Central Asian visas are elusive beings that must be pursued with patience, skill, and grim determinaton. Their natural habitat is a thicket of dense paperwork (typed, in triplicate) and it is rare that they will emerge to take residence in the lonely pages of your passport. For those looking to undertake the quest, I offer the following experience, valid for American passport holders applying to DC embassies as of spring 2008.
Uzbekistan
- No letter of invitation needed (apparently a new development)
- Application forms need to be typed
- The form has a space for 'inviting organization address and telephone number' but my experience was that was nobody checked with the organization I entered there (so you don't need visa support if travelling independently)
- Impossible to get tourist visas for longer than 30 days. I got a double entry visa valid for longer, but with a total 30 day stay and apparently even that was bending the rules.
- 10 working days, $131
Kyrgyzstan
- No LOI needed for 30 day tourist visa that can be (relatively) easily extended in country for another 30 days
- 10 working days, $80 or double for 3 working days
Tajikistan
- No LOI, but they do ask for a cover letter from a travel agency. I explained I was travelling independently and typed up a letter with a proposed itinerary which worked fine.
- Impossible to get tourist visas for longer than 30 days
- They need a photocopy of the picture page in the passport, not mentioned on the website.
- 4 working days, $80
- Can issue GBAO permits for the Pamirs for an additional $50
All of this is much easier than when I went through the same process 6 years ago, when I needed guides, detailed itineraries or confirmation of hotel bookings for most countries. Below are some links that might be useful for anyone planning a trip.
General Info:
http://www.traveltajikistan.com/
http://www.pamirs.org/ Fantastic photo tours and details of the Pamirs
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forum.jspa?forumID=13 LP Thorn Tree Central Asia Forum - lots of useful advice from people on the ground
Tour Operators:
http://www.hamsafartravel.com/ Hamsafar Travel has replaced Great Game Travel in Tajikistan
http://www.stantours.com/ Professional, timely visa support with no obligation to purchase tours
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3 comments:
Hey Fran, well in a way I'm glad that you have to go through some of that as people like me from "undesirable countries". The Schengen visa for Europe and the US visa are notoriously difficult too. I had to wait two weeks for processing and book a hotel in France even if I wasn't staying there... but good luck with everything
How do you say "bon voyage" in Tajik, or a Pamir language?
Anyway, it'll be more walking that sailing.
Have a tremendous time, knowing that older, out-of-shape blog-readers are living vicariously through you.
Hey Fran,
Very excited we can follow along. Safe travels.
Aunt K
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