Pakistan E-visa Q&A

[austin2powers]

Just got E-Visa approval:

Sept 25th:

• - German and UK citizen applied online from SE Asia
  - pretended to be in Frankfurt / London
  - only booked first three hotel nights in Lahore via booking.com
  - standard itinerary including transfer through Balochistan
  - entering Wahga land border

Oct 2nd:

• - Documents needed: LOI
  - used LOI from Caravanistan (Cheers guys)

Oct 10th:

• - Visa approved
  - no call for interview
  - realised that the Pak e-visa website is not accessible from India, had to use VPN. Other gov.pk sites seem to be fine though

Thanks for all info here from you guys.

Cheers
Henning

[fra81]

Italian solo female traveler got eVisa from India in 3 days!!no Loi needed.

I have applied for my eVisa on the morning of Friday the 18th of October and got asked in the afternoon of the same day for more documentation and to go for an interview at the consulate of Milan.
I knew they had not open my application because they were asking for documents that I had already attached like the hotel bookings and the bank statement of the last three months.
I ringed the consulate of Milan asking why they were asking for documents that were already attached to my application and why I had to go for an interview in Milan.
Initially they answered that there was no chance to get the visa without an interview and then, after me telling that I knew for certain that other Italians were granted the eVisa without an interview, they asked me to write a mail explaining my situation and the reason for not being able to go for the interview back in Italy. they said, they were going to show my application and my mail to their boss on Monday.
Today, Monday 21st of October, I have got granted my eVisa without any interview or Loi!

I will share the content of my application:
- I am a solo female traveler 38 years old
- I am unemployed and written that I am unemployed. They have asked for prove of my employment and I have reminded them to check my bank statement that was showing that I had enough savings to cross Pakistan in my 20 days plan of travel through the country
- In my travel history I have stated that I have been traveling for the past 3 months in India and attached my Indian visa to the application. Reality is that I left my country much longer than that but haven’t wrote that part of my journey in the travel history section
- I stated I was going to enter through Wagah border and exit at the Taftan one
- I attached a detailed map of my journey through Lahore, Islamabad, Multan and Bahawalpur .
- bookings of the hotels for the whole trip
- prove of my address through an electricity bill
- letter explaining that I wanted to travel by land back to my country and the list of the extra “other “ documents that I had attached to my application

The process of applying for the visa through their website has been exhausting: they kept logging me out and often I couldn’t log back in quickly but after few hours or only the following day. It took me 24 hours ,and lot of complaints to the nadra website and the office of the eVisa in Islamabad , to being able to pay and submit my application.
I don’t know if for me the process has been particularly difficult because I was in India and I had to use different VPN to be able to access the Pakistan eVisa website.

Good luck to everyone else who is applying!

[clairvoyant]

Hello, dear vagabonds!

I have recently (over a month ago) applied for a e-visa of tourist type, and after a few days I was asked to provide some additional documents (such as LOI, certificate of employment etc.). I have provided those documents on October 7th. Today marks the 12th working day since the provision of documents, and the estimate of tourist visa processing time amounts to 7-10 working days. The visa application status is in-process, and I haven't received any other mail. I have sent an e-mail out via the contact page on visa.nadra.gov.pk two days ago, but to no avail. Thus, I have a question. Is the visa application processing centralized, or is it being processed at the regional embassy (Embassy of Pakistan in Warsaw, Poland in that case)? If so, has anyone experienced any regional disparities in the visa processing time? My long flight (3 stops) to Pakistan is about to commence on October 30th.

Has anybody applying for a e-visa actually paid a visit to the embassy unannounced in order to clarify things?

A few things about my "ordinary" application just in case:
- 26 yo, employed, flying in and out of Islamabad airport
- visiting Islamabad, Lahore, and Gilgit-Baltistan
- hotel booking confirmations for all nights + LOI

Regards

[novagroove]

yes!
just got my visa!

3 or 4 days after applying.

I wrote about entering in Taftan, and going out in Wahga. And I provided booking-hostel-reservations for all days in Pakistan, and listed the adresses of the hostels. And two maps (made with screenshots of google maps). One for the way to India and one for my way back.
I requested Multiple Entry. And I've got it! Yeah!

I got the exact duration, that I wanted.

(I'm german)

Thank you for your contributions in this forum -> helped me a lot!

[jwong]

Got my eVisa for a Canadian Passport! Sent in my application Dec 18, no LOI and only attached screenshots of some random hotel bookings that I'll probably cancel. Provided addresses of the hotels that I'll be staying at in the application. Got a reply Dec 23 asking for a LOI, to which I sent a letter of intent saying how it isn't listed as necessary on the Pakistani Embassy in Canada website or on the eVisa site but I did go into detail my itinerary in Pakistan and also that I would be more than happy to go in for an interview if necessary. Approved Dec 24! Probably the best Christmas present ever haha.

[rideclimbdream]

Hi All. This thread was really helpful to me in researching/preparing my Pakistan Visa application, so I wanted to share my experience. It was a little dramatic and I was worried I would have problems, but no...

I just got approved today for Tourist E-Visa, hooray!!!!

I am an American woman from NYC, riding my motorcycle RTW. I knew I had four initial visas I needed to secure before leaving home, that were vital to my route. I got Russia, China, India, but ran out of time for Pakistan. I thought I would be okay based on what I read about the online application, but was worried about being called for an interview, since I am already in SE Asia. Anyway, here's how it went.

Friday 1/10 - Applied online. I indicated entering Pakistan 6/1/2019 and exiting 6/29/2019, with a land entry from India at Wagha border crossing and exiting also overland at Sost to China. I supplied a hotel reservation email in Lahore for first few nights only, then I listed Islamabad, and about 6 towns all along Karakorum Highway, indicating a hotel in each place (but not booking those). Said not visiting Kashmir. I stopped working 11 months ago, so debated what to select for employment. For the Russia visa agent advise me strongly to just check employed and list recent employer. China however, I checked unemployed and supplied a letter explaining I have had a long career, taking a break to travel for a year, here are bank statements showing ample funds for travel, etc. Both were successful. So for Pakistan I checked employed, and listed last employer as the current one. Listed USA / Chicago as my consulate, as that is my mailing address while I travel.

Saturday like 1:00am 1/11 - I received an automated email asking for my drivers license, letter certifying employment, LOI for Pakistan, and passport info of the inviter. I was very worried that I am screwed, what to do about the employment letter. I did not feel comfortable creating a fake one. However, I knew they had not actually looked at my application because this came the middle of the night on a weekend.

Saturday 1/11 - I uploaded my letter explaining my current employment status as taking a career break to travel, reminding that I listed my recent employer as current on my application (so that I am being honest about all), explaining my route and that I have ample funds for travel.
I attached a jpg map of my route, attached images of my India and China visas as proof that I will enter and exit Pakistan, banks statements showing my savings, my offer letter from my last employer showing my salary, re-uploaded my hotel booking for first city (and reminded them in the notes that the website states no LOI needed for independent tourist). Whew, that was a lot! Crossed my fingers! Still worried about being called for an interview.

Tuesday 1/14 - woke up to an email that I have been approved for the visa- YES!!! I received what I asked for which was a tourist visa, 1 year visa validity, 90 days visa duration, and multiple entries allowed. For me the cost was $90 USD.

So good news in the end, but it was very stressful. I will say it took me quite awhile preparing all the documents, uploading, filling application, system kept logging me out, etc. Probably one FULL day of work to do all. I hope this helps other travelers.

[Aurelieraw]

Hello,

I just got my visa in just 3h and without LOI!

I'm a French woman travelling overland from India to France.

I attached:
- a map of my itinerary (from Wagah to Taftan)
- all my hotel bookings (cancellable)
- a short letter explaining how I wanted to get this visa!
- a screenshot of my bank account to prove that I had enough money (as I said I was unemployed, I was a bit worried about it)
- my flight ticket to India.

I hope this feedback will be helpfull! Good luck

Lily

[drivingthefareast]

Hi guys,

yesterday evening i received my Pakistan visa! so happy with it!

what i did:

- Applied on 7-1-2020
- On 13-1-2020 i got an email asking for an itinerary of my trip. (i did not include this)
- On 17-1-2020 i got an email asking if i have other approved visa's(my case an valid Indian visa) and asking for an bankstatement(i checked the un-employed box)
- on 22-1-2020 I got my E-visa by email.

In the initial request i did include an hotel booking for the first night( i did NOT use an LOI) and i included proof of residency in the Netherlands(i applied in Azerbaijan)
I am travelling overland in my car from Netherlands to Indonesia.
I am travelling on a dutch passport.

Good luck with applying!

Niek - drivingthefareast

[diegoclemente]

I've just been approved of my Pakistan Visa on Arrival. It took 48h only over a weekend (I applied on saturday morning and received the ok on monday at lunch).
My application was very basic, I only included:

- passport scan
- photo (which was not a printed professional photo as they ask but a normal photo which I trim to the requested measures and added a white background via photoshop, it looks good i must say )
- hotel booking for one night only at arrival in Islamabad made via booking.com as i'm not planning to stay in Islamabad but fly directly to Gilgit.
- a short letter where I explained about my trip and why I have no itinerary sorted

I was a bit scheptical about beein approved as I did not provide any itinerary (but in the said letter I explained that I wanted to visit Gilgit-Baltistan but I had no steady plan as that will depend on the weather I will find) and no LOI.

The work section I stated self employed, as I am, and no other details
I also did not provide any info about my flights as I haven't booked those yet (but I'm my letter I stated my plan to fly in/out to Islamabad and then take a second flight to Gilgit

I received a visa for single entry/15 days (which is ok as i'm planning to stay 12 days) that expired on april 30th.
The cost was 35USD - I travel on Italian Passport. I still resident in Italy but I spend lot of time abroad so I took a chance about the interview place and state Italy to keep it easy.

[andyoxus]

I applied for an e-visa on a Canadian passport recently, and am being told

"Dear applicant You do need to meet the following requirement: Your tour needs to be organized by a tour operator registered with the government of Pakistan and the valid registration license of the tour operator along with the Pakistani ID of the operator needs to be uploaded."

I've replied twice now that I'm an independent tourist not part of a tour, and that requirements for independent tourists (at https://visa.nadra.gov.pk/tourist-visa/) are just hotel reservations, which I've provided, but with no success. Any thoughts on next steps?