Iran e-visa system

[Koen]

I applied thru evisa system (12th of January). Today went to embassy in muscat to check because website was still on verification. And got the visa approved right on the spot. Together with two others I'm cycling with.

Details:
Applied for collection in muscat Oman.
Paid: $60 by visa credit card in local currency.
Got my 60 day I asked for.
Took 10 minutes in total.
Friendly staff.
After I also received now the email with the evisa as attachment.

Greetings

Koen

Instagram @Rollingdutchman

[komiin]

EU passport holder.
Applied for authorization code through the official website (http://e_visa.mfa.ir/en/) on January 7 (2019). I didn't receive any answer by January 21 (my application status was "waiting for verification" or something like that) but decided to go to Trabzon consulate with printed "submission notice" anyway.
When I got there I was told that's exactly what they need from me. Had to pay €75 at the bank and got my 30 days visa in 15 minutes.
No passport photocopy, no photo, no form, no insurance (although the guy asked me about it) needed. Super easy and straight forward in friendly manner. (I've received an approving email right after my visit of the consulate).

[lukaszlemur]

I and my girlfriend, both Polish passports, applied through the e-visa.
After 7 days we received rejection through the mail with the information, that we should apply through a travel agency.

[Itsjustme]

I have applied for the authorization code on the 1st of March and waited until the 14th of March to see if the status will change from Waiting for Verification etc. As nothing has changed I went with my submission notice to the Embassy in Vienna today and received the information that the correct procedure for Vienna would have been to come to the Embassy with it on the 1st of March already and they would have sent all the data to Tehran etc.

I was told that due to the fact that my Passport is already registered in the database for the Visa to be issued/picked up in Vienna by now theoretically not even a Visa on Arrival would be possible anymore ....but as this is already my second Iranian Visa this year (the first Visa Grant Notice has been organised via iranvisacode.com) they will still be able to get the E-Visa approval from the MFA in Tehran by Monday.

At the beginning i was even told that I am too late with my visa application to be processed in time before my already booked flight to Tehran next Wednesday, but luckily this has changed during the course of the conversation.

Therefore if someone applies for the E-Visa for the very first time, print the submission notice and head to the Embassy at your earliest convenience....they will verify it.

Update: I have received the Visa Grant Notice from the MFA-Tehran at 18:10 Tehran Local Time / 15:40 Vienna Local Time today (two days after my visit to the Embassy in Vienna). I will travel to Vienna and go to the Embassy tomorrow to pay and get my proper E-Visa printout.

[KatarzynaMaria]

I - a single Polish girl (a woman...) - applied for e-visa on 28/03/2019. Today 01/04/2019 my visa was rejected. I have just sent to Caravanistan application for the invitation code. Iranian Embassy given reason of refusal ; apply by agencys.

[Albin]

Indian living in Oman for 4 years. I applied in Muscat Embassy yesterday and got the E Visa today. I paid 28 Omani Riyals. approx 73 USD. You can pay 42 Omani Riyals to get it the same day. Requirements are passport, Resident Card copy and a passport photo.

[ithinkicanistan]

I applied on 27/4, was rejected on 29/4 (NB: check your junk mail folder!). Same reason given above: از طریق میزبان تجاری یا آژانس توریستی در مرکز درخواست شود (need to apply via an agency).

[USGallé]

Hi all!

Some news about e-visa system and embassy in Brussels.

I have applied trough the e-visa system on Tuesday May 7th in Brussels and went to the consulate 2 days later, on Thursday. They said my application was rejected because I had to apply trough an agency, and then come back to the consulate. However, the status of my e-visa application was still "waiting for verification" on the e-visa website, so I was afraid that my application got stuck and prepared myself to go back to the consulate next Thursday (the consulate in Brussels is only open for visas on Thursdays) and ask them to cancel my application so that I could apply trough an agency.
But on Saturday I finally received an e-mail that confirmed that my application was rejected, and my status on the e-visa website became "rejected". I guess that the reason for that delay is that the working days in Iran are from Saturday to Wednesday.

I've then applied trough the form on Caravanistan on Saturday. Sunday morning Zahra (from the agency, key2persia) confirmed that she had received my information and my payment and that she will proceed to my visa application on that same day. On Tuesday morning I received an email from Zahra to confirm that my visa request was approved by MFA (with a pdf of my Visa Grant Notice).

Thus, I went at the consulate on Thursday morning, with the Grant Notice, 2 photos, passport copy and insurance proof. The guy at the desk needed only the Grant Notice and my passport. No other paper was required. I could choose to pay 75€ to have my visa right away, or 50€ and come back on the next Thursday to collect it. I chose the second option (I had to leave my passport there for a week tough, but I didn’t mind). The validity period begins on the day you pay the visa fee, not on the day you collect it.

All-in-all it only took me 8 days, including the rejected attempt, so you could still try to apply directly through the e-visa system since it seems to work well. But I would recommend applying directly through the contact form on Caravanistan. It’s much more reliable and faster, and Zahra is very helpful in case you have any questions.

[Jonass]

Hi everybody!
It seems like quite a view people here had bad luck with the Iranian eVisa system so I wanna share the good experience I had with the Iranian consulate in Munich. I applied online and got my visa grant notice a day later. After transacting the visa fee to the bank account of the Iranian consulate in Munich I sent my passport in by post and got my 60 day eVisa confirmed the following day. To summarize it it was a very fast forward, transparent and easy process.

[Lola]

French citizen in Georgia, applied for E-visa, told to come back a week later to pick up the visa (and told to bring my proof of travel insurance too).

Note for the WOMEN: I was told my photo with a headscarf was not ideal, they prefer a photo without one! So it seems there are varying policies regarding headscarves on photos depending on the embassy.

When I returned a week later to the Iranian embassy in Tbilisi, I got a rejection, no reason given. Told to apply "via touring agency" (I assume this means paying for the MFA code.) Since I had just bought travel insurance from FirstQuest (an Iranian agency), I got the code from them. Quick service, cost 29€ and I got it in 3 working days. Very responsive customer service on whatsapp, despite it being the day before Eid.
However since I was leaving Tbilisi, I asked them to send the code to the embassy in Yerevan. I got to Yerevan a week later and went to the embassy on the Wednesday.

YEREVAN EMBASSY: Here is the info I wish I had had before going:
Visa opening times: Mon, Wed, Friday. 2 to 4pm.

WOMEN: wear trousers, long sleeves and headscarf. They won't let you in if your legs are visible.

You do NOT need to go to the embassy before going to the bank. I know it seems safer to do so, because you think you first need confirmation that you will get the visa, before paying for it. But in fact when your travel agency tell you that they have the MFA code, this means your visa is ready. I went to the embassy first, not the bank, just to be safe. They didn't look at any of my papers or even my passport: they only asked me if I had gone to the bank to pay the visa fee. So there was no point me going to the embassy first!
So I rushed to the bank in order to pay and get back to the embassy before 4pm (when they close). The bank is Mellat Bank on Tumanyan Street, about 12 minutes away by taxi. I went by bicycle: 8 minutes to go there (it's all downhill), 22 minutes to come back (it's all uphill).
I paid for the same day visa 75€ (because I didn't have time, but if I had had time to stay 2 extra days in Yerevan and come back the Friday, then I would have paid 50€ and collected it on Friday.)
I took the bank receipt, went back to the embassy, gave them the receipt and my passport, 2 minutes later I had my visa.
They only asked about travel insurance ("for your own safety") but did not check the proof. Did not ask for any other information or document.
The visa is given on a piece of paper, not on the passport, so that you do not have a permanent stamp on your passport (to avoid troubles when travelling to US in the future)

Hope this helps.