Hello.  We are planning to visit friends in the Ivory Coast in mid October.  The visa invitation letter and accompanying material from our hosts did not reach us before we left the United States for Europe. We will be in France until we leave for the Ivory Coast.  The website states that it is for residents; we are not residents in France, although we have an apartment here and spend several months a year. Can we use this service to obtain our visas?  Also in the US, the list of visa requirements did not include a copy of a birth certificate. We have our US passports which includes birth date (and we were required to provide our birth certificates to the US government to obtain our initial passports). Can we complete our application without birth certificates?