Turkmenistan tourist visa - Letter of invitation

[ema888]

Hi All, I'm hoping someone may be able to help. Long story short, i'm looking to book two tours with two different tour companies (overall traveling from Turkey through to Kazakhstan), with the changeover between the two tours occurring in Ashgabat.
I will be entering overland (via the port at Turkmenbashi) with one company and departing overland with another company(to Uzbekistan). So i have specific dates overall as i will be on one tour and then the other but neither company is willing to issue an LOI for the full time, the only solution offered by them seems to be stopping one tour short and flying into Ashgabat solo. I'm not sure what the requirements are for requesting an LOI as a tour company but is anyone aware of any way around this i.e. can one company take responsibility for me for the whole date range or can i get a visa issued based on two different letters of invitation - i would only be in country for a short period of time approx. 6 days in total.

Any help would me much appreciated. thanks!

[bwv812]

Why wouldn't you simply change your plans to have your changeover at the ferry? One company drops you off at the ferry, another picks you up at the other end?

[ema888]

they are both pre-arranged tours so my guess is the second tour company is unwilling to do this as they are asking that i fly in instead of use the ferry.

[bwv812]

If neither agency is being cooperative, it might be possible to do a quick run to the Iranian border and re-enter on the new agency's LoI. Of course you'll need an Iranian visa to do this, unless you can get Turkmen authorities to stamp you out and then stamp you back in.

[steven]

They cannot take responsibility if you take a tour with someone else, so it's either take a tour with only one company, or get out of Turkmenistan for a border hop.

Cannot see another option.