Turkmenistan Transit Visa in Tehran

[Edgar]

No more transit visa for ALL september !
Last day to come 31/08.

No need to pick up at Mashad.
You call after 10 days, if it's ok, you get a number and go with it to the control border.

[Green-Man]

No more transit visa for ALL september !

I can confirm that. I've talked today with the consulate staff in Frankfurt. They said there is virtually no chance to get a transit visa during September (due to some Asian games event in Turkmenistan). But applying for the regular tourist visa through the agency should work as usual.

[arne]

Hey, this might repeat a bit of what is in this thread already, but a data point anyways.

We, two German cyclists, 31 and 37 years, applied independently in Tehran for a transit visa (24.08.17 and 26.08.17).
We both stated that we will transit Turkmenistan by bicycle in the application letter.

Route: Saraghs - Farab
Entry dates: 12.08.17 and 15.08.17, respectively.
Duration: 5 days


On 07.08.17, we called the Turkmenistan embassy in Tehran one after the other:

+98 (0) 21 2220 6306

After the ring tone stopped, pressed 2 on the number pad. This connected us to a guy speaking good English. Both of us had a busy line first and got connected to the guy on second try. Note: This is not the number stated outside the embassy in Tehran, the number they tell you to call.

He asked for the following information after we inquired for the visa status:
- Where did you apply?
- Reference number? (Maybe the ITxxxx number? Said “Have none” and that was ok.)
- Passport number / identifier?
- First and last name?

He looked something up, said “Your visa is ready” and provided a “ITxxxx” (e.g. IT1234) number. Pickup in Mashhad ok.

The next day, 08.08.17, we went to pickup our Visas. Required documents:
- Passport
- ITxxxx number
- Copies of your passport information page and Uzbekistan visa (we brought color copies)
- $55 Dollars (bring exact change, one of us lost $5)

We arrived at the embassy at 8.30am and there was a small line of people. The actual processing did not start till 9.00am. After handing in documents and paying, we were told to come back at 4.00pm. Had passports back at 4.15pm with visa in them.

Opening times of Embassy in Mashhad: The sign outside says "open every day except for Friday & Sunday & Public Holidays", HOWEVER, "Monday & Thursday are reserved for transportation companies" (we went on a Tuesday, few other people there).

Another observation: 3 weeks after applying in Tehran, 2 other German cyclist asked for their application status on the same day in person at the Mashhad embassy, got answer "not decided". We then told them about the above tel number move, they called the very same day, got right through, but their answer was "rejected"

Hope this helps!

[janreszka]

Just came back from the embassy, no more transit visa for August and September. Additional info: Embassy will be closed 14.08-19.08.

[roro]

"No more transit visa for ALL september !"
Any reason, even if I know that Turkm officials are not easy to understand!
RR.

[steven]

"No more transit visa for ALL september !"
Any reason, even if I know that Turkm officials are not easy to understand!
RR.

The reason is the Martial Arts games

[KevinLi]

Hi everybody,

so we are basically stuck with the same problem as other people trying to cross into Turkmenistan from Teheran, no transit visas for September.

Is anyone willing to book a tour together with us? Our Uzbek Visa will be valid from September 8th so we would start the tour in the first week of September. Would that guarantee visa approval?

Thanks a lot everybody for the useful information!

Kevin

[steven]

No, tour operators will not accept any tour requests for the whole of September. You need to go around or over Turkmenistan

http://caravanistan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3178

[tatterdemalion]

Will post my account once I get the result.

However, two interesting points from my visit there. Two Chinese tourists were told that it's not possible to transit to Azerbaijan (they had Az visa).
My request to transit from Afghanistan through to Uzbekistan was fine though.

I mentioned to them that caravanistan lists that a transit visa can be used to fly in and out. They asked for this and were told a transit visa cannot be used in that way.

[tatterdemalion]

Following from previous post.

I went back to the embassy four days later with a copy of my Afghan visa and the official offered to check on the status of my application. This could be quite helpful for those that want to find out if they've been rejected earlier than the ten days.

Anyway, DENIED.

Reason actually given - Cannot transit Afghanistan to Uzbekistan, only Afghanistan to Azerbaijan. Official had said otherwise upon application but there it is...
Security situation around Mazar-i-sharif/country as a whole seems to make no difference.

Not sure if this is true as I hadn't heard/read it before but it's not possible to apply again within six months.