Turkmenistan visa Q&A [archive]

[steven]

I don't think anybody knows why rejections happen in Turkmenistan. There have been many more rejections last year, in my opinion due to the worsening economic situation.

It's a good idea to have a double entry visa. If you have an Iranian visa to show that you are going there, I think you have as much chance as anyone else to get it.

[bwv812]

If possible, you can apply for your Turkmen visa before you have your Uzbek visa: they really just want/need to see that you have a visa for your destination country, to ensure you don't get stuck in Turkmenistan.

[karenandmike]

Hi does anybody know how long in advance one can be issued a transit visa for Turkmenistan?
I could not find reference to this in the forum. We are UK passport holders.
Many thanks.
Mike

[Crazydre]

To my knowledge, you can apply as soon as you have the itinerary (including any necessary visas). Please correct me anyone if I'm mistaken.

[steven]

I would agree with Crazydre. There is probably some sort of maximum time in advance, but this likely varies according to the person you have in front of you.

[karenandmike]

Thanks very much for this. As we are looking to transit from UZ to AZ, self-driving, it will be the Azeri visa that sets the application time limit then.

You are doing a great job Steve and all other contributors.

We will be donating once we get the paypal thing sorted!
Mike.

[laouen]

We would like to travel through Turkmenistan on a transit visa (1 couple, 2 motorbikes) in June, coming from Iran, going to Uzbekistan. We already have the Uzbek visa and we are now trying to get the Turkmenistan visa. Since the Turkmenistan visa are quite the lottery we would like to up our chances by trying to fill it out as best as possible.

So we have a few questions:
- what should/could we fill out for the annual income question (in USD)? Do we need to be honest? And is this the net income?
- what should/could we fill out for the amount and type of funds available for this trip? We were thinking of 400USD cash + credit card? Would this be accepted?

Looking forward to any suggestions!

[bwv812]

Planning on taking only $400 in cash into Turkmenistan sounds like a bad idea to me. Since you're coming from Iran, where you can't access foreign bank accounts, it's very easy to end up with even less if you happen to spend more than anticipated or run into any problems requiring money. Maybe things have changed, but there was basically only one place in Ashgabat where you could get a cash advance on a credit card (and not from an ATM). And while there are ATMs in a few hotels in Bukhara, they are often out of money, so you can't count on getting cash there.

As for your visa application, I would just declare a reasonable income and generous available finances (more than $400). I don't think it matters too much, though.

[steven]

More money is better. They don't check your bank account, so you can exaggerate.

[raphaëlle.simounet]

Hi,
We would like to go to Iran from Uzbekistan passing by Turkmenistan.
- do you know how long it takes to get the Turkmen transit visa?
- do you confirm the Turkmen and Iranian embassies in Tashkent are closed on Fridays?
- do you know if we need the Iranian visa to apply for the Turkmen transit visa? (We also need to apply for the Iranian visa in Tashkent but we would like to start with the Turkmen application as they do not keep our passports)
- I saw the Turkmen Embassy could deliver a code to show at the border to get the transit visa: do you know how to get this code?
Thanks a lot for your help !!!!
Raphaelle & Bastien
Ps : we will arrive in Tashkent on April 15th and we would like to be in Tehran around May 5th.