Transit visa for Turkmenistan

[patdeavoll]

Has anyone applied for a visa for Turkmenistan recently?
I will be travelling across Turkmen in mid June and need a transit visa but am having trouble getting a consulate to reply to my emails regarding fees etc.
I have emailed the London, Berlin and Frankfurt consulates and heard nothing.
Can anyone suggest the best consulate to apply to?

[mickey76]

hi,
transit visa for turkmenistan is like gambling .... good luck

[Andreasmux]

I got mine in Germany

After obtaining the visas for Iran and Uzbekistan, filling the forms and writing the application letter, it worked out. I could phone the embassy and got apopriate answers. They also did it in the expected time.

Andreas


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[Horserider]

Hallo all,

In may 2019 I'll go to the Pamirs with a friend. Up till now everything OK, even the Carnet via the ADAC for a French motorcycle. But now we are trying to get all the information for the visa and Turmenistan might becoming a puzzle. A relation of us who is travelling for business regularly informed us as follows: 'today just got know that official price for transit visa to Turkmenistan per person cost 1.500 $ (!!!!!!). I know that is crazy, but it is reality' .
Who has been recently in Turmenistan, and does he/she has the same experience?
When the price stays like this it seems to be that they don't want to get anymore visitors in their country.
Alternative ways to go from Iran to Tajikistan?

Have a nice day, and curious for your answers!

Horsedriver

[mickey76]

there is no border between turkménistan and tadjikistan , 2 choices, uzbekistan or afghanistan then tadjikistan
take a look on our facebook page call voyage france mongolie

[eurasiaoverland]

If the information you have turns out to be true (which I frankly doubt; remember that transit visas are principally used by Turkish and Iranian truck drivers delivering goods to Central Asia), there are two simple alternatives:

1) Drive from Georgia or Azerbaijan through Russia to Kazakhstan.
2) Take a ferry from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan.

You could theoretically go through Afghanistan but in reality, there is no way across the country which is even remotely safe. In 2009 I drove across Afghanistan, but even then (when the NW of the country was safer), I had to divert briefly through Turkmenistan between Andkhoy and Herat.

EO

[patuszak]

Hi! Any news concerning price for transit visa for Turkmenistan? And fees to be paid at the border?

Thanks a lot!

[Pancorbo]

Hello. I'm going to Kyrgyzstan and I was thinking to go through Turkmenistan via Baku and ferry. Has anybody an update about this?

[klausmong1]

Not very wise to go from the Baku ferry to Turkmenistan with transit visa.

First they might say you dont need it because if you want to go to Usbekistan, you dont neet Turkmenistan

And if you want to go to Iran, you can directly go from Aserbaidschan.

Second the problem is that the ferry has no fix scedule.
You have fixed dates of entry ( and maximum 5 days for transit )
So it can happen that the ferry is late and you cannot enter Turkmenistan.

[hsinclai]

This isn't entirely true anymore. Last summer when I got my transit visa going the other way I was given a code with 3 month's validity instead of a paper visa, and the day I entered only THEN did the clock start. Going the other way (from Uzbekistan to the ferry) I had no problem getting it for that route even though technically I could have gone through Kazakhstan. At Turkmenbashi I met three Mongol Rally cars that made it in ok despite their ferry being delayed quite a few days.

Caravanistan as usual is the best place for up to date info though.

[klausmong1]

Then it is still like gambling.

Because we had fixed dates 2018.

5 days fixed in advance, and nothing flexibel.

And we met a guy from a tourist company ( Ayran travel ) who told us that it is completely open how the visa department reacts.

And usually the last years they issued around 8000 visas, all together

[MarteFekkes]

Also very curious how the (transit) visa situation for Turkmenistan is!
Could you perhaps ask for a Tourist visum in, say, Tehran?
Or a transit visum on the border?
Travelling from Netherlands towards Singapore by motorcycle , coming months!

[klausmong1]

For a tourist Visum you need a guide and an agency.

Only with the invitation from them you can get one.

You dont get a visa at the border without going to the embassy before.

You need to fill in a lot of papers, bring 2 colour copies of your passport and some pictures for the visa and then it takes 2-3 weeks ( if you are lucky ) at the embassy in Teheran.

[Snakeboy]

Originally Posted by MarteFekkes

Also very curious how the (transit) visa situation for Turkmenistan is!
Could you perhaps ask for a Tourist visum in, say, Tehran?
Or a transit visum on the border?
Travelling from Netherlands towards Singapore by motorcycle , coming months!

Maybe you can search for your fellow countrywoman (?) «Itchy Boots» on Facebook. She is a dutch woman and she just rode through Turkmenistan and if I remember correctly she got her Turkmenistan visa in Iran.

[Mark V]

Hello

Originally Posted by MarteFekkes

Also very curious how the (transit) visa situation for Turkmenistan is!
Could you perhaps ask for a Tourist visum in, say, Tehran?
Or a transit visum on the border?
Travelling from Netherlands towards Singapore by motorcycle , coming months!

Originally Posted by patdeavoll

Has anyone applied for a visa for Turkmenistan recently?
I will be travelling across Turkmen in mid June and need a transit visa but am having trouble getting a consulate to reply to my emails regarding fees etc.
I have emailed the London, Berlin and Frankfurt consulates and heard nothing.
Can anyone suggest the best consulate to apply to?

We crossed Turkmenistan from Iran in 2016 and I got the following information from the Turkmen embassy in Switzerland (by phone): "You are expected to apply in your country of residence. If there is no Turkmen embassy in your country of residence, you may choose another Turkmen embassy."

Generally I try calling embassies instead of sending e-mails because e-mails are easier to ignore. In fact, most of them don't respond to e-mails, in my experience.

So, we applied for our Turkmen transit visas in Ankara for pick-up in Tehran, about 3 weeks later. They were even so friendly to give us somebody else's application letter to copy. I have a copy on request. We got a reference number by e-mail a few weeks later (after me asking about the status of the application, by e-mail ), which we used to get the visa in Tehran. This took only a few hours locally in Tehran.

In Tehran you never really access the embassy. Everything is done through a mysterious hatch at the outside of the building. Be a bit assertive and stay close to the hatch because otherwise you'll be last after all the travel agency employees with stacks of visas to be processed.

Good luck. Cheers,
Mark