Quick Question on UZB/TAJ vehicle entry
 

I read that there is a 14 day vehicle restriction for Tajikistan (without paying huge fees).

However does the same thing exist for Uzbekistan? I don't want to get there too early to find I have to leave in 2 weeks and not have anywhere to go afterwards due to visa dates!

Anything else I need to know for Uzb? We are leaving Tbilisi tomorrow in our Land Rover to pass through Russia and into Kaz. Within 10 days we should be in Uzb jeiger

G

Electronics declaration
 

Hi Griff,

I'm not far behind you (Istanbul procuring Uzbek and Tajik visas). I've not travelled in CA before but I've read somewhere about the need to declare ALL of your electronics (inc phone(S)) when entering Uzbekistan. Perhaps someone who has been through the process would care to elaborate?
I'm also of the understanding that a better exchange rate is available on the black market? Again, anybody who's been care to elaborate?

I'll keep my eyes open for a (presumably British registered?) Landrover once I arrive in CA.

Adam

Ok, well that shouldn't be too much of an issue. I presume UZB will be more hassle than the others!

Thanks for the heads up. Yes we are RHD on GB plates. photos of it with trailer are all over our website.

G

-Entry time is same as visa time for UZB
-UZB want everything declared and will go through iPads, Cameras etc for illegal media on the way in an out.
-Black market is best, when were there last year it was 2700-2900 SOM to the dollar, but not sure what it is currently. Keep in mind the largest bank note is 1000 SOM so don't change to much at once. We were flat out spending $200 in the country over 5 days.

Thanks Craig. We have 2 laptops so looks like we will be there for sometime :thumbdown:

Do you know if they get funny about GPS or Sat phones?

G

GPS was no issue - Sat phone I don't know, they were okay with our cell phones.

What happens if/when the find said "Illegal media"?

We didn't have any so I don't know. I believe the main things they are looking for is porn and anti government videos on the way in. Any unauthorised video on the way out, protests, footage from dissents, defence facilities etc.

I never heard of that being an issue. And its never been an issue for me.

But I would strongly advise you to list everything electronic or valuable (or cash) on the way in, cause if you leave the country and its not on the form you had stamped when you entered, then you cant take it out.

Its just UZ thats this anal ... KZ, KG, TJ are not like that.

never heard of a 14 day restriction on your vehicle in Tajikistan but check with sambor

Cheers Walter, I will proceed with caution! We made it into Russia, even with our Trailer. Currently in Stavropol. The Georgia - Russia border is alive and well :) but it took 4 hours due to pushy Armenian's. Lots of Snow on the Military Highway made for some sketchy driving.

I read it somewhere on here. Something about it being a reasonable cost for 14 days then if you want to extend it it rises to something like $50/day (which I don't want to pay!).

I just wanted to make sure I don't get a conflict in Visa timings, but it seems like it is not a problem.

G

Uzbekistan was a pain in the a$$ in and out. We did have to list electronics but they didnt examine them. Cash they are more interested in. We had gotten some USD (legit receipts in hand) from Tashkent and when we tried to leave with it, it got a bit complicated. I had no form either, so make sure every person has a declaration form coming in or they will be pissed off going out. And definitely don't leave with more money than you declared coming in. (My lack of form actually have us an out for this.) Make sure you have provisions, we spent all night at the border between Kazakhstan & Uzbekistan. Good luck!

My beef was with prescription drugs at the borders, tried to declare them all on the form along with my gadgets and cash,

british govt advise 'Foreign nationals have been detained on arrival for possession of medicines that would not normally be problematic in other countries. See Travelling with medicines' after two arrests on the border.

Kept quizzing me for ages about each prescription despite me having doctors letter, and pharmacy slips. I was told to tick the 'drugs' box on my form, then another official asked why I had done so, this was just to declare illegal drugs??!?

Anyways, I couldn't see anything on the forms about vehicle stay duration i'm afraid....

Tajikistan allows 15 days, you pay a $20 or something road tax, which is a joke as the decent roads are quite expensive toll roads, and the others are mostly utterly awful.

If you overstay this 15 days, the fines are enormous, but to extend it in Dushanbe is either very cheap, or free. Someone on here did it.

As said, In Uzbekistan, your vehicle is allowed for the same duration as your visa, though you may need to ask the guys at the border to make sure they do this. Sometimes they give you a day or two less in order to cover any exit delays.

The reason they are hot on electrical equipment is not a media issue. They are worried you will sell these things for hard currency in the country. Make sure you declare everything, money wise, or they can take it from you legitimately upon exit.

Illegal prescription medicine includes anything opiate derived, such as tranxene or codeine I believe. People have spent weeks in jail over this, so be careful.

Daniel

We do have some codeine with paracetamol or ibuprofen so I guess we better ditch that. I will go through our med supply and see. We have nothing prescription only over the counter stuff.

Are there any other opiate derived meds we would need to watch for? I assume paracetamol and Ibuprofen is fine?

Thanks for your help all :)

All opiate derivatives, sythetic or otherwise, should be pain killers or similar, so paracetemol and ibuprofen should be fine. Google any others to check.

Antibiotics should be fine

If you have any special prescription medication, then you definitely want to research that.

There is a good thread somewhere here (I think in travellers advisories) on the drugs in UZ thing. Written by someone caught up in it.

Best to avoid the opiates in UZ
 

Doctors letters or pharmacy receipts can help, but that doesnt mean you arent brining illegal drugs into a country. If the drugs are illegal there, then its best to not bring them in at all.

The guys on the border have no idea if your doctors letter is legit. They probably dont even know what it says. They dont know if the signature is of a genuine doctor. Or if the whole thing is a scam.

Put it this way, if an Uzbek biker turned up at Dover docks with some drugs that are illegal in the UK, and showed customs a letter written in Uzbek, and said its a doctors letter ... my guess is it isnt going to cut any mustard at all. If the guy is lucky, the drugs will be thrown out. If he is unlucky, he too will be detained. I seriously doubt they would bother trying to find an Uzbek translator to translate the letter, when they have no way of confirming its genuine. And in any case, the drugs are illegal here.

Similarly, you might have a medical prescription for marijuana, but try getting that thru US or Singapore customs. If its illegal in that particular country, its illegal ... and you are playing with fire trying to get it in with a medical letter, prescription or anything like that. A doctors letter or prescription from a foreign country is not a valid pass to carry in banned substances.

If you really really have to have it with you for medical reasons, I would consider getting a letter from the Uzbek embassy stating that clearly, in Uzbek, and with a big Uzbek embassy stamp on it. I think if you have that, then at least you wont get detained.

Still no guarantee they wont throw the drugs out tho. Even an embassy of the country in question doesnt have the power to grant you an exemption from customs rules - and a foreign doctor definitely doesnt. But it would go a lot further towards showing your story is genuine.

This thread is worthwhile reading on the drugs issue. http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-warning-57823

It echoes what Walter has written above also about contacting the embassy.

Spot on Walter.

I also showed my correspondence with the Uzbek embassy in london at the border, they wouldn't let me know what drugs were banned in their country. I then asked the British embassy in UZ who advised to declare everything. What to do. If I end up in jail then fair enough. I couldn't work in Dubai for this reason, my drugs were banned there, so I didn't go. UZ border, I decided not to bring one med, and took a risk with the rest.

We stayed with Bob (Luckro) in Nukus who wrote the post , he was under hotel arrest and was facing 10 years in jail , staying in touch with him after we left he informed us that not only was he charged with class 2 drug offenses but the religious police charged him with crimes against Allah, the British consulate were next to useless , the trial was conducted in Uzbek so he had no clue as what was going on , he also had to undergo all sort's of physic tests, he eventually got out of Uzbekistan after 2+ weeks of trials a humongous fine and told to piss off ,Bob had been travelling 5 years by then so was no novice ,,, on the other hand Me and H had only declared our money and had absolutely no problems entering or leaving Uzbekistan even with our medication, in fact we had a laugh with the border guards going in and coming out ,, yet we bumped into Tiffany (Coates) in Bukhara and her group were reamed down to there underpants ,,, I think Bobs post should be mad a sticky .
zebb

www.motoloco.eu
ps there is a lot of medication we had no paperwork for now buried in the Uzbeki desert.

When we entered we had to open every bag. The customs officer was very friendly, but very through. I can't say it was a negative experience, very funny when he discovered the condoms.

On the way out the guys also wanted to go through everything - he was an assole so I just opened the panniers and said there you go.

That was worth reading and scared me a bit! :innocent:

I'm glad I posted now. We had a lot of stuff as we left the UK so emptied what we thought was useful into a box. paramol, Para and Codiene etc etc. Will go through this in the next day or 2. Luckily nothing on prescription only Antibiotics (diarrhoeal kit - Cyprofloxin?) and Doxycycline (Sp?)

Will update our Excel list on kit. We are carrying a lot in the Land Rover. I hope we don't have to get everything out.

Enjoying the Sun here in Elista (Russia) :thumbup1:

G

Uzbekistan is a great place I have never had any trouble there just be aware of authority as it as semi police state, but because of this there is very little hassle and it is the most organized country in the Stans ,,, there are quite a few police check points but they have always been friendly and curious about your travels,,, have fun

Thought it was worth updating this thread. We entered UZB on the 5th May, crossing took 7 hours.

They were indeed looking for meds as it was the only box they checked. We filled out the customs form carefully and asked for advice on the yes/no questions to which they were not that interested or helpful. We ticked no for the medicines as the translation is a little confusing. We interpreted it as 'drastic medicines'. We declared all cash and electronics also.

The locals were having to empty their cars/vans by hand and pass everything through an X-ray scanner (like at airports) we thought we may have to do the same but waited and then after they stamped the customs form only checked our meds box (thoroughly) asking what each thing was for. Prescription didn't seem a problem as we had a few things with stickers/stamps on with our names etc but none of that was pain relief stuff.

Its a pretty brutal crossing and without the help of a few Uzbeks in the queue (who had been there for 2 nights) we would not have made it through that day.

In Khiva now after a night in Nukas and a night on the Aral Sea before that. we camped 2 nights so missing some registration which we will find out more about hopefully today.

Not sure what is up with the fuel situation. Over 50% of garages are closed or have no fuel. Some have diesel at 2500s. We have not had to fill up just yet as we brought 150L from Kaz :thumbup1:

G

Just to wrap this up completely. We exited today into Tajikistan and they didn't ask me where I had spent all my dollars and they didn't ask about registration slips. Clear run through in nearly 2 hours.

We took the southern route in from UZB leaving Samarkand and crossing over the main roads through Baysun.

There is a Police checkpoint here who demanded to see all documents then kept me hanging on. He then told me the road ahead was closed and I would have to drive back and down to Termis. I said we would try it, he mentioned dollars, I said no, asked for my documents back (as he wasn't writing anything down) and proceeded onwards anyway.

So don't doubt yourself or GPS, the road is fine! Its being upgraded at present.

Only rotten cop we had in all of UZB.

G