For the latest news regarding possible Covid interruptions or resumptions to the visa process, check this forum thread.
To apply for an Iranian visa you need a visa authorisation code from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You can apply for a visa authorisation code through this form with a reliable tour operator based in Iran.
It takes about 1-3 working days (Wednesday-Saturday) to issue the number. The authorisation code is valid for two months and you have to collect your visa within 2 months. In the case of applying on arrival visa, the authorization code will be valid for 3 months.
Therefore the best time for visa application is about 50 to 90 days before your arrival.
Price:
Get a 5$ discount and pay 30 euro with Caravanistan booking form.
If you need more information about the visa or visa on arrival, see our Iran visa guide
- Citizens of UK, Canada and USA NEED to have a guided itinerary and purchase a tour to enter Iran. If you have such a passport and want to try to get the authorisation without booking a tour by sending a request here…sorry, we cannot do that.
- People who say they are traveling by car need to purchase a tour.
- No visa required for citizens of: Turkey, Malaysia, Syria, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, Oman.
- Visa support is not provided for African countries except South Africa. We apologize for this blatant discrimination by MFA.
Booking form
The booking form is currently offline and will return as soon as our partners in Iran tell us they can start processing authorisation codes again.
Please leave a review of our service in the comment form below when you get your authorisation code (we don’t answer questions in the comments). Thank you, we aim to please!
When my e-visa application got rejected on Iranian MOI site, I applied again via Caravanistan and got grant notice in two working days. Super fast and easy. Highly recommend.
Thanks a lot for your assistance, Zahra, it was the best visa experience ever :)
Great and fast service from Mrs Zahra!
I got my GN (Grand Notice) super fast and easy. Just make sure you put an itinerary of 25-30 days so you get a 30 days visa… otherwise you will get shorter.
Excelente la información que brindan y la atención de Zahra, en 4 días tenía el Código de autorización de visa. Agradecido, abrazo enorme
I highly recommend Ms. Zahra and this service, I have gotten my grant notice after 1 working day. Very quick and professional.
Excellent service via the form and Zahra. I would recommend this.
Super fast and excellent service again. Zahra replied in 5 min to my enquiry and we got our Iran visa GN in 2 days. We took our papers and passports to Embassy in Helsinki and got e-visas by email in 2 hours! Passports came later by post. Caravanistan, many thanks!!!
Service as advertised by Caravanistan. Zahra provided an excellent service and I received the Iran visa Grant Notice when she said that I would.
I will recommend and use this service again.
Wonderful service. Received our authorisation code in exactly 2 days after submission.
Thanks Caravanistan, thanks Zahra!
Perfect work by Zahra. I received the RN within two days.
We used the service linked here; Zahra was extremely fast in replying to our questions and requests. We got our RN, ready to apply for the Iranian visa, within 2 working days. For the cost, given the speed and accuracy, I would highly recommend.
For our first RN it worked perfectly, very fast and professional.
Then I needed a second one to come back to Iran and Zarah confused it with the first one so I had a little shock when opening my mails and reading the confirmation of the data I put in for an other trip.
So I learned: if you apply once trough her, everything is perfect, for the second (or third time to come soon), pay big attention that she knows that you filled out an other form with (possibly) other details!
Worked perfectly for me, Zahra at the agency was verrrry fast and I had my Grant Notice almost next day, then easy pickup of the visa at Athens Embassy (keep in mind they still need three working days there after you hand in your passport, unless you pay for same day express).
Highly recommended.
Very helpfully peaple working at caravanistan.
I am definatly going to use there Service in the future.
Thanks Caravanistan
Hi! It was good. Took two days and I got my LOI, very friendly staff
Excellent
Sorry for not having contacted you earlier! Your help was excellent! First when we applied the official way we got denied actually! Then with your LOI it went very smoothly…
I have asked for an Iranian LOI through Caravanistan and received it very fast with all of relevant information as well. Perfect service!
Incredibly helpful and efficient. Thanks guys
very very good
I have asked an Iranian LOI through the website of Caravanistan. The service was very efficient and fast. I have received all of relevant information. Perfect service.
I’m not sure if we really needed the LOI, but the service was perfect. They answered all questions quickly and took care that everything was going well. We picked up the visa in Tbilisi without problems.
Second time that I booked my visa authorisation code via Caravanistan. Within a week I had my code.
Perfect service
It worked superbly for me, very quick and easy. I picked up my visa in Tbilisi without any issues. Highly recommend it.
Thanks Caravanistan
Excellent service.
Very professional and eficient. We got our refer de codi in the Time we agreed, and everything we t smoth and easy.
Thanks.
I applied for the Iran Visa about 8 weeks before my entrance. I got no phone or mail contact to the embassy to got it sent home, but it was no problem to get it directly in Berlin.
The online authorisation Code worked well.
The entrance was easy.
Para obtener el permiso de visa RN las recomendaciones de Caravanistan son perfectas. Lo hice, a través de ellos, con Caravanistan y fueron rápidos y eficientes. En tres días lo tenía en mi correo. Lo recomiendo.
Hello, Salam.
I’m very happy about your service. very fast and very serious… Thanks
I got my reference number (RN) very easily in 5 days. Everything was alright. I highly recommend to use Caravanistan to obtain your RN.
We applied Iran LOI via Caravanistan website and got a reply from Zahra immediately. Zahra was very helpful, gave lots of advice and replied my emails also in evenings! Got our RN in 6 days (including their weekend) and will head now to embassy to collect the visas. We can recommed their service also on other travel bookings in Iran. Thanks Caravanistan for the good work and useful info, what we have used in our travels in different Central Asian countries!!!
I got my LOI in two days, and a few days later got the visa without problems at the Erbil consulate in Northern-Iraq. The service of K2P was smooth and friendly, they helped me when I did mistakes with the application and always replied quickly.
Steven and Saule, you have my deepest admiration for running this website. Really thank you!
It was super easy to book the loi with PTA via caravanistan. It worked like a charm.
People at PTA were very responsive, helpful, very attentionate.
I got the LOI in even less than 10days and got the visa in erzurum turkey in few hours with no problem by showing the LOI.
Just the form to fill on the website is a bit uneasy with a smartphone.. Other than that every thing was great!
Hi Saule this is the 2nd time l have used your service the 1st to get a Uzbekistan LOI which went very smoothly, and now the lran R/N thanks to Zahra at 2 Persia.com he answered all my questions and made sure paperwork was correct, my visa was waiting in Almaty for me. I received my Visa straight away. I can’t recommend Saule at Caravanistan more highly. The you for help, a service you provided make travelling in Central Asia that more easily. Thank David
Hi Saule! Booking Iran LOI was really easy. As I sent the request, they answered to me asking all my details. Then they sent to me the Paypal address for the payment. Once I paid they told me that all was good; two weeks later they sent to me the LOI and I have been able to go to the Embassy in Bishkek and applying for the Visa. One important thing: when I asked for the LOI I was in China, so my Gmail account was not reachable. I explained that to the iranian tourist Agency and we talked on Whatsapp as well, I sent some detail (like my picture) via this app. Really helpful!
Got my Code after just 2 days! I am very satisfied with Caravanistan and recommend their service to everyone travelling to Iran.
Key2Persia are awesome, got the letter after 6 working days. Thanks to caravanistan for getting the discount for us :) I asked a few agents around in Yerevan and none of them are cheaper.
K2P are fine with you using someone else’s paypal if you don’t have one. In the end I created one because all my friends are hobos who barely know Paypal exists. If you dont have a credit card to link and you’re in Georgia and IF you have a nice passport (any EU country, Turkey is ok too, Iran is not but I guess it’s not relevant here) you can get a credit card for 1 lari in 15 minutes from TBC Bank (Majrnashvili office open until 8 pm). If you want to close the account you have to do so while youre still in Georgia. I closed my account 2 days after opening it and they didnt budge :D
Back to the payment, there was an issue with the payment page where my credit card didnt appear. I emailed K2P and 10 minutes later they sent an invoice to my paypal account and the problem was solved. Make sure to compare the change rate of paypal with that of your bank (K2P only accepts USD) because the change of paypal is very shitty.
also k2p replies during the persian weekend and in evenings.
I did the Loi to Iran with Key2Persia. Everything was fast and perfect.
Cheers!
We booked the Iran Invitation Letter via Caravanistan. The agency Key2Persia got in contact with us immediately. After paying the amount we got the RN within the 10 working days as they told us before. Perfect! We can highly recomend this Service!
Very fast and good service. I had my invitation letter before expected and they answered a lot of questions I had very quickly by whatsapp. The night before getting my Visa, they where helping telling me what I had to write in the application. It was late in Iran and it was their weekend but, despite that, they were there helping me. Very happy with their service
I received the LOI within 9 working days (excluding the day I send the request and attached documents). It was properly transferred to the Yerevan embassy as I requested – I went there a couple weeks later to request the visa. The whole process went smoothly and the few contacts I had with the agency were friendly. Very efficient service indeed!
Excellent service. Got the LOI very promptly. Thanks to Caravanistan and Key2Persia. Highly recommend both. Further to that the wealth of information on Caravanistan is exceptional. I will be sure to contribute my own experiences as well.
It worked well for me. I made the payment on the 3. April 2017 and received the LOI/reference code on the 18. of April 2017. Key2Persia was very responsive and helpful regarding other questions I had. Special thanks to Zahra!
Merci!
Thank you Caravanistan for helping me in my Visa process
We used Key2Persia as recommended by Caravanistan for applicating to the Iranian administration. The RN was issued 6 working days after, with no issue. We just got our visa in Erzurum, we are now heading to Iran by Visa. We are French and Italian.
You can follow our adventure on Viajandoynotanto.com & Instagram @Juliandraa. More details on the visas will be published there.
applied through Caravanistan on May 5th. Key2persia contacted me same day, got MFA number on May 9th.
super fast and freindly. Great service guys
Got MFA number 4 days after contacting Caravanistan! very quick and painless with Key2Persia agency.
Great service guys
Received the RN inbetween 10 workdays. Always felt well-supported and transparent. Then inbetween another 10 workdays I’ve got my tourist-visa from Iranian Consulate in Frankfurt after sending to them the necessary documents. At the Turkish-Iranian land-border and at the Tehran airport for the flight back passport and visa controls went well.
Thank you very much, Caravanistan for your great service. As I’ve been in Iran I recommended your services some other travellers. If I’ll travel to Iran next time I’ll use the service of Caravanistan again.
Excellent ~ could not have asked or expected a better service.
Highly recommended.
Thanks a lot for the help, everything went perfect!
Everything was perfect! Thanks a lot Caravanistan!
Everything went fine, but at the border nobody seemed to care about the Iran Authorisation code.
A friend of mine did not have one, and he got the visa at the airport without any problem.
Thanks anyway!
The booking code by your website was just perfect.
Nothing to say. Good informations, good price, good timing.
Hi! It was very good, fast and answers to any question.
We are a couple from Switzerland and we got our RN excact as it was written in the Website. Thanks a lot to Caravanistan and Key2Persia.
Awsome service and help. 100% recommend!!
It went smoothly, thanks. (We received the RN within 9 days).
Super easy, super quick! I got my LOI within 10 days, as promised. And they charged me less than stated above. :-) Would definitely recommend!
Good communication. Friendly people. No problems. Definitely recommend.
Caravanistan team has been really helpful to get our visa to Iran (for 2 persons, 1 French and 1 Lithuanian). They helped us to identify the local partners we could trust to get the invitation letter. I would for sure recommend Caravanistan to anyone that would need help and support for Central Asia visas.
I used the loi because I travelled by land to Iran. Everything went very good. I applied in Istanbul and got the visum in 5 days. It was possible for same day if you paid €20 extra. My code was in with 10 working days.
I applied for a visa through Caravanistan to arrive at the Iranian embassy in Vienna. It arrived without problem after 10 business days as advertised, but unfortunately I made my travel plans very last minute, and the day the visa arrived was the day of my flight, so I wasn’t able to pick it up. I took my flight anyway, and I received a visa at the airport in Iran without problem. I would recommend to future travelers to give sufficient time for the visa to arrive and to apply as early as possible. Don’t wait until the last minute!
Bookig was super extra nice☺
We are Chiara and Riccardo, travelling from Italy to Singapore with diabetes type 1. Caravanistan has been very helpful, quick and responsive in completino the procedure for our iranian LOI. Then we applied for the Visa in Tbilisi and got it easily in two working days.
Basically it was great. They contacted me quite promptly after I submitted the contact form on the caravanistan website and directed me to a form on their website to fill in with my details and the details of the people I was travelling with and our trip details. It was all straightforward and much cheaper than the other way I had found for getting the codes (which is possibly the same way with someone else making a packet from it). The people at key2persia were incredibly friendly, at the time we were arranging the codes with them they were having some issues with their European bank and so they said they would do the codes for us and we could pay them when we arrived in Iran, which we did. But isn’t that good of them?
Hi Rob,
Yes they had issues with payment, but now it is fixed. You can pay via PayPal.
Booking Iranian LOI was fast and easy, good communication from the agency, we couldn’t pay straight due to them having trouble with their PayPal and bank account but they trusted us and let us do a payment at their bank agency once in Iran which was also quite easy given Iranian people are really helpful!
Hello !
Very easy, we had the code without problem.
They charged us only 54€ (60$) for 2 codes, so even less expensive than what is written above.
Dushanbe embassy : 50€ to get the visa in one week, 75€ for one day.
For women, no need to wear a scarf in the embassy.
Thanks for your help !
Karoutcho
After the banking problems, the agency they offered me direct paying in the office. Although the consequence was, that they received the money far later than via banking. So this was very kind! So when we arrived in Shiraz (where the office is located), we went to the office and payed the bill in cash – so everything was fine and everybody was happy! I can really recommend the booking via Caravanistan!!!
Since we are cycling from Amsterdam to China we had to organize all of our visa on the road. Caravanistan has been the best source of information and a great help. The Iran visum went smoothly by following the steps outlined above, we applied for the LOI with the friendly people of key2persia, made the payment, and we picked it up in Istanbul without any trouble. We paid extra (at the bank right across the road from the embassy) for a 2 day turnaround. Bear in mind that you have to wear a headscarf in the embassy!
Getting an iranian visa with Caravanistan went really fast and smooth! Contact with the agency is perfect, so nice experience. Today morning i obtained my visa in the Yerevan embassy. Technically the best embassy i ve ever been so far. Thank You for everything
Ania
We heard ‘horror stories’ about getting an Iranian visa, but it all went very smooth and easy. We got our authorisation code within 2 weeks, went to the consulate in Erzurum (Turkey) and got our visa right away. No problems at all, we never had to wait. Super!
Getting our LOI through Caravanistan went very smooth. We got an answer immediately and we got the authorization code after we send all the right info/documents. I can definitely recommend the service provided by Caravanistan. Looking forward to enter Iran in 3 weeks, we are going overland from Belgium to Malaysia, and are now in Turkey.
FREE and FAST visa authorization code;– really good people, yes they have an office, and are the owners of hotel + hostel in Shiraz !!
Disclosure… i do not work for / not compensated by any Visa service
… 3 times to various parts of the 'Stans
…. 180+ countries traveled (many of them multiple times)
Thank you for the kind words, Yi! Just to say: only free if you also book a tour or accommodation!
We got in contact with Caravanistan to get the Reference Number for the Iranian Visa and here we are, writing from Tehran!! It all went well and as expected, with the number of days as described, etc. The person in the Iranian Embassy in Yerevan was also very nice and helpful, in case someone else is thinking of getting it there…
Thank you very much for your help !!
Worked very well and I know have my visa – Just to be noted that under certain circumstances that are not described here (iranian new year, among probably others), the delay can be almost doubled vs the one announced here – that may be cause of troubles.
But all in all, service was very fine.
Everything went smoothly, I am already safely arrived in Iran now. I don’t have any remarks.
Dear Saule and Steven,
thank you for your request.
The caravanistan-LOI worked without any delay or Problem. Easy to recommentation :).
Hi,
Thanks caravanistan for the service, it is really reliable. I started communication with caravanistan and after two days of chatting with the tour operator I recieved the confirmation that my Letter of Invitation or Registration Number was going to be applied for 30 €. After that I had to wait 14 natural days, that’s it, two weeks. After that I went to the iranian embassy in Ankar to get my visa sticked on my passport and after filling the form and paying 50 €, they took my fingerprints and told me that my visa would be ready in one week. I asked if it could be issued before but they told me there was a holy day in Iran and it was impossible to have it before… anyway, today I went to get my passport back and it was all ok. Start to end, it took me 25 days to get the visa.
It took a bit more than 10 working days to get the authorisation code, but everything went fine with picking up the visa at the consulate in Frankfurt, Germany. The only downside is the procession time in Frankfurt. To get the visa on the same day I had to pay a 50% extra fast track fee, otherwise the process takes two weeks they told me. A bit ridiculous considering that it’s just about printing a sticker, but that’s bureaucracy…
The most straightforward service, prices and timeframes all accurate. Got LOI number in 5 days. In Iran now and loving it!
Hello m’y friends,
Everything was ok. We get the visa quickly in Trabzon after receiving the autorisation number. Thank you very much for your job and your kindness.
Caravanistan is a highly recommended source to obtain your Iranian Visa Authorisation Code, we used their service in September of 2015. From start to finish everything ran smoothly, communication was clear and processing times were efficient. Once we received our authorisation codes we were able to get our 30 day Iranian Visa at the Iranian consulate/embassy in Istanbul, with a short processing time of 2 days. Recommended!
Hi all.
I used caravanistan and got my registration number at Ankara’s embassy in 10 days. Even though the travel agency did not tell me that it was processing, it was and then the papers were very easy to obtain at Ankara’s embassy. I just told the truth (travelling by bicycle, entering from Armenia, leaving to Turkmenistan…) And got the 30 days tourist visa. I didn’t mention anything like that the travel agency…
I am now in Iran and it’s gorgeous ! Entering from Armenia is probably a hard way by bicycle, but definitely awesome !
Yann
MERCI Caravanistan!!
My comment goes back to November 2014. I would like to thank caravanistan, Steven and Saule warmly for their fantastic help.
Unfortunately I tried to get a visa for Iran before – on a website that looked very official – but was not at all!! I lost the money, got no feedback – lost the time while travelling and was saved by Saule. She was able to get me the Iranian visa still in time, waiting for me at the Iranian Embassy in Ashgabat ! … and I was able to leaveTurkmenistan in time ( 5 days transit visa).
Also the kindness and welcome at the Iran Embassy was wonderful, very polite — they offered a tea while waiting. …
I travelled from Tokyo to Berlin, Caravanistan was most helpful with many questions.Please use this very efficient and kind website when travelling in Central Asia -you may avoid bad mistakes. I travelled alone and Caravanistan was somehow my silent partner.
Thank you Saule and Steven – !!
Barbara
I booked an Iran LOI with Caravanistan. I was connected with an Iranian agency. Very friendly service and the aproval was issued within a week. Impressive.
Thanks to all for excellent service.
Andy
It was really quick and efficient. It took altogether 5 days! The contact with the agency was really good. You can check our overall experience and some advice regarding the Iranian consulate in Istanbul in the embassy report section.
We requested a LOI via Caravanistan last August. The service is good value and well handled and our interlocutor was friendly and responsive. The LOI worked perfectly at the Dushanbe Iranian consulate. Bear in mind the 10-working-day processing time.
Good service. Was told it would take 10 days to get LOI, but it took 14 days. Close enough for me.
Works perfect. Thanks.
No problems at all. The code arrived after around 10 days.
I do recommend this booking of loi letter. Very reliable and made my trip possible through Iran. Answer quickly. I recommend not to say you are on bicycle if you are.
Applied for a LOI through Caravanistan in early May to enter Iran in June.
The man responsible at the agency always answered promptly (though at strange times and days, and often during Iran’s weekends) and everything was sorted in time for us to collect our Visas in Yerevan.
We paid 75 euros each for same-day Visa and we had to take taxis between the Embassy and the Iranian Bank twice the same morning to get everything sorted, but the people at the Embassy were organised and see travellers everyday. Once you submit your application you have to wait for the Consul to stamp the passports and the process takes quite a while.
However we encountered no problems, my friend also registered as a photographer which is usually not the best looked upon profession in Iran but again no problems whatsoever.
Iran was magnificent, crossing the border from Armenia easy (but beware of the X-Ray machine for the bags. My backpack’s straps got caught in the machinery and were torn to shreds).
I applied for a LOI via caravanistan. i got a quick reply to fill out a form and in 8-10 days i had my application number from the MFA. i went to the iranian embassy in vienna in the next couple of days. i didn’t mention that i wanted to cross the land border so i put a flight date 40-50 days ahead. they told me i can pick up the visa a couple of days before the flight. i said i need my passport, so they offered me to pay 27 euros for express service and after half an hour i had my visa in the passport. only the start of the 3 months period in which i had to enter iran started right at that day. almost 2 months before i had planned to enter it. since the period in which you have to enter is 3 months i didn’t bother, but if you are not sure how long you will take to enter iran, you should get it in the country from which you enter it. in my case it would have been turkey. in vienna the visa is 52 euros+30euros for the APP.NR. +27 euros express service.
the service was quick and easy. don’t forget to write a 30 days itinerary if you need 30 days visa.
i had an amazing time in iran, the people are extremely hospitable and friendly.
thanks a lot caravanistan!!
matthias
Same comment as the others.
I applied for the mfa number just before nowruz and got it in time to apply for a 30 days visa. I got quick answers to my emails.
Very satisfied.
I did not mention that I was travelling by car.
I applied for the visa in ankara. It took two working days to get it in my belgian passport.
For the car, I used Mr Hossein Sheykhlou s service, since I had no carnet de passage. He takes care of the money deposit for the car and has superfriendly staff at the Armenian-Iranian border post. 600 €, non refundable. Pretty expensive but the only option.
Iran is a wonderful country, Iranians are incredibly nice and welcoming. Great time
Good luck
The whole system worked well. We were contacted the next day after submitting our request for a LOI. it was approved within 5 days. (a little faster than we thought)
The only problem we had was with the Iran embassy in Istanbul, for some reason there was a technical hitch with the approval at their end.
However the people at the embassy were fantastic and we got the visa the very next day.
The technical hitch was something to do with our LOI approval was nearly 18 days old when we went to the embassy and probably had something to do with Ramadan
IT WORKED!
It worked very well. Even during the time of Now Ruz we received our MFA code within 10 working days.
We were a little alarmed when after we paid there wasn’t a single reaction to our emails. But since the first email later read something like “This is your Reference Number” this anger vanished quickly. So – stay patient, it probably will work out.
Great service, thank you very much.
We send the online form, got contacted by the agency one day later, and made the payment.
8 days after the agency received our payment, we received by email the authorization code, and 2 days later we went to the consulate in Istanbul to collect the visa.
Very efficient.
Great service! I got the MFA code faster than expected.
I met some other travellers who applied for the MFA code through another agency and weren’t really satisfied.
@Sam: I went through the visa application process and as far as I understand it now, it doesn’t really matter what date you write in the ‘Visa start date’ box. Once you click on ‘Get Visa Support’ the form sends an email to the travel agency in Iran that caravanistan.com is connected with. Then the agency will get in touch with you and ask you to fill in their (much more detailed) visa form anyway.
I follow up on Sam’s question, because I think it is not answered sufficiently:
At the time of visa application some people (e.g. cyclists, hitchhikers, other individual travellers) might not know what day they will cross the border. But at the same time people don’t want to waste visa days. So for these people it matters to know if the ‘visa start day’ is the first day fo their 30 days in Iran or if it is the first day of the 3 months of visa validity. Cheers!
Thanks Flo, yep that applies to me.. I’ll be cycling ;) Cheers!
Where it says ‘Visa Start Date’ on the form, does it mean when you want your 3 months of visa being active to start, or when you want to Enter Iran… I think its the former, but just want to be sure before I go ahead an fill in the form! Cheers!
Visa start date means when do you want your visa to start. Usually people want their visa to start when they want to enter Iran, I don’t see the benefit of it starting before you enter.
I am still a little confused by this, if there is a 3 month validity does the visa start date mean anything at all?
I am traveling from Asia to Europe and the amount of visas and red tape I need to jump through to get to Iran’s border makes it impossible to have an accurate date.
When I am given the visa does this date still apply?
Thanks.
It was very quick and easy. Thanks for the service!
Good and efficient, answer within 10 days, no problems at embassy
We used caravanistan to get an LOI for the airport on our return to iran. Quick & efficient procedure. Would use them again. LOI successful. Thanks.
Friendly and effcient, I had quick answers to my questions and the LOI procedure went fast.
We booked Iran LOI by Caravanistan. We filled a form via their website and sent them the money the 7 of september. We had an answer about the LOI the 24 of september. They answered quickly the e-mails we sent. Friendly and responsive people.