Tajikistan visa

A lot of travelers have a visa-free option at their disposal since 2022. But does that make things easier? Depends – you still need to register and you can only get 30 days. If you try to get an E-visa, that’s also not easy, with many people being refused, asked for new documents, a letter of invitation or a tour booking, or the application is stuck in the system until an “extra fee” is paid.

Then again, some people get it without hassle after a couple of days. The whole thing is very random, and has been for years. An official’s nephew was refused a visa to Germany? All Germans are automatically refused for a while. Someone’s wife is asking for a new Chanel bag? Everything is held up until enough bribes have come in. And so on. The fact that the eVisa forum thread has clocked up more than 500 posts says it all.

Another option is to go for the visa on arrival (airport only, certain nationalities only). Finally, the situation with the Evisa has gotten so bad these days that people have been trying old-school embassy visas again (with various levels of success). Check the embassy reports at the bottom of the page.

An additional GBAO permit (Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Oblast) is necessary for any travel to the Pamirs.

To sum up what is explained in more detail below:

• eVisas: 45 days, GBAO included, no registration needed. However, it’s unreliable, you may not get it.
• Visa on arrival at the airport: 45 days, no registration needed, UK can get it, no GBAO.
• Visa free: 30 days, needs registration for stays over 10 days, UK cannot get it, no GBAO.
• Embassy visas: every ambassador plays by his own rules.

Visa-free travel

Nationals of the following 10 nations are not required to obtain a visa for Tajikistan:

Unlimited stay

• Belarus
• Georgia
• Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Moldova
• Russia

30 days

Tajikistan has a 30-day visa-free policy. The policy is valid at land borders and at airports.

While at first glance this makes it easier to visit Tajikistan, be aware that you still need to get a GBAO permit separately if you want to visit the Pamirs, either on arrival or in advance.

In addition, if your stay in Tajikistan exceeds 10 days you have to register yourself with the OVIR office, which is an additional waste of time. Questions and reports regarding visa registration welcome in this forum thread, and more info further down in this article.

If you are staying less than 10 days, the visa-free option is a good one. If you are staying more than 10 days, the registration is a hassle. This is especially true if you are coming in from Sary Tash on the Pamir Highway, since the first place you can register is Khorog, and you might not want to rush there.

Q&A about visa-free travel is here.

E-visa

Since June 3, 2016, passport holders of 121 countries can apply for an e-visa to Tajikistan (in principle, some nations get refused routinely).

The e-visa is valid at international airports and at land borders.

Price and validity

Price is 30$ for the visa, 20$ for a GBAO permit.

The visa is valid for 60 days within a 90-day period from the entry date you fill in.

The e-visa is single entry, just like the visa on arrival. You can apply as early as you like.

You don’t have to enter on the first day of entry, you can enter at a later date as well. Similarly, you can leave before the 60 days are up, you do not have to stay until the last day. Your day of entry counts as a full day, even if you arrive at 23.55. Same with your day of exit: counts as a full day.

Put another way: your e-visa is valid for 90 days (eg. 01.08 – 31.10). You can’t enter before 01.08 and you must not leave after 31.10. Within these 90 days you can stay for up to 60 days. For example, if you enter 10.08, you must leave latest 60 days after that.

Double entry

We have heard it is possible these days to buy a double entry e-visa. If not, the old recipe is to simply buy 2 single entry visas before entering Tajikistan for the first time, and getting the older e-visa stamped first and the newer e-visa stamped on your second entry.

Practical details

Make sure you are on the right website! Some people have gotten confused. It’s evisa.tj, not visa.gov.tj.

A black and white printout of the e-visa is fine, even a soft copy is acceptable these days. On entry, border guards may or may not stamp your passport. In any case they stamp your entry card. Keep that close to you at all times, the same for your e-visa.

Delays and rejections

Delays and rejections are common. A lot of it these days seems to center around passport photos that cannot be processed. One trick is to send the scan of your passport to a friend on Whatsapp, have them download it to their phone then send it back to you. This seems to work. 

You could get the visa in 2 days, or 2 months. Or not at all. Difficult to predict. All experiences and questions are welcome in the (by now enormous) Tajik E-visa forum thread.

Pre-pandemic, Chinese and Hong Kong travelers were routinely refused for the e-visa. Post-pandemic/Kyrgyz-Tajik border war/latest GBAO crackdown/Taliban takeover, refusals have become common for people regardless of nationality. It’s a very random process.

If your application got stuck because of payment issues, you may not be able to apply again because your application is still “in progress” in the system. You will need the help of a travel agent to push it over the edge.

For 70$, Khudik in Dushanbe will get you your E-visa in a hurry (next day usually). If interested, get in touch. Other Tajik travel agents do it as well, you can shop around if you are price sensitive.

You can also get in touch with a helpful embassy. Bishkek is known to help you quickly get the e-visa, while Tashkent will simply stick a visa in your passport the same day for 75$.

Flying in and getting a visa on arrival is a good option, but not available to all passport holders.

Embassy visa

Most embassies give out visas for 30 and for 45 days (GBAO permit is for 30 days max). Single entry or double entry visa can be requested. A double entry visa is the same price as a single entry visa.

A website different from the e-visa website allows you to apply before picking up your visa at the embassy. This is not for the e-visa, but rather an electronic application for visas that still need to be picked up at the embassy (tourist, business, private, …).

It seems you might also be able to get a visa applied for through this website at the airport on arrival. We welcome your feedback.

Letter of invitation

Invitation letters were gone for a long time but the corrupt people in the Tajik government have resurrected the practice. We cannot provide you with one, but most travel agencies in Tajikistan will be happy to do it for you in case you need one.

Visa on arrival

You can obtain a visa on arrival in Dushanbe airport. It’s not 100% safe, there is no standard process. But we haven’t heard of anyone turned back since 2017. Take dollars cash to pay – something around 55$. Your experience is welcome in the VOA forum thread.

The VOA is valid for 45 days, or maybe even 60 days. No registration needed.

Eligible nationalities are: All EU/EFTA states, Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, New Zealand, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City, Venezuela, Vietnam and Yemen.

GBAO permits are not available on arrival.

Tajik visa for Chinese / Hong Kong / Taiwanese

It is not easy. Chinese travelers get rejected for the e-visa, but we have also heard of Chinese passport holders being rejected at the embassy in Beijing.

We have also heard positive reports of Chinese travelers who did get the E-visa. If you have a Chinese passport, your report is most welcome.

There is also a forum thread for Hongkongers.

Visa requirements

For your embassy visa application you will need:

• 1 passport with minimum 6 months validity after expiry of the Tajik visa and 2 empty pages
• passport pictures (1, 2 or 3 depending on the embassy)
• 1 completed Tajikistan visa application form
• photocopy of passport can sometimes be requested.

Registration in Tajikistan

Registration is not necessary for travelers on a tourist (e-)visa or visa on arrival staying up to 45 days. All other visas have to register with the Migration Police (OVIR) if staying more than 10 days, including visa-free travelers.

There have been cases of people being fined for not registering within 3 days. It seems like the official rule is 10 days, though.

If you don’t register, you risk to pay a hefty fine or a bribe, or you can get away with it. Especially when you are at the airport, border guards know you need to catch your plane, which is excellent leverage for them to extract a large bribe from you.

The price for registration hovers around 20$ and is at least in part dependent on your patience and haggling skills. The same goes for the time it takes to register, but usually it’s a 2-day process.

All updates welcome in this forum topic.

OVIR Dushanbe: Mirzo Turzunzade Street 5 Tel. 227 67 22 (no English) Opening hours: 8am-5pm

OVIR in Dushanbe is known to be difficult. Khorog, Khujand, Murghab are perhaps easier.

Visa extension & visa runs

Latest reports indicate that a tourist visa can no longer be extended. You need to get out of the country and get another (e-)visa. As far as we know, there is no limit to the amount of times you can exit and re-enter Tajikistan on visa runs.

What about visa-free nationals? Totally fine for at least once, we don’t know of people who do it on a regular basis. Reports gathered in the visa run forum thread.

Extension reports are gathered in the Tajik visa extension forum thread. Location of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where you have to go.

Overstaying your visa

Few reports have come in of people overstaying their visa. Exiting via the infamous Kyzylart-Bor Dobo border might turn out the cheapest (but we have no accounts of this being done, this is pure speculation).

Safer would be to go to court in Dushanbe and pay the few hundred dollar fine. According to the most recent law-breaker, the maximum fine is 4000 somoni, but he was fined only $220 in the end.

You will need assistance from your accommodation or embassy to pull this off. The US embassy is regarded as unhelpful, while the British, German, Japanese and French embassies are in better standing. If you are already detained, then the Tajik authorities will walk you through the process.

Embassy reports

Find embassy reports for different cities in the forum threads linked below.

• Almaty
• Ankara
• Astana
• Beijing
• Bishkek
• Brussels
• Dubai
• Istanbul
• London
• Tashkent
• Tehran
• Washington, D.C.

More Silk Road visas

More on Tajikistan

• The basics
  • Tajikistan starter guide
  • Things to do
  • Accommodation
  • Budget estimates, communication & banking
  • Visas & border crossings
  • When to visit & events calendar
  • Books
  • Tours
• Transport
  • Self-driving
  • Trains
  • Cycling
• Regions
  • Northern Tajikistan
  • Central Tajikistan
  • Southern Tajikistan
  • Pamirs