Andrew Stegmann

Rediscover Cape Town With These Hidden Spots And Secret Places

Most travelers that have been to Cape Town before have visited iconic spots like Table Mountain and the V&A Waterfront. However, there are dozens of more great places in the city that are worth exploring. The estate agents at Pam Golding Properties know of a few hidden spots and secrets around town that you should check out:

Sea Point agents Farrel Kelman, Minette Munitz recommend that you head to the promenade, which features new new public art and cafes. They also advise using the drop-and-go bike rental company, Upcycles, which has a network of stations around Cape Town.

cape town ocean view drive

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Agents Linda Kagan, Jenny Katz and Ian Konkol suggest the following:

  • Drive to the end of Ocean View Drive and watch the magnificent summer sunsets from Fresnaye Rock — a popular sunset vantage point.
  • Visit the open air gym on the Sea Point promenade and enjoy a gym session with a sea view where you will meet new people while training outdoors.
  • Visit De Waterkant village and take a walk through this beautiful suburb with its quaint 18th century cottages, cobbled streets and colourful shop fronts. (Part of Green Point, adjacent to the CBD on the south-eastern end of Somerset Road.)

Local agent Annette Hepburn recommends visiting Clifton 4th beach as it has family-friendly evenings of free music and picture-perfect picnicking. You can also book for a sunset cruise from the Waterfront to 4th Beach and back.

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Andrew Stegmann

Cote d’Ivoire: Biometric data capture introduced for residence permit applications

The Ivorian authorities have introduced a new procedure for temporary residence permit applications, including biometric data capture.

What to Expect

A temporary residence permit application or “Titre Provisoire de Séjour (TPS)” should be filed with the National Office of Identification (ONI) eleven weeks after entry into Côte d’Ivoire (i.e. a week before the three months mark).

The foreign national applicant (including any dependent family members) must attend in person, and biometrics (fingerprints; height measurement; photo) will be taken at the appointment and a receipt will be issued on the same day.cote-divoire-biometric-data-capture-introduced-for-residence-permit-applications_8578_t12

The list of required documents for the residence permit application remains the same.

Action Points

Ensure that resident permit applicants (including any dependent family members) attend the ONI in person to have their biometric data captured, eleven weeks after entry to Côted’Ivoire.

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Andrew Stegmann

Ghana Immigration Service increases fees

Effective 15 May 2016 the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has increased certain categories of fees, through the Fees and Charges (Amendment) Instrument 2015 (LI 2228).

Ghana fans cheer their team during their African Nations Cup Group B soccer match against Mali at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth January 24, 2013. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko (SOUTH AFRICA - Tags: SPORT SOCCER)

What has changed?

The principal fee increases are as follows:

A fee for a residence permit has been introduced for Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) nationals ($300) and Ghanaians with a foreign passport ($150)
The fee for a resident permit for other nationals has increased from $300 to $500
The fee for a rotator permit has increased from $500 to $1000
The monthly penalty for an expired resident permit has increased from $20 to $30 for Ghanaians with a foreign passport, from $30 to $60 for ECOWAS nationals and from $50 to $180 for other nationals.

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Andrew Stegmann

How my family got me through the immigration process

Since I am an only child, my parents were the first best friends I ever had, and they were also the most financially generous. As a child, I used to call my mom “Anne” and my dad “Steve” perhaps because I saw them more as my friends than as my parents.Unabridged-birth-certificates-to-stay-for-now-800x400

People always commented about how close we were and at the time I don’t believe any of us thought we could get any closer.

One day on a quiet Tuesday afternoon, my mother and father sat me down and asked how I would feel about moving to the United States. My first thought, being an 11-year-old girl was: Britney Spears lives there, they have Bonnebell Lipsmackers and really good ice-cream flavors like cookie dough, so I would like to live there too.

We started the daunting immigration process and within a few months we found ourselves living in Las Vegas, Nevada. We had my dad’s family who I just met for the first time but other than that we had no friends, no familiar faces and definitely no familiar foods. We only had each other.

So how did it make us closer you might wonder? It made us closer because I immigrated at an age where adolescents typically push away their parents. I had no choice but to stay close to mine because they were all that I had.

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