Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Ok board Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / American Samoa
travel2cool 03:10 UTC 26 Mar 2019 | Dear travellers, Could someone kindly tell me how it works with the onboard for those countries that qualify? I ve sent the immigration 3 e- mails already with no answer! Also, do you know how many days before one should send the information they ask, for to be granted clearance? I might not have WiFi for as long as 3 weeks before I travel there. Would they accept the documents if I send them that early? Also, once e-mail with docs is sent, will I expect to get an e-mail back to show that I have the clearance? I don't know who else to contact as even Samoa Airways has no control over this! Thanking you for your help! |
robg.602348 07:38 UTC 26 Mar 2019 | Phone +1 (684) 633-4163 or +1 (684) 633-4164 or Email okboard@la.as.gov. | 1
robg.602348 07:40 UTC 26 Mar 2019 | https://www.americansamoa.gov/immigration-info | 2
chasingabandon 23:49 UTC 26 Mar 2019 | I would definitely call if you haven't heard back using the above email address. We were faxed our OK to Board documents back, so yes, you want a printed copy of the document for your travels. Sometimes it takes a little (OK a lot) of follow up to move yourself up in line in the AS Government. I would ask about the 3 week out timeline when you call. | 3
travel2cool 00:42 UTC 27 Mar 2019 | Thank you all! Yes that's the address I ve been using. Already written to them three times and also filled in 'the contact us' form with my question, that they have on the government vwebsite but to no avail. Probably the only option will be to get to Samoa to make the phone call then as I am currently travelling and not able to use my phone for overseas calls. Could you kindly let me know how many days before do they expect the documents to be sent as I can't find this information anywhere?! Also, will there be an internet place where I could connect to wifi on Samoa (Upolu), to send the documents from and also will I be able to make a call between the two islands from an internet café? I will probably be staying on Lalomanu beach Your advice is much appreciated! Thanking you | 4
chasingabandon 00:56 UTC 27 Mar 2019 | I don't know how many days before they prefer the documents. We did ours just the week before, but my husband was here on island before me and could follow up. Are you traveling with an unlocked cell phone? Data plans are super cheap in Samoa if you have one. Digicel gives you a few GBs of data (good for 3 days) when you put any amount of money onto their pre-paid SIM cards. This last time we just bought 10 tala worth of data (that you can use to call Am Samoa immigration) and got 3 GBs...10 tala ~ $3.80 USD as reference. We stayed at Taufua Beach Fales at Lalomanu in October and their WIFI was down. I'm sure there are places in Apia, but we had a Digicel card so weren't paying that close attention. I can call Samoa from Am Samoa via BlueSky, it just costs more (we don't have Digicel here). Maybe just confirm with Digicell here if you buy a SIM: https://online-top-up.digicelgroup.com/en-WS/ If not, all of the owners of the Fales were extremely helpful, and you can likely use their phone for a fee. | 5
travel2cool 15:48 UTC 27 Mar 2019 | Thanks for all your help and advice, chasingabondon! | 6
chasingabandon 20:09 UTC 27 Mar 2019 | You're very welcome. Good luck! | 7
jungclaudio211047 10:51 UTC 27 Jul 2019 | oh man it was quite difficult to get to ok-board. now they have an online tool. https://www.legalaffairs.as.gov/epwp-2-0-app-form i just wrote "Tradewinds Hotel" as the sponser and showed them a booking confirmation of booking.com. you could cancel the booking later, but Tradewinds is quite nice. The rates are much cheaper if you ask in person at the desk. We got a 4 bed room for 109 USD/night. Accomodation in A-Samoa is so expensive! hope this helps. have fun! | 8
grahammulfy559029 15:10 UTC 27 Dec 2019 | This post has been removed because it may not have met our community guidelines. | 9
Thorn Tree 01:00 UTC 28 Jul 2020 | This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you. | 10