Pakistan transit visa

[TomBowry]

Hi. I am trying to cycle from India to Pakistan to Iran. I'm a NZ and Uk citizen but I think nz is easier passport for Pakistan. I am already in India on a tourist visa and I don't want to send my passport back to nz to get the Pakistan tourist visa. Is there another option like a transit visa? I am wondering if there is a transit visa available for overland traveling equivalent to the airport transit visa. I'm not bothered about duration of visa, ie 72 hours is long enough. Thanks

[emmeff]

You will have to find another route. You cannot get an individual tourist visa for Pakistan from outside your home country.

That said, there is (or there was) an arrangement whereby a registered tourist agency within Pakistan could make an arrangement to meet a tour group at the border and oversee the issuing of visas, or perhaps a collective visa, to that group. If you can find a bunch of other cyclists who have the same itinerary then you could explore that option.

In any case, you cannot cycle in western Pakistan. The area, especially between Quetta and the border with Iran, is very dangerous and the authorities don't like independent travel in that region. You will have to use buses or a train to get to Quetta and once you arrive the police will essentially place you under house arrest. From Quetta to the border there are buses but you will be given an armed escort for this journey. Even this is no guarantee of your safety -- two or three years ago two young Czech women were removed from such a bus by a group of armed men and held as captives for about 18 months, until a ransom was paid. On another occasion a Spanish tourist had a narrow escape when his bus was attacked and the armed guard was killed. Buses carrying Shia pilgrims are often attacked with all the passengers murdered.

Once across the border and in Iran, the region is controlled by security forces and you will have to find some form of transport to Zahedan.

[steven]

For more on the Pakistan transit visa, see https://caravanistan.com/visa/pakistan/#transit-visa

[Cr.x.ol]

Hi, is there anyone who tried the option of the transit visa for Pakistan – according to Caravanistan obtainable in Tehran? And is this option only available when flying or also when crossing Pakistan from Iran to India over land? Because in that case this seems an easier option to me than following the whole e-visa procedure.