Embassy report: Pakistan visa in Tehran

[Malte]

How long does it take to get the transit visa?

[Julie Chehade]

Horrible time getting a Pak visa from Tehran, as a Canadian.
Pak embassy is so unhelpful disorganised and really just don't want to give me a visa at all.
I am in Iran on a student visa. That's how I entered the country, because as a Canadian, we are otherwise unlikely to be granted a tourist visa. So, I have been studying Farsi here at a language institute, from Aug 2017 to May 2018.
I have been trying to get a tourist visa to Pakistan since November 2018 (now 6 months). I really wanted to go to Pak by land, and all the way to China.
The Pak embassy requested a LONO from my embassy, which doesn't exist in Iran. So I flew to Mumbai, India to get a LONO and came back to Tehran with another student visa.
I handed the LONO in to the embassy, to complete my file.
They then said that now they had to 'ask permission from Islamabad' to check if they can grant me the visa.

Yesterday I went to check with them. They lost my LONO and claim I never gave it to them.
I'm out of patience and exasperated and frustrated.

Being Canadian here is really not easy in terms of visas.

[Julie Chehade]

does anyone know if a transit visa requires a LONO as well? it's such a challenge when we don't have an embassy (Canada) to provide a LONO here.

[Benjiperegrino]

Hey guys, just to confirm that this visa IS POSSIBLE. I personally talked with one spanish motorcyclist who has done it in early 2017 and have been told about a whole overlanding Argentinan family who got it in Dec 2017. But one thing needs to be clarified:

The Pakistan consul is not asking for a LONO specifically. Here is the story: he is technically not allowed to issue visa to third country nationals unless they have residency in Iran (as all other Pakistan consulates/embassies), but since Iran shares a border with Pakistan and since he loves backpackers, especially if they want to visit Pakistan (he referred to me as 'bro' when addressing me ), he is willing to make an exception and give you a transit visa for up to 15 days (he says you can extend it though, but not sure how reliable the info is). However, since Pakistan seems to be leaving a little bit in the past and do not know about machine readable passports, and since he is normally only used to deal with iranian passports (for which he knows the "security features", to quote him), they need a letter from YOUR embassy IN TEHRAN (no other country embassy or no your embassy in another country) to say that your passport is genuine. No letter no visa.
So depending how you approach your embassy you could get that letter without letting them know you are going to Pakistan. The Spanish biker I talked with had done that for his visa and got it. One guy I met tried for Croatia and their reply was "WTF, your passport IS proof of your citizenship, tell them to call us". Otherwise, you can try your luck and tell them you are going to Pakistan, some embassies will approve.
I had asked the Bulgarian consul in Tehran and he agreed to help me if the Pakistan consul was fine with a bulgarian letter, but he was not. If you're Bulgarian you can get the letter for sure.

Also the visa costs 90 usd (65 usd for iranians).

Hi George! How long did it take to get the transit visa?
Does anybody know about processing time?
Thanks!

[Hvidtfeldt95]

Hi guys! I'm planning on cycling Iran-Turkemenistan-Uzbeksitan-Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan-China-Pakistan. Thing is I don't have the Pakistan visa. I'm from Denmark. Does anyone have experience with getting a Pakistan visa from Tehran that would allow me to do this? Do they put a point of entry on the transit visa that has been given from Tehran? I'm in eastern Turkey right now, if anyone has any other ideas that would be awesome.

[Benjiperegrino]

Hi Hvidtfeldt, you can get transit visa for pakistan in Tehran. It takes 3 days to get it and you can use it within 2 months. Once you enter you have 14 days. You can get an exit permission on your last day of visa in Minsitry of interior, Islamabad. this one is for 15 more days, means that you have to leave pak within those days, but is kinda of an extension.
In Taftan you will be escorted by the levies, probably they will put your bike on the back of the pick ups, but check it out with the pak consul in Tehran.

[s.fiorentino]

Hi guys!
Here Stefania, an argentinian backpacker with double nationality (italian). I'm gonna cross the border by land.
I'll tell you my experience. Applying for Pakistani Visa in Tehran was super easy, i did it with my Italian passport.

1- BEFORE:
- You must have in your passport the visa of the country that you are going next, they will give you just the transit Visa coz you are not applying in your country of origin, so they want to be sure that you will go out from Pakistan. So I did the indian visa first (it took normally 10 days)
- In my case, I had to go to the embassy of Italy to ask for a letter that said that I'm going to Pakistan with tourist purposes. They gave me this at the moment and free. (you may need to ask before if you need this with another passport)

2- With this ready, go to the embassy of Pakistan, and they will ask you for:
- From your Passport, 2 copies of: 1st page, indian visa (or the country you are reaching to) and iranian visas
- 3 photos 3,5 x 4,5cm (white background, with or without hijab for woman, looking the camera, neutral face)
- The letter from your embassy who "authorize" you to go to Pakistan.

3- You will fill the form, be sure to have an address and contact from Pakistan (it could be from a local or a hotel), and they ask for 4 cities of your itinerary.

4- If everything is okay, they will give you a paper with the address and account number of the bank to go and pay.

IMPORTANT!!!
You have to pay in American dollars (87dls for Italian passport, transit visa).
BE SURE THAT YOU HAVE THE LAST VERSION OF DOLLAR, the blue one. I gave them the green version and they didn't let me pay......

5- Once you pay, you need to go to the embassy again with the payment ticket + 1 copy of it.

6- Wait for 2 or 3 working days, and FINISH! You have your Visa!
(Transit Visa is 14 days, which you can extend once in Pakistan)

Good luck to everybody!

If you have any doubt:
Instagram: @s.fiorentino

[ SEPTEMBER 2018 ]

[viszabori]

Update:

No transit visas are currently given in Tehran due to a kidnapping case in Pakistan. No foreigners are let through the border even if they already have a transit visa.

[Hvidtfeldt95]

Just wanted to clarify a few things about the transit visa from Tehran (given that they start issuing them again):

You get 14 days which can be extended by another 14 days once in Pakistan. It has a validity of 2 months.

The interesting bit, which I was not able to find info on from anywhere, is that it is NOT entry and exit specific. People will tell you that you have to go straight to Pakistan from Iran, i.e. over the Taften border and through Baluchistan. This is not true.

I applied on the premise of transitting to China from Iran. In reality I entered from China and had not problems getting in. I am now waiting for my visa to India which I will be getting in Islamabad. Getting the transit visa from Tehran is super easy btw.

So, if you want to go through Central-Asia and Pakistan, it is possible even if you donøt have the tourist visa from your home-country. As long as you go to Iran.

[viszabori]

Just wanted to clarify a few things about the transit visa from Tehran (given that they start issuing them again):

You get 14 days which can be extended by another 14 days once in Pakistan. It has a validity of 2 months.

The interesting bit, which I was not able to find info on from anywhere, is that it is NOT entry and exit specific. People will tell you that you have to go straight to Pakistan from Iran, i.e. over the Taften border and through Baluchistan. This is not true.

I applied on the premise of transitting to China from Iran. In reality I entered from China and had not problems getting in. I am now waiting for my visa to India which I will be getting in Islamabad. Getting the transit visa from Tehran is super easy btw.

So, if you want to go through Central-Asia and Pakistan, it is possible even if you donøt have the tourist visa from your home-country. As long as you go to Iran.

Thanks, this is very helpful!
I'm going to Tehran in a week in order to apply for a multiple entry India visa and then will try for the the Pakistan transit visa. If the land border is still closed I will try to convince them to let me fly in... I don't have a better idea