Turkmenistan Transit Visa in Tehran

[fra81]

Turkmenistan transit visa in Tehran in April 2018: successful!
I applied for my transit visa on the 9th of April in Tehran with the request of pick it up in Mashhad . I have got told to ring the embassy after 2 weeks, but already after 9 days my visa was ready and sorted. I eventually changed my mind and picked up my visa in Tehran and this was not a problem for the embassy.
I am Italian, female, 36 years old traveling solo. I had ready with me a photocopy in color of both my Uzbek visa and my passport, a passport photo and the letter stating the porpoise of my transit visa, the entry and exit points and dates.
The whole process has been much easier then I have expected. Also two French male cyclists applied with me on the same day and had their visa as me after 9 days from the application date.

[roro]

Not the same for me,
Application in ANKARA 2 weeks ago , no mail received, no sms
NoW in Mashad, and wé have To made a new application!
But they told us wé are going To get our visas in 5 hours !
Not 5 days....
Hope it Will be truc.. .
RR

[Losgelöst]

Transit visa successful

We are german couple, applied for the transit visa in Tehran on the 16th May, asking for the entry date to be on the 7th June. We were told to call them after ten days which we did (use the number from Caravanistan, not the one next to the window). The visa weren't ready yet back then, they said it's gonna take another week. So we called again a week after that and got confirmation.
For pick up in Mashad we went in the morning, they asked again for one photo, copies of passports and uzbekistan visa and to fill out the form again (we had made the copies in a hotel nearby because that day was a holiday and all the copy shops were closed. Black and white was fine). We finally got the visa in the afternoon the same day.
All in all quite painless for turkmenistan standards. Talking to other travelers and also to Vali (from Vali's guesthouse in Mashad), it seems that the transit visa continues to have mostly positive approvals.

[anomalousbelgian]

This morning I went to the embassy to apply for a five day transit visa. The wiki mentions to bring the following:

1 filled out Turkmenistan visa application form
1 passport-sized photo
1 passport with minimum 6 months validity after the expiry of the Turkmen visa and 2 empty pages
1 letter from yourself stating your purpose of transit and route
photocopies of your main passport page and of visas of the two countries to be traveled to/from (some embassies may not require the visa for the country you are traveling from, only the visa of the country you are traveling to)
photocopies of your airline ticket, if applicable
You do NOT need an LOI for a transit visa

In Tehran, they don't ask for a copy of the Iranian visa. Also, you need to bring two passport photos as they ask you to fill in a second document named questionnaire (which requires a photo). Also, the hours at the embassy have changed. They are now open from 9:30 to 12:00 on Sunday and from 9:00 to 12:00 on Monday to Thursday (Friday and Saturday they are closed).

There is a page stuck to the embassy wall that lists some additional details. I added two photos and the two documents below. They will give you the documents to you at the embassy though, so I don't suggest printing them (only for reference).

Images:
Application form (get latest version from the embassy): https://nofile.io/f/ryKa7n126Gn/turkmen ... n-form.pdf
Questionnaire (get latest version from the embassy): https://nofile.io/f/XAAXyagRUND/turkmen ... nnaire.pdf

[pjsteenbergen]

Quick first post also got my Turkmenistan transit visa succesfully in Tehran, extremely straightforward procedure. I am a Dutchy and travel by motorcycle: my beloved Kawasaki KLE500

Applied on 23 May 2018, after I collected my Uzbek tourist visa at the Uzbek Embassy, met another Dutch and French couple there, travelling by motorcycle and tandem
After knocking several times on the tiny hatch I received two forms, filled them out, stuck a photo to both and after a while and much further knocking I handed them over to the guy behind the window. Was told to call after two weeks.

On 6 June 2018 I called the number which was mentioned next to the window and received confirmation. The guy also asked me for a number, which I did not have, but he told me after he found my application, I had to write it down and bring it.
Went to the embassy afterwards and got my visa after much further knocking. Had to pay $55, he did not want to have an older $20 note. Everything on the visa was as requested: entry on 11 June at Bajgiran/Howdan (where I am now, camping behind the hotel), exit on 15 June at Konyeurgench.

By the way: I sport a full beard, did not seem to be any problem.

Also corrected opening times on Google, it is 9.30-12 on Sunday, 9-12 on Monday to Thursday, Friday and Saturday: closed

[Valcatera]

I have question for the transit visa Turkmenistan. Can i write the letter with my computer or only handwriting?

[Alex&Craki]

Turkmen visa granted for us too.
Couple of French cyclists. Asked on the 23rd of May. Got the answer by phone on the 5th of june (waited 10 days)
Asked for entry in Howdan and exit in Dashoguz. We mentioned we were travelling by bicycle and train in the country.
Letter was handwritten (I think it it better). As we were 2 they asked only 1 letter with the 2 names & info on it.

People at the embassy was quite friendly.

We have even been able to move our entry and exit dates when picking up the visa in Teheran (we asked for 2 days later but could have changed more).
We paid 110$ for 2 and they gave us change on 120$.

[radellos]

Austrian couple (bicycle) applied in Teheran early May.
Got confirmation, when we called 14 days later.
Pick up early June in Mashhad. Also change of the applied dates there was no problem.

Two swiss girls ahead same. Also a swiss couple after us and a german hitchhiking couple got the visa.

by the way: the people at the boarder were very friendly to us!

[dzi]

Two polish guys (one unemployed), on the road from Georgia to Kazakhstan, applied 4.06, called 13th, got answer - call tomorrow, its in process, called day after, response: "call in Saturday". Even if they should be closed in Saturday, they responded - you can get your visa. We picked it in Tehran (waiting 30 min for apply and pick, get there 11.55, so you can be a little late, i think), border points: Bajgiran and Konye Urgench, 5 days, copy of Uzbek visa, two pictures, questionnaire, hand writen informations about trip, a little bit rumpled 110$ - guy asked about better papers, but we had only worse looking 50s, so he didn't want it.

Guy in embassy is quite friendly, he asked us do we want to change our visa period - it was 17.06 and visa started 18.06, but we told him its ok - we had tickets for night train to Mashhad.

[rolynaround]

Turkmenistan Transit visa - Not decided, ''probably refused''

Hi all, we are two Dutch cyclists and applied for the Turkmen visa in Tehran on the 29th of May. One tip: If you are applying together it's better to bring one letter, they don't want two. We asked for entry dates 3-7 till 7-7, entry from Howdan-Bajgiran exit to Konye-Urgench. We mentioned that we want to transit by train and bicycle.

We called after 10 days, answer: ''not ready yet, call back next week''. We got an IT-number and after waiting one week we called everyday, and everyday the same answer ''not ready yet, not decided yet, we don't have an answer from Ashgabat, etc.'' After 4 weeks waiting I asked them why it's taking so long, and the guy said our application is probably refused. It's normal when it's taking a long time. I also asked them to communicate with their headquarters in Ashgabat, to be sure it's a rejection, but he won't/can't do this.

We heard about cyclist from Germany who also waited 5 weeks, and also got no answer nor visa. Another Belgium cyclist went to Masshad 2 weeks after applying, where he had to apply again and it would be ready in 2 days, but he got a refusal last week. We thought rejections were less common nowadays, but this might not be the case anymore.. Or we are just the unlucky few.

We applied for the Azerbaijan visa in the meantime and we will take the ferry to Aktau, hopefully next week. Good luck to everyone!