London Tajik embassy report

[michaeln]

I'm new to this site but I'm soon going on my first Central Asia trip, and I thought I'd relay my experience with the Tajikistan embassy in London, since I see the site collects embassy report. This happened last week.

American citizen (me) called ahead and was told that with the "express service" a tourist visa could be obtained on the same day (if applied for in the morning), or the next day otherwise, 5 days a week, 9-5 (normally they are open only Monday and Thursday from 10-12 according to the website). I showed up on Wednesday afternoon, and after convincing the office floor receptionist that I had called ahead and that it was OK even though it wasn't during their hours, an embassy official came out, collected my documents (passport, copy, application form, photo) and, since I hadn't provided an itinerary or tickets like I was supposed to, told me to email an itinerary (after quizzing me on where I was going). Then I had to go to a bank down the street and deposit 40 GBP (double the normal amount) into their account with my surname as the "reference".

On my application I listed dates suggesting I would be in the country for 34 days (more than I actually plan on) and requested a multiple entry visa (double would have done - I plan to cross into Afghanistan before leaving) for added flexibility, and when quizzed I made up a story about going to Kyrgyzstan and back again as well as the Afghanistan part. In my email itinerary I requested that I be given a 45 day visa.

I was told to come back the next day any time between 10-5, and I did, and walked away with a handwritten, 41-day multiple entry tourist visa. The Tajik word "БИСЁРКАРАТА" (what they wrote) means "multiple entry".

I could not get a GBAO permit still (since they have been suspended), but she said I can get one in Dushanbe.

[steven]

Thanks for the update!

[Henrikvd]

Report fron the Tajik embassy in London

Applied for: Tajik 14 days TOURISM visa and GBAO permit.
Who: Two persons with Norwegian passports.

We brought all our documents to the embassy at 2nd of march. We showed up 30 minutes before the consular service opened. 2 other people (came later) were also there to apply for visa.

The officer asked us for itinerary within Tajikistan, but we explained that we should travel by land and therefore had no flight bookings. We had also written in the application that we intended to camp in tent.

Usually, the express service enables you to pick up the passport the next day, but since we had a flight going home the next day, we asked if it was possible to pick it up the same day. She understood the situation and we could pick up the passports 4 hours later.

We did the payment in the local TBS bank at Hammersmith and delivered the receipt when we picked up the passports.

We paid per person: [ 20£ (14 days) + 50£ (GBAO) ] * 2 (express) = 140£.... quite expensive..

When we came back we had received visas for 30 days.

But I have one question:
How can we see that the visas we got include a permit to enter the GBAO region?

[steven]

Thanks for the update. The GBAO permit should look like the picture here http://travel.stackexchange.com/questio ... -look-like