Embassy report: Uzbek visa in Dushanbe

[steven]

Please read and post reports on the Uzbek embassy in Dushanbe below.

We summarize all info in the embassy reports of the Uzbek visa page.

[openroadb4me]

The embassy is in the location listed on this site, NOT in the location listed in Lonely Planet. The embassy hours are 9-12 M-F.

I was able to go into the embassy with no appointment. Walking down the street, I saw a Cyrillic sign on the left saying something about Uzbekistan. I stepped in and said, "Tourist visa." The embassy official spoke excellent English and checked over my documents, stapling them all together. He then directed me a little further down the street to the embassy itself.

A group of people waited outside, however, walking up to the guard window and providing my passport for inspection led them to wave me inside. There were two officials inside, one collecting documents/passports and one collecting payments. I turned in:

1 completed visa application form (filled out and printed from the Uzbek MFA website)
1 LOI (acquired through the form on this site, highly recommended)
1 copy of my passport
1 passport photo

The man told me to wait. It took about 20 minutes until the other official called my name. I paid the fee, $160 for an American passport, and collected my passport with a 30 day single entry visa inside.

The whole process took just over 30 minutes.

[trevor warman]

went to Uzbek visa office today in Dushanbe

British passport, NO loi....

small office round the corner where english speaker taps in ur info into the computer..... form only in russian... prints it out, staples 1 photocopy of passport and 1 photo..... 5 somoni....
go to visa office, told to come back in one week. thursday to thursday. 75$ ..... 30 day visa. you can specify entry dates.

you get to keep your passport...

May 21. 2015



hope this helps....

[bwv812]

Beware when you pick your visa up: when I applied there (with a LOI) they ignored the dates on my LOI and application, and gave me a 30-day visa starting from the date of issue.

[Mrs800Days]

Thanks Trevor and bwv- heading there soon with a British passport for same thing, very useful info

[trevor warman]

picked up my visa...... i only got 15 days.... in a 30 day window... (not 30day visit, but got the dates i specified). i queried it but got the usual . Niet....... but only paid 65$ and not 75$.... hope u get lucky too

[marshrutka]

I (US citizen) went to try and get an Uzbek tourist visa today for me and my brother for the second time.

The first time two days ago, I went without an LOI and they told me they needed a telex number. I wanted to save money, so I researched and asked around and heard of Americans being able to get a visa without an LOI. So, I tried again today and when she asked for the LOI I told her that I talked to travel agencies, previous travellers and different websites of the Uzbek Foreign Ministry (which is true) and they all said US citizens don't need an LOI to get a visa. She took my documents after a few seconds of thinking and told me to come back in 4-5 working days with my passport and $160 per person. Note that I was able to apply for my brother as well, who wasn't physically present (he'll be arriving later).

I was also in a group with 2 Latvians and 3 French/EU travellers. The Latvians had an LOI and everything else in order. 2 of the French speaking travellers did not have an LOI but, like me, they were given a green light as well. They applied on an urgent basis, but they were also told 4-5 days like usual processing. $105.

We all kept our passports.

[marshrutka]

Update to the previous post:
I went back to check if my visa was done. After waiting for four hours, the lady told me and a Belgian national that our visas were not ready because "Tashkent has not given any correspondence." This seems to happen a lot. It should have been done by now but it didn't even seem like our applications were fowarded to review.

I'm going to get an LOI and sort it out that way.

[Alma]

I got one from Dushanbe some months ago, LOI via Caravanistan's recommended agency. It was crowded, but I mashed myself in with the crowd, and suddenly a guard pulled me inside. They took my documents, and had the visa ready in two hours while I was waiting at the embassy. Very easy! It seems that regardless of your nationality it is smoother getting visa with a LOI (although not everyone needs it), because they can make the visa on the spot.
I met people who had to cancel their trips because their visa application stalled at the embassy because there seemed to be slow correspondence between Dushanbe embassy and Uzbek MFA. If you have LOI already, they only need to issue you the visa, which is a much simpler process. And faster, it seems.

[becauseadventure]

Tonnes of local people surrounding the embassy but if you are a tourist you can just walk in. The man who works there is very, very nice and speaks decent English. We had LOI ($20 from Luxury Asia Travel in Tashkent via email) and visa was ready with no problems at all in 1.5 hrs. A pleasant surprise!