Embassy report: Iran visa in Tbilisi

[Losgelöst]

We (german couple) first got the verification code through the e-visa website (http://e_visa.mfa.ir/en/). Afterwards headed to the embassy on a tuesday morning. The asked only for the online form with the code, one picture (no headscarf) and the passports. No health insurance or itinerary needed. The rest (paying at the bank etc.) was as described by the others before. We paid 50€ per person and could pick up the visa the next morning. All in all very easy amd very friendly staff.

[Sjaan]

We got our Iran visa at the Tbilisi embassy very easily. We went there on Friday, they are open from 10.00 till 12.30. It was busy and hot but with a bit patient the employees were very helpful. First had to wait for the bank details, then went to the bank (take bus 61 in front of the embassy en go out the 5th stop) and had to pay €50 each (we are Dutch). Filled in the form and then we had to go to another room at the embassy. After some waiting they gave us the visa directly! So just 2.5 hours after arriving there, we were ready to visit Iran. They didn't ask for itinerary or insurance.

[anomalousbelgian]

I went to the Iran embassy in Tbilisi today (Friday) and had the same experience as Sjaan, with my Belgian passport. I arrived shortly after 10 am with my e-visa printout, passport, 1 photo and insurance paper. After handing over my passport and some waiting, one of the guys behind the counter in the first room handed me a form to fill out together with a payment request of 50 euros. The bank is the closest branch of the TBC bank (33 Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue, Tbilisi 0179; https://goo.gl/maps/7aMiooh7mzz went by bicycle). In the bank they asked me to 'register my passport' in order to make the payment (they copy it and I had to sign a paper). I paid fifty euros in cash and received a proof of payment. Went back to the embassy, where after some more waiting in the first room I was sent through to the second room (you have to leave your phone behind; so bring a book or an e-reader). At this point it was 11:15. After handing over my passport, the filled out form and the proof of payment I waited for around an hour while they serviced the people in front of me. There are waiting seats and water/tea in this second room; though I didn't see a bathroom. When it was my turn the visa was issued in under five minutes. They did ask me for insurance (no itinerary though), at which point I showed my travel insurance papers (in Dutch) which the embassy employee copied. I was welcomed into Iran and back on the street around 12:30 . All in all very smooth, though it can get a bit crowded in the first room.

edit: I wanted to add that the e-visa appears to be valid for longer than one month. I applied for the e-visa on April 9th, saw that my request was accepted on the 12th and went to the embassy in Tbilisi on May the 11th. On the e-visa PDF the Date of Visa Application states April 9th.

[hitchhikable]

Report as 23 May 2018

Everything is as described in details by Sjaan and anomalousbelgian above. The only correction: the consular section is now open from 9 am till 12:30 pm (not 10 am).

Authorization from Key2Persia/Caravanistan, all smooth, no questions, given same day (I could see him print the visa on a sticker and stick it into my passport). Although it was my second visit to Iran this year (I expected more questions). No insurance or itinerary.

Summary
Passport: Ukraine
Visa fee: 55 EUR (paid 162 GEL in Lari) in TBC bank
Bring: passport, grant notice (authorization), one photo 3x4, form to be filled out on the spot.
Time spent: from 9:30 am to 11 am = 1 h 30 min

There was 2 Spanish guys applying, all the same.

Good luck!

[Mrloes]

We (two Dutch travellers) applied for our visa on Monday 21 May (late afternoon) on the website of the Iranian Ministry of foreign affairs (https://evisatraveller.mfa.ir/en/request/) and already on Wednesday 23 May, we got the message that the application was approved.
As the embassy is closed on Thursdays, we went there on Friday morning 25 May at 10:00.

Everything went smoothly, we handed over our passports in the first room and were soon sent to the second room, where we got the payment slip to go to the bank. Even though we'd marked "Urgent" in the online application, which was supposed to cost 50 % extra, we only had to pay the usual fee of 50 euros. When we got back from the bank at around 11:00, it was very crowded in the first room, so it's good to be in time. We were soon sent back to the second room, where we got our visas quickly and without any further questions. We neither had to show a travel insurance nor an itinerary.

Practical:
If you google "How to go to the Iranian embassy in Tbilisi", Google gives you public transportation options. The embassy is easily reached by bus 61 from the bus stop on Baratashvili street (direction "Vake"). It takes around 30 minutes. You need the public transportation card charged with money (50 tetri for one ride if I'm correct). Get off at the bus stop Georgian Football Federation. The TBC bank is 5 stops back on the same street, you can basically take any bus going in that direction.

Good luck!

[Mobydick]

Good news.
We are two brothers traveling oveland from Barcelona, therefore we have a Spanish passport.
We parked our van right in front of the Iran embassy the night before.
The embassy open Monday, Tusday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 to 12:30.
Get there 10 min. in advance and we are the first ones.
Give our passports to check control, 5 min. Wait. They don’t let us enter our phones and luggage. Get in, and after 5 min they give us a form to fill and a paper for the bank. We were out again in our way to the bank. Very fast. We didn’t call in advance to the embassy to know if they got or not our reference number of the E-visa, but we applied 10 days in advance.
By 9:30,we are in the bank, but only opens at 10h.
Ones in the bank a quick paperwork to have the resip. 20min, for both of us.
Back to the embassy, quick check at the security, and they check that we got all the papers need it. Ones everything is checked we get in the embasy and 10 min later we have the visa!!! Amazing! Very easy and straight forward.
Two visas with a 3 months window frame to get in the country and 30days stay.
Nice workers.

[daemmi]

Today 2.10.2018 German

Went to the embassy at 9 am. First I queued as all the others outside for a half an hour and then the ask my if I non Iran and if I here for the visa. After I answered both with yes they let me in. Needed insurance (was in German and they didn't care just made copy), fill out the application Form and had to go to the bank. When I come back I gave them everything including 1 photo and should pick up the visa next day at 10 am.

[kunibald]

Applied yesterday, got it today. All smooth. Registration key from key2persia.
Paying in the Bank actually took longer than all my time in the embassy together. The Bank opens at 10, so if you arrive early you might have to wait in the cold.
Same day service is possible for 75€ instead of 50€. Visa fee payable in Euros, not Lari.

You can try to skip the queue and go directly to the counter, since most of the people do something in the first room, but you want to go in the second room. The embassy staff is friendly and willing to help you, just ask them.
There was a list where all arriving people wrote their name on, but as soon as the door openend... you know. Everyone who could went in.

[the_orgel]

Hello, our story about getting the Iranian visa in Tbilisi. Maybe helpful if you get stuck in the MFA application process.

On 13th of November 2018, we (german couple, not married) applied through the official Iranian MFA website for the registration key. We immediately got the status "waiting for verification".

Without further change in the status or mail by the MFA, we visited the Iranian embassy in Tbilisi on Friday, 7th of December 2018.
The guy there checked our passports, did some research in his computer and told us we are both rejected and should try again with a tour operator.
We told him that "our" status is still "waiting for verification". He said that normally we should have received an email from the MFA with the info about the rejection. If not, he said, he has no influence on the process or anything. We asked him several times what we can do, what he can do and when the MFA will contact us. He just said, he knows nothing about the online application process and can't help us. He just knows that they have a lot of rejections these days.

The weekend after we tried to contact travel agencies and a lawyer in Tbilisi, and to contact the MFA by mail without success.
Also we contacted key2persia who were very helpful but said that they can't help us until the running application is definitely rejected.

On Monday, 10th of December 2018, we tried a second run to the embassy - without many hopes - to explain again the situation. In front of the building, another German couple who experienced the same, told us we have tell him "cancel the application".
So, we went again to the same guy. He checked our passports again and told us again, that we're rejected. We told him "cancel the application" (magic words) and somehow he could cancel it within one minute.(!?)
(nobody knows why he didn't tell us about this option in the first place)
After some minutes we both received an mail from the MFA with the info about the rejection. Also "our" online status changed.

Later that day we applied again through key2persia. We received the registration key on Thursday, 13th December 2018.

On Friday, 14th December 2018, we went again to the embassy quite early and managed our visa both on the same day. The procedure was like described in the posts before (filling the application form, pay 50€ p.p at tbc bank, one photo and one copy of passport was needed).


Notes:
- embassy opens at 9am
- there were always a lot of Persian people. Make yourself visible for the door guy. Tell him you are non Persian and need a visa. After that you can immediately enter the complex without waiting. (seemed that all Persian people needed to organise something else)
- pass the security building, go upstairs, enter the main building. Go to the first window on the left hand side. All other Persian people waiting in the room need to go to the other window in the end of the room.
- we received the visa on an extra dina4 printout. There are no entries in our passport. This also happened to several other tourists we met these days (exception was one Canadian woman).
See also https://friendlyiran.com/news/iran-visa ... 9-23-2018/
-we haven't entered Iran yet. So information supplied without any liability

[SHappe]

My husband and I (both Australian) went to the Tbilisi embassy to get our visas on the 4th of Feb.

We had our Grant Notice, copies of passport, and two passport sized photos that we printed out on a colour printer. We went through the first doors, gave in our mobiles, then went up the stairs and to the left (it's well signposted). We stood around awkwardly for a while until we were waved to a closed desk, where a man gave us the form, and a copy of paper with the bank details on it. For Australians, it was 100 Euro each.

We went to the bank, got the receipt, filled in the forms, then went back. By this time it was around 10.30am. We handed everything in to the same guy, and he told us to give him our passports. He then told us to come back tomorrow to get everything finalised and receive our visas. We weren't sure why, and I told him we were very happy to wait for as long as it took, but he was pretty adamant.

The next day we returned at 9am, and a different person took us into his office, gave us our passports, and the two eVisas. While we have the hard copies, the afternoon before, we received an email from them with a digital copy of them.

Everything was straightforward, and aside from going back the next day, it was really quick. Maybe 30min each time.