Embassy report: Iran visa in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan

[steven]

Please post questions and reports on the Iranian consulate in Erbil here.

We summarize all reports at the embassy reports on the Iran visa page.

You can get a letter of invitation/visa authorisation code here.

[steven]

Report from March 2018:

Arrived at 7:50am on Sunday there were already half a dozen people waiting. I found the location using Google Maps, it says embassy but it is a consulate. More people arrived through to 8:30am when the doors open, there is a scrum for entrance, people pass two at a time and are given tickets with Iranian numbers.

There are seats in the lobby for waiting, there were two people working there one handles money the other the applications. Even with the ticketing system it was still somewhat disorderly.

For the application I need one passport photo, my passport and the print out of my reference number. I payed cash at the consulate $120 USD for an Australian passport. I waited in the embassy for less than half an hour after paying and was given back my passport photo and my passport with the visa.

[golandy]

Today we applied for a new Iran visa at the consulate in Erbil, Iraq. No need to arrive early, we arrived around 10 and left with visa in passport 20 minutes later.

After receiving our new RN through key2persia we headed to the embassy. It was all pretty relaxed, bags were checked but we could take phone, powerbank and camera in. Two windows were open, a few people were waiting and one or two people stood in line.

We waited at the window, our RN was checked (we printed it in case we couldn't bring our phones, there are several print shops on Sultan Mutahar), they took our passports and we got the VIP-treatment a.k.a. they immediately started processing the visa. No forms to fill in, no passportcopies, no passportphotos, no copy of previous Iran visa needed.

They asked for 150k dirham for 2 visa (EU passport), about 110 euro. Since we only had euro, there was some debate amongst the embassy workers whether or not to accept the currency and mostly just confusion about the exchange rate. I offered to go out and change into dirham but then they accepted euro. We paid 150 euro and got 55k dirham back (40 euro).

We immediately received passport with visa.
Total process took 20 minutes. Very easy, no hassle.

Embassy is located close to the citadel, on Barzani Namir to the left of Erbil View Hotel. There's an Iranian flag and big tall concrete blocks.

We applied for the RN while still in Iran, this was not a problem.
We went to the embassy the day after receiving the RN, this was also not a problem.


** Iraqi visa is a free VOA, we got stamped in at the border between Marivan - Sulimaniyeh.

[MTMarta]

Hello to everyone! Has anyone recently (2022) applied for Iran visa in Erbil? I am planning to do so in a couple of weeks!
Thanks for your reply and support.
Cheers - Marta