page into my head.
“I hope you’ll have it done in time.”
I take my bag off the belt, move to the side. I’m probably in everyone’s way here, but hey, this is an emergency. I go to the ICF page. I start filling it in. Then I get to the bottom and it says “e-visa receipt number”. The fine print says, you need to have completed your e-visa application to complete this form. SHIT! I go to the e-visa page. It wants EVERYTHING. My job, my address, my flight in, my flight out, my accommodation, my favourite colour, my math grade from when I was 11. It asks what date I’m arriving. I select today, the 7th.
ERROR. DATE MUST BE LATER THAN DEPARTURE DATE.
WTF does that mean? I just select 8th. Even though it’s wrong. It works. Great. Doesn’t matter anyway. In my head, I’ve already missed the flight. No way I can fill out all this shit in 15 minutes. Even if I do, no way they’re going to approve the e-visa in two minutes. It’s okay. I’ll rebook another flight for tomorrow. I’ll lose a thousand dollars. Oh well. Life sucks. Boo hoo.
But I keep going. Just try. I mean it’s not going to work, but just try. Play to the whistle.
I finally finish the e-visa form. I put in my credit card. It goes through. 57 Euros, or something. And then, to my surprise, it says “e-visa approved”. As in, they don’t actually have someone check your application, like most countries. As soon as you pay the bill…approved. YES! I love governments that admit they just want the money and don’t actually care what time my flight is next week or what seat I’m sitting in. Honesty is the answer!
Now I’m back in the game mode. I copy paste my e-visa receipt number, get back on the ICF site. Please wifi, don’t fuck me now. I type in all my info. I don’t even know if it’s right. Do I spell the street I’m staying on like this? Is that my actual flight number? I don’t care. I’m pretty sure they don’t care either. I finish the form, paste in the e-visa number.
Please. Please.
Submitted. Big fat QR code on the screen that looks like a juicy plate of waffles, I could kiss it.
Underneath it says “screenshot this”. Oh hell yeah. I’ll screenshot it five times. We’re celebrating.
The nice lady is checking someone else in. I hold up the phone smiling. She nods.
As the couple she’s checking in takes their documents and walk away, I ask her hurriedly, “How much time until check-in closes?”
She glances at her screen and says, “Two minutes, but you’ve checked in online so it’s fine.”
I breathe a huge sigh of relief. She sees it and smiles.
I give her my phone with the 2 QR codes. She checks the passport number and nothing else. She doesn’t care if all that other stuff is correct either. My kind of check-in lady.
And then, with a warm smile, she hands me my boarding passes and wishes me a safe flight.
My armpits are dripping with sweat. I get away from the counter and then laugh like a little girl. How the hell did I pull that off? I was already planning how to spend my extra day in Amsterdam. And now, here we are, about to head to Suriname. I love travelling!
How To Apply For Your Suriname E-Visa and ICF form
I’m guessing you don’t want to be on the verge of pooping yourself with the stress of completing all these things in 13 minutes at the airport while you dance with missing your flight, so here’s how to actually get your documents sorted for Suriname.
Almost every country just needs to pay an entry fee and doesn’t actually need a visa itself. The number of countries that need a visa is about twenty (always changing), mostly African countries. You can check your eligibility here.
If you’re on the “entry-fee only” list, which will be most people, you simply start the application through the official website.
They do ask you quite a lot of questions, but you should be able to get it done in 10 minutes or so.
Once you’ve done that and paid the fee, you should get the receipt in your email. Make sure you have the Web Reference Number, as it’s essential for the next step.
Next thing you need to do is head to the ICF (immigration and customs) website, which you can find here.
Select “I’m travelling to Suriname” and then select “Entry fee voucher”.
They’re going to ask you a whole bunch of questions, all straightforward, and you’ll aslo need to take a selfie.
Once you’ve completed your ICF, you’ll be given a QR code. Make sure you screenshot it! I didn’t get a confirmation in my email, and the page explicitly said to screenshot it, so perhaps they don’t even send confirmation emails for it.
Once you have those two QR codes in your phone, you’ll be able to check-in.
It also says you’re supposed to print out a hard copy, which you can do if you want, but nobody at Paramaribo Airport seemed to be checking for that (most didn’t even check the QRs) when we went through immigration.
All the above should only take 20 minutes or so, just don’t be an idiot like me and leave it until Judgement Day.
Enjoy Suriname!
