Embassy report: Iran visa in Tbilisi

[Campfire]

Embassy Report Tbilisi, Georgia

Family of four, 2 adults, 2 children (1y / 4y)
All Dutch nationality (Netherlands).

Aug. 14 - Applied for authorisation code online.
Received confirmation of application through email immediately.

Aug. 16 - Went to the embassy without waiting for the approval of e-visa. We heard some reports that this worked. Not for us unfortunately. We were kindly requested to come back once we received approval email.

Aug. 18 - Received approval email for 3 family members. (in spam folder)

Aug. 19 - Received rejection email for 1 family member.
"Reason for rejection:
Request through a commercial host or tourist agency."
This was the only family member with a different last name, not sure if this is related.

Aug. 20 - Went to the embassy but it was closed for unknown reason (on a Tuesday).
Contacted agent through Caravanistan website to apply for the rejected family member.

Aug. 21 - Got reply from agent with request for itinerary for the entire journey through Iran. We didn't have one so we made something up, with hotels. Proof of reservation not needed.
Got reply the same day that agent will apply for the visa grant notice. This was on a Wednesday. MFA is not working on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so we knew it would take a couple of days.

Aug 25 - Got approval of the visa request through the agent via email.

Aug 26 - Went to the embassy again to apply for the visa now with all four evisa requests approved.
Were called to the window after a 5 min. wait. Handed our passports and waited another 5 minutes. Then got the payment instruction for TBC bank. Walked to the bank (20 min) down the street. Got payment arranged in 10 minutes. Took a taxi back to the embassy (5 GEL, 5 min).
I had downloaded and filled in the application forms from the Internet (don't remember where).
But these forms were refused. They were slightly different than the forms they had. Filled in the proper forms and handed in the forms with one photo for each family member, passports, copies of passports and proof of insurance. They specifically asked for the insurance but didn't care it was all in Dutch. I asked them to check if I did everything correctly. They checked and confirmed it was all OK. Then they said the visa would be ready on Friday (today was Monday). I looked surprised and said I thought it would take one day. He frowned at me, talked shortly with his colleague and then said;"Tomorrow, 12 o clock." I looked very happy and thanked them multiple times. I repeated his "tomorrow 12 o clock". He answered with "inshallah". We both smiled and then we left.

Later that afternoon we already got the confirmation emails with our visa as pdf's.
Strangely father and son got the requested 90 days. Mother and daughter got 30 days.

Aug 27 - Again to the embassy. This time to pick up the visa. We arrived quarter to twelve. It was very busy but after a short wait we were called to the window. The guy behind the window asked for our passports. I smiled and answered that they had our passports . He went to get them and handed over the visa and passports. He wished us a pleasant trip.
I asked why two of us got 90 days and two of us got 30 days. I said I didn't understand this. He replied that he didn't understand it either. We both laughed and than we left.

All in all it went pretty smooth. Everybody at the embassy was friendly and helpful. The little mysteries of the rejection and different visa lengths add to the adventure .

[Kimos]

French citizen here, I got my visa this morning, the process was a lot smoother than I expected!
I applied for the authorisation code via Hellopersia on Nov 23rd, and received the visa grand notice via whatsapp 3 business days later.

I went to the embassy yesterday morning, there were only a couple people there, I waited 5 minutes. I showed my passport and visa grand notice and was handed a paper in Georgian and Persian with the indications for the 75 EUR bank transfer, only from TBC bank. The man at the counter, though super nice, didn't give very precise explanation on how to find the bank and Google was only showing me ATMs for some reason, so I actually had to go back to the city center to find one and make the bank transfer, and the embassy was closed by the time I was done (it's open from 9am-12am, and not on Thursdays).

I went back this morning, waited about 10 minutes, gave again my passport, visa grand notice, and bank transfer confirmation; 10 minutes later I was given back my passport, and the visa! I had indicated Jan 1st as entry date and the visa actually starts today, but I have 3 months to enter the country anyway, so that's fine. And I got 30 days.

Thank you to previous applications for the reports and good luck to the next ones!

[Ron en Eveline]

We are Dutch couple. First we tried to do it ourselfs but Visa was rejected. Then via Caravanistan and key2persia and because of holiday in Iran it took 1 week, otherwise we should have got permission in 2 days. Miss Zahra did a realy good job. We went to embassy and we only needed our passport and go to the bank. Visa we could collect the same day. Peace of cake..

[tchekov]

Embassy Report Tbilisi, Georgia, April 2022

We went there twice, first time got the payment instructions as expected (75€ pP for two Germans).

Attention: TBC bank changed their policy, we had to register in order to make the payment. It costs 50GEL and took us 45min, so we couldn't return to the embassy the same day.

Second day we went back and got the Visa printed on a A4 paper, nothing in the passport.

We didn't need anything except the passport! No photos, no insurance information, no passport copy.

They told us we'd need 2 vaccinations (no booster) and a PCR test at the Armenian border, but we didn't try yet

We got the grant notice via key2persia. Unfortunately they didn't respond for 2 weeks so we decided to try another agency as we didn't have much time. We ended up paying both agencies although key2persia got us the notice after all.

[Cruisetheplanet]

We got our visas today. Swiss passport is 75 EUR and serbian passport 98 EUR.
I would still NOT recommend to do the visa in Tblisi.
Reason: the bank where one need to pay the visa fee is extremely bureaucratic. There are two options to do the payment in the bank:
A) you do a direct payment, but the payment needs to be authorized before you can do it. This can take between 1 hour to the whole day we were told. This option is free.
B) you can open a bank account which costs 50 gel and can then dontje payment without authorization. Takes only 15-30 minutes. However we were told that opening a bank account goes together with applying for a bankcard which cost another 50 gel. I dont think thats true because our customer agent had basically no clue, not even the most basic things.

We still opted for the option B since that was the only way to get the visa the same day, and yes costed us additional 100gel.

Consilate is open between 9am and 1pm.

[IndiaOverland23]

Iranian Visa in Tbilisi September 2023 with german passport

I got my Grant Visa Notice from TAP Persia.
I went to the embassy in the morning. You have to leave your phone and bag outside. Inside they gave me a paper with the payment info. There is a TBS Bank branch down the road (see iOverlander) where I had to register. They asked for my home address and where I am staying in Georgia. The registration is free of charge, no need to open a bank account. You need a mobile number that can receive sms to verify (Georgian or international number is fine)
Then I played 75 € in cash, got a receipt and went back to the embassy.
They gave me the Visa on a separate paper, no sticker in the passport.