Embassy report: Turkmen visa in Brussels

[Davey]

Unless mistaken, there is not yet an embassy report on the forum for the Turmken embassy in Brussels.

The website mentions that the consular section is open on Monday and Thursday. You do not need to make an appointment, you can just to there to apply for a transit visa on either of those days. You need to bring two passport pictures, the visa application form, a filled-out questionnaire, a copy of your passport, a copy of the visa for the next country, and a detailed itinerary (border crossings, dates, places where you will go). You do not need to leave your passport there. A strange thing about the questionnaire is that they ask for your "company director"'s name and signature. I initially left that blank, but the consul told me that my company would need to sign it. Luckily I am self-employed and could sign myself, but I am not sure how this works if you work for a big company...

The consul was not very talkative and rather direct, but helpful nonetheless: he checked my itinerary and proposed some modifications (do not mention Derweze, "there is no place to stay there") to make sure it would pass easier. It should normally take up to two weeks to issue the visa, but since I am leaving in 16 days, he wrote down my phone number so that he could call me once he had more news.

Will keep you posted on whether I will be accepted or not.

[Davey]

Denied

[olmo]

Which route/border crossings did you ask for?

[Davey]

Bajgiran and Konya-Urgench. Five days.

[wouterjdv]

I just called the consulate asking if it was possible to send documents for a transit visum by mail (I'm Dutch, living in the Netherlands). It wasn't possible to do anything by mail or e-mail.
But also, more importantly:
He asked me when I wanted to enter Turkmenistan (24 september) and when I was leaving home (12 august). He said that it is not possible to apply because it would take 3 weeks to get everything through the system and that I could not leave before getting the visa. Also he was going on about that you need to apply at least 2 months before entering Turkmenistan or less than 2 months (it is still not clear to me).

Conclusion: Brussels doesn't seem the easiest place to get a transit visum.

[steven]

3 weeks processing time is standard, though.

[Maurice]

After calling the consulate in Frankfurt last February I got referred to the embassy in Brussels because Frankfurt doesn't take visa applications from Dutch people. (See the relevant thread for more details)

We called the embassy (in English) to ask if they take applications by mail and were told that that was not possible. Luckily we didn't all need to go there in person, one person was enough. So, on the 11th of February, Me and a friend went to the embassy with a set of application forms, passport photo's, a travel itinerary and a set of passport copies (exactly as Davey specified in the first post). We took the passports as well, but they were not necessary.

We applied for a transit from Iran to Uzbekistan, entering at Bajgiran and exiting at Howdan. We planned 3 nights in Ashgabat and 1 night in the train to Dashoguz (5 days in total). We went to the Darvaza crater as well, but did not mention it on our iterinary.

We went to the embassy on a Monday and arrived around 11:00 am. A few minutes after ringing the bell, a man came down to open the gate for us and let us into the building. There we met the consul, who was not very talkative and quite direct, but really helpful. After looking through our forms he told us everything was in order, but that we should come back in April, since it is only possible to apply for the visa 3 months before your intended date of entering Turkmenistan. Eventually he allowed us to leave all of the documents there so that we didn't have drive the 5 hours to Brussels again.

There was some additional delay because the embassy had some technical problems in March, but on the 25th of April the consul called to let us know that our visa had been approved. We transferred the money for the visa (€35 each) by bank.

A friend went there the next day with all of the passports and a proof of payment to pick up the visa. Something went wrong with one of the visa, but the problem was solved after the consul made a phone call. Printing the visa and putting them in the passports took about an hour. The consul emphasized that we should check if the visa were correct.

All of us are Dutch, male and students, 20-23 years old, we were with 6 people in total.

TL;DR: 6 Dutch, male students, applied for a Turkmen visa in Brussels in February, got it the 26th of April. We traveled from Bajgiran to Howdan, 14-18 July 2019.

[Florejan]

I went to the Turkmen embassy, had no appointement. A friendly man came at the gate and said it was not possible to apply for transit visa at the moment. He told me I should come back in september. The land borders are opening in september he said. I asked if I could deliver the paperwork by email since I leave the country in september. This was okay.