Hi there !
Same embassy, different experience...
Two french passports.
14th of october
I kept my 8 month's beard to apply for this "famous" turkmen transit visa.
In the room, a nice girl who speaks english to do the translation, and a serious guy behind his desk. We heard so many bad things about the guy that he looks almost friendly to us, answering every question we had. We warned them we had to leave Tajikistan 8 days later. They said it should be ready.
21st of october
This time, it's a guy who do the translation. As expected... No news yet.
As we have to leave the country, we simply asked if we could just pick it up at the border. They asked for our email address, and said they will send us the "invitation letter" when it's ready.
31st of october
Bingo !! We received a confirmation, for our 5 days transit visa !
Enclosed, a scanned document to show to the
Next episode : at the border the 12th of november...
There is a lot of rumors running about this fucked-up transit visa.
At least, I'm the alive proof that "facial hair" clearly (and hopefully) doesn't matter !
All the best,
Romain / http://karoutcho.fr
Turkmenistan Transit Visa in Dushanbe
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Before asking a visa question, make sure you have read the relevant visa article about the country. Overview page: http://caravanistan.com/visa/
Before submitting an embassy report or question, have a look first to see if a topic already exists. Relevant topics are linked to from the visa pages on the site.
Thank you!
Re: Turkmenistan Transit Visa in Dushanbe
Interesting. Makes the quota hypothesis more likely: more people get rejected in summer because too many people want to come all at once.
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Re: Turkmenistan Transit Visa in Dushanbe
We met two swiss cyclists in Uzbekistan, coming from Iran.
They have another theory : every french and swiss they met had their transit visas...
Well, that's not easy to verify that !
When we were in Doushanbe with many cyclists, mid-october, half of them were waiting for the turkmen visa.
Polish couple : rejected.
Belgium couple : rejected.
South korean single : accepted.
Australian family : accepted.
French couple : accepted.
...Or maybe they just toss a coin...
They have another theory : every french and swiss they met had their transit visas...
Well, that's not easy to verify that !
When we were in Doushanbe with many cyclists, mid-october, half of them were waiting for the turkmen visa.
Polish couple : rejected.
Belgium couple : rejected.
South korean single : accepted.
Australian family : accepted.
French couple : accepted.
...Or maybe they just toss a coin...
1 x
Re: Turkmenistan Transit Visa in Dushanbe
The end of the story :
As we had only 5 days to cross the country (cycling), we went out of Ouzbekistan the 11th, and camped between the borders. Some military came to check, but no worry.
Around 8am, we went to the turkmen customs. We just had to show the invitation letter, and pay 55$ (visa) and 14$ (administration fees) each.
That's it !
As we had only 5 days to cross the country (cycling), we went out of Ouzbekistan the 11th, and camped between the borders. Some military came to check, but no worry.
Around 8am, we went to the turkmen customs. We just had to show the invitation letter, and pay 55$ (visa) and 14$ (administration fees) each.
That's it !
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centralasiafun
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2017 7:29 am
- x 1
- x 3
Re: Turkmenistan Transit Visa in Dushanbe
Success! Single American male traveller, 38 yrs
5-day transit, Farap (UZ) -> Garabogaz/Temirbaba (KZ)
Applied in Dushanbe June 30. The process seemed WAY too easy. Gave the consular staff the color copy of my passport/UZ visa and photo, filled out a brief questionnaire, then copied a letter off the wall (in English) by hand to a provided piece of blank paper, asking to pretty-please grant me a 5-day transit visa. There was no application form — which I found a bit odd — only the questionnaire and hand-written plea. I was told I could pick up the visa at the border & left my email address. In-and-out in 5 minutes.
After 3 weeks and no email, I became concerned and repeatedly called the Dushanbe embassy — but no answer. I happened to be in Tashkent at this point, so I went down to the TM embassy and they looked me up and gave me the visa on the spot!
Again, 10 minutes tops.
Having been concerned about this particular visa for months, the hardest part of it all was my own stressing over it and contingency planning.
In the end I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was.
FYI: For a fun passport photo, the hole-in-the-wall photo shop next to the Uzbekistan embassy in Dushanbe can photoshop you into a suit! A dozen colors to choose from
5-day transit, Farap (UZ) -> Garabogaz/Temirbaba (KZ)
Applied in Dushanbe June 30. The process seemed WAY too easy. Gave the consular staff the color copy of my passport/UZ visa and photo, filled out a brief questionnaire, then copied a letter off the wall (in English) by hand to a provided piece of blank paper, asking to pretty-please grant me a 5-day transit visa. There was no application form — which I found a bit odd — only the questionnaire and hand-written plea. I was told I could pick up the visa at the border & left my email address. In-and-out in 5 minutes.
After 3 weeks and no email, I became concerned and repeatedly called the Dushanbe embassy — but no answer. I happened to be in Tashkent at this point, so I went down to the TM embassy and they looked me up and gave me the visa on the spot!
Again, 10 minutes tops.
Having been concerned about this particular visa for months, the hardest part of it all was my own stressing over it and contingency planning.
In the end I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was.
FYI: For a fun passport photo, the hole-in-the-wall photo shop next to the Uzbekistan embassy in Dushanbe can photoshop you into a suit! A dozen colors to choose from
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Re: Turkmenistan Transit Visa in Dushanbe
We are two travellers who successfully obtained transit visas for Turkmenistan at the Turkmen embassy in Dushanbe (July 2017). We followed the exact process that is described by a few other travellers here, except we didn't have to pay. We took no confirmation or documents from the embassy after submitting our application, and arrived at the Turkmen border at Farab (after visiting Uzbekistan) and entered with minor trouble. We paid at the border and thanks to our submission in Dushanbe we were already in the system. Visa printed and stamped into passport at border. Though, to avoid any difficulty, maybe it is worth getting some confirmation number or document from the embassy.
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michael_moto
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 5:23 am
- x 5
Re: Turkmenistan Transit Visa in Dushanbe
Hey! How long did you guys wait before crossing the border? The guy said 10 days to me in Dushanbe on the 10th of July. Its been 16 now and still haven't received an email. The visa is meant to start tomorrow but I don't want to risk going to the border and getting stuck in the middle.
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michael_moto
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 5:23 am
- x 5
Re: Turkmenistan Transit Visa in Dushanbe
Update to yesterday's post:
Accepted 5 days transit visa, solo male 23 Irish
Having not received the email confirmation from Dushanbe after 16 days I would have presumed my visa was declined, however.... after reading Brogan and centralasiafun's response I decided to chance it (sort of) and get a flight from Bukhara to Tashkent to visit the Turkmen embassy today. Surprise surprise visa was accepted and they issued it on the spot! Turns out I could have gone straight to the border and got it and saved using a day of the visa to travel to Tashkent, but I didn't fancy risking it in case of refusal and getting stuck!
Accepted 5 days transit visa, solo male 23 Irish
Having not received the email confirmation from Dushanbe after 16 days I would have presumed my visa was declined, however.... after reading Brogan and centralasiafun's response I decided to chance it (sort of) and get a flight from Bukhara to Tashkent to visit the Turkmen embassy today. Surprise surprise visa was accepted and they issued it on the spot! Turns out I could have gone straight to the border and got it and saved using a day of the visa to travel to Tashkent, but I didn't fancy risking it in case of refusal and getting stuck!
0 x
Re: Turkmenistan Transit Visa in Dushanbe
Success!
Applied July 17 for Farab to Sarahs August 5-9, two German passports.
Documents: The usual, color copies of Uzbek and Iran Visa and Passport, printed itinerary/letter (we made up our own, listing towns with at least a cafe as overnight stops).
Tried on a Friday right after we got our Uzbek Visa, but alas, they were closed this particular day, so came back Monday then. Left us with 2 weeks plus 5 days until intended entry. Filled out a simple questionnaire form, clerk looked over our documents, told us everything should be ready in 7-8 days.
Asked to receive code/invitation by email, "no problem", wrote down email address on a piece of paper, but as expected, never received any mail. Tried a hundred times to reach anyone by phone both in Dushanbe and Tashkent to see if approved - if you manage to get anyone to pick up the phone, please post number and time of day, it may help some people! We did however reach someone at the Frankfurt Consulate, who was quite friendly but said he had no way to check on applications that were not made with them.
So our options were either taking a train back to Tashkent, wasting some two days chasing a piece of paper that we should just get at the border, or asking the nice guy we met at the embassy (who has regular business there) to inquire for us. Fortunately he was indeed super nice, told us our visas were approved and sent us a code (TJ-xxxx) that should get us in. Apparently the invitation letter is issued just the day before the crossing or so, but is not necessary as long as you are approved.
Border was fairly easy, no problems, paid $55 plus $14 in fees each (with receipt, so I suppose this is official).
Dushanbe is no guarantee of success, however. We know of a couple and another guy who applied a few days after us and both got denied
Beautiful country and super friendly people. Lots of English spoken, too! Don't miss the towns, we really enjoyed the downtown and market areas in Turkmenabat, Bayramaly, Mary - the highway loops around them but isn't shorter, so really no reason to avoid even when battling time and a headwind (which may even be less with all those buildings around!). Checkpoints never cared about us, except for the last one just before the border, but they checked everyone. Really a pity this is the only way to visit this country independently at the moment.
Applied July 17 for Farab to Sarahs August 5-9, two German passports.
Documents: The usual, color copies of Uzbek and Iran Visa and Passport, printed itinerary/letter (we made up our own, listing towns with at least a cafe as overnight stops).
Tried on a Friday right after we got our Uzbek Visa, but alas, they were closed this particular day, so came back Monday then. Left us with 2 weeks plus 5 days until intended entry. Filled out a simple questionnaire form, clerk looked over our documents, told us everything should be ready in 7-8 days.
Asked to receive code/invitation by email, "no problem", wrote down email address on a piece of paper, but as expected, never received any mail. Tried a hundred times to reach anyone by phone both in Dushanbe and Tashkent to see if approved - if you manage to get anyone to pick up the phone, please post number and time of day, it may help some people! We did however reach someone at the Frankfurt Consulate, who was quite friendly but said he had no way to check on applications that were not made with them.
So our options were either taking a train back to Tashkent, wasting some two days chasing a piece of paper that we should just get at the border, or asking the nice guy we met at the embassy (who has regular business there) to inquire for us. Fortunately he was indeed super nice, told us our visas were approved and sent us a code (TJ-xxxx) that should get us in. Apparently the invitation letter is issued just the day before the crossing or so, but is not necessary as long as you are approved.
Border was fairly easy, no problems, paid $55 plus $14 in fees each (with receipt, so I suppose this is official).
Dushanbe is no guarantee of success, however. We know of a couple and another guy who applied a few days after us and both got denied
Beautiful country and super friendly people. Lots of English spoken, too! Don't miss the towns, we really enjoyed the downtown and market areas in Turkmenabat, Bayramaly, Mary - the highway loops around them but isn't shorter, so really no reason to avoid even when battling time and a headwind (which may even be less with all those buildings around!). Checkpoints never cared about us, except for the last one just before the border, but they checked everyone. Really a pity this is the only way to visit this country independently at the moment.
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A Few More Miles
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:12 am
- x 5
Re: Turkmenistan Transit Visa in Dushanbe
REJECTED
Application Date: September 25, 2017
Application Location: Dushanbe
Entry Date Request: October 29, 2017
Type: 5 day transit visa
Nationality: American
Ages: 31 Female and 34 Male (Married)
Entry: Turkmenabat
Exit: Ashgabat airport
We didn't have high hopes to begin with... And we realized after applying that this is during the independence day festivities.
Applying in Dushanbe was easy. Just a short wait at the embassy. We didn't have to pay any money. He said to check back in 10 days later. We decided to continue on instead and ended up checking back in when we reached Samarkand, Uzbekistan. We never could get in touch with the embassy in Dushanbe though (phone or email). But were able to call the embassy in Tashkent, spoke with a nice woman and she asked us to email her our details. ([email protected]) An hour later she replied that there was no answer but she would let us know later. By the end of the day she emailed and said the answer was NO. Bummer... Oh well!
Best of luck to the rest of you!
Application Date: September 25, 2017
Application Location: Dushanbe
Entry Date Request: October 29, 2017
Type: 5 day transit visa
Nationality: American
Ages: 31 Female and 34 Male (Married)
Entry: Turkmenabat
Exit: Ashgabat airport
We didn't have high hopes to begin with... And we realized after applying that this is during the independence day festivities.
Applying in Dushanbe was easy. Just a short wait at the embassy. We didn't have to pay any money. He said to check back in 10 days later. We decided to continue on instead and ended up checking back in when we reached Samarkand, Uzbekistan. We never could get in touch with the embassy in Dushanbe though (phone or email). But were able to call the embassy in Tashkent, spoke with a nice woman and she asked us to email her our details. ([email protected]) An hour later she replied that there was no answer but she would let us know later. By the end of the day she emailed and said the answer was NO. Bummer... Oh well!
Best of luck to the rest of you!
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