Embassy report: Turkmenistan visa in Baku

[steven]

Please read and post reports on the Turkmen embassy in Baku below.

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

[cycling-nomads]

We have just picked up our 5 day transit visas in Baku, we applied for them in Ankara requesting pick up in Baku.We had an email 7 days later confirming acceptance. We took this and 2 photos each with our passports to the embassy. The embassy is at Jalil Mammadguluzadeh 85/226a, Nasimi Baku. Fairly straight forward process 85$ each. The bank is a few km away Narimanov's branch of International bank of Azerbaijan, Hasan Alieva 94, Baku. Embassy staff helpful with good english.

[cycling-nomads]

We picked up our transit visas for Turkmenistan in Baku, we had applied for them in Ankara. Whilst we were there we found out that they no longer accept transit visa applications in Baku. You need to provide them with a confirmation letter that you have applied and been accepted from another Turkmen embassy before they will issue your visa.

[Mike]

I suspect the above-mentioned embassy is not alone in failing to keep to its stated opening hours...

I applied for a Turkmen transit visa in Ankara two weeks ago, requesting to collect it from Baku. I was told I would get either an email or phone call to tell me it was ready, which should take 7-10 days; having received neither, I presented myself at the embassy when I arrived in Baku yesterday, in the hope that it was actually ready but they just hadn't bothered telling me. I was told that the consular section was only open 10am - 1pm Monday and Friday, so I returned at 10.30am today (I would have been earlier, but my hostess didn't understand my "Sorry, I have to go" and insisted on making me a cup of tea!).

The policeman on duty said "no". Consul not in, no indication of when he might be; I hung around for a while on the off-chance that he might turn up, but he didn't. This presents something of a problem since the start date I had requested for the transit visa was 7th June - even if I turn up at the embassy and collect the visa on Monday, that will already be the 8th, and the best case scenario then would be getting a ferry from Baku that night and arriving in Turkmenistan on the 9th. Unless I can convince them to change the dates on the visa (which seems extremely unlikely), that would give me three days rather than five to get across the country. I'm beginning to think it may be easier to give up and get the ferry to Aktau instead.

So it would seem that the opening hours of the embassy are "10am-1pm Monday and Friday, unless the consul decides he can't be bothered to come in today"...

[Mike]

This is going to be a very short one!

I had, as previously reported, applied for my Turkmenistan transit visa in Ankara, where they had no problem accepting the application. I requested to collect it from Baku, and was told that would be fine; they would email or text me to let me know when it was ready, probably 1-2 weeks.

They never did email or text, so when I arrived in Baku two weeks after applying, I went to the embassy to ask about it. First time I turned up was on a Thursday, when they told me the visa section was closed - only open Monday and Friday, 10am-1pm. I arrived within the stated hours the following day (Friday), only to be told that the consul wasn't in (no reason given). I tried again the following Monday, and found he still wasn't in - told to come back in another week, by which time the dates for which I'd requested the visa would have passed! I gave up and took the ferry to Kazakhstan instead.

Moral: if you're planning on taking the ferry from Baku to Turkmenbashi in the first half of June, make sure you request to pick up the transit visa somewhere else, because apparently that's when the consul takes his holiday.

[katrinsiff]

Just an update: I visited the Turkmenistan embassy in Baku (which is still in the hard to find place but I added it to Google maps so it should be easier to find now for travelers) and they are still NOT issuing transit visas. No passports can apply here for a transit visa, only a tourist visa with the LOI. And theyre still only open monday and friday between 9 -12.

[tabf2010]

Here’s what we learned from our experience. We (USA and Hungary passports) applied at the Baku embassy for 7-day (yes, 7, it's possible!) transit visas from Aktau, Kazakhstan to Bukhara, Uzbekistan via Turkmenistan.

At the embassy in Baku, they require color copies of your passport and the visa for the next country after Turkmenistan, photos, the application form, a letter stating the entry and exit locations, dates and accommodation, and official notarized Russian translations of birth certificates and letters of employment. In Azerbaijan, notarized translations are only possible with original copies of these documents. But, as other embassies don’t require a birth certificate or work contract, and all visa applications are faxed to the capital, Ashgabat, to be processed in one place, it’s safe to assume that these won’t be scrutinized too thoroughly. The use of a fax machine tells us that these people probably aren’t too skilled with the internet, and we know that old Soviet people love documents with fancy stamps, so a translation by a Russian-speaking friend and some stamps from google images should suffice.
A woman was working in the embassy in Baku who spoke a small amount of English and didn’t seem super motivated but was helpful when we asked her questions in Russian. She was apparently just a substitute for the real ambassador who was on vacation at that time, so I’m not sure if she’s always there. She told us that it would take up to 3 weeks to get an answer, and if confirmed, it would take another 5 days to actually receive the visa. Any embassy can check the status of the visa and it’s possible to pick up the visa from another embassy, meaning you don’t have to wait in one place until you get an answer. She encouraged us to go to the embassy in Aktau (where we planned to pick up our visas) and enquire about the status within the next 3 weeks, making it sound like if we didn’t do this then nobody would make the effort to contact us. We later found out that it’s also possible to email your application documents directly to the Aktau consulate without actually being there (recommended!).
In Aktau, the ambassador spoke great English and was super helpful, calling Ashgabat and updating us on the status of our application daily, and soon told us that we would receive the visa for 7 days (!!!!!) and should wait 2-3 more days to know if we can pick it up on the border or at the consulate. 2 days later, the border randomly closed for 10-20 days so even though we got the visa, we never got to Turkmenistan. The ambassador sent me some news articles about the border closure, and judging by his total lack of surprise, I’d guess it happens pretty often.

[Rupert]

I applied in Baku in early June 2018 for a 7 day transit visa (Seraks to Farap), to be collected in Mashhad. At the embassy I dealt with a young male consular officer who spoke a little English. I provided photos and colour copies of my passport and Uzbekistan visa. Notarisation, birth certificate and letter of employment were not required. The embassy required me to complete 2 forms and to copy a pro-forma application letter, all by hand in in duplicate.
Follow-up emails and phone calls were not answered, but I collected the visa in Mashhad. After I had entered Turkmenistan, I received a letter of invitation by email.

[Granite2018]

Applied for a five day transit visa here in early November and received my invitation/visa approval letter by email just under three weeks later, as promised.

I only brought black and white photocopies with me, which they don't accept (should have read Caravanistan more carefully), and had to make a trip to the copy shop about 5-10 minutes away. It is on Academician Hasan Aliyev  street, East of the consulate.

Apart from that, not much to add to previous posts on this thread. I only needed copies of standard documents as described by Rupert in the above post.

[Adam Fitchett]

We applied for 7 day transit visas in Baku. Our route was Turkmenbashi to Dashoguz, crossing the caspian sea from Alat to enter Turkmenistan. We were told it could take up to 3 weeks. The process was as it is already described above.

We called after 10 days and told it wasn't ready. We called again after 13 days and told it would be ready the day after. I received the email invitation the day after and told to pick the visa up on arrival in Turkmenbashi. We were given a 5 day visa only.

The young chap was extremely nice and we found them easy to contact (our hostel manager called on our behalf).