Turkmenistan transit visa possible by boat?
 

Yesterday i came across a dutch Turkmen resident telling me that a transit visa is not possible if you enter Turkmenistan by ferry (only by land). I cannot find any info on this particular situation.

Is there anyone able to share experiences?

Thanks in advance!

Could you just clarify your question:

Are you asking if it is possible to cross Turkemenistan using a transit visa when arriving at Turkmenbashi on the ferry? (The answer is yes)

or are you asking whether it is possible to obtain a transit visa at the port in Turkmenbashi (not sure of the answer to this one).

As far as I know, if you have a visa clearance letter (I got one sent to me free of charge from the Turkmenistan embassy in London in 2014), you can buy a transit visa at any border crossing. I got one at the Garabogaz border crossing between Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, which is pretty remote.

Hopefully someone can share their experience in Turkmenbashi.

It is a very unsure thing to take the ferry.

1. Ferrys dont have schedules. In worse case you wait until your transit visa is passed.
2. They wont let you on to the ferry until your visa starts. It is possible that the ferry will lay at harbor for a full day or will not leave because of high waves.

We stopped doing the ferry as we had to reschedule our trip to Aktau, Kazakhstan from Baku. (New Visas, 4 days in Baku...)

CHeers

Thanks for the info!

My question was a bit of both. Because of the non-existing schedules of the ferry's you can face problems with a predated visa obtained elsewhere if the waiting time is too long.

It's good to know that you can use a transit via arriving by ferry. The next questions that pop into mind are: can we use a 'visa clearance letter' to obtain a transit visa in the port of Turkmenbashi? And can we board the ferry without a visa? Muztoo seems to have bad experiences with this.

Thanks in advance for all reactions.

It's probably better to get a ferry to Aktau in Kazakhstan, then if you want to see Turkemistan, drive south to Turkmenbashi. Then you can be sure you'll get the maximum time on your transit visa. You'll also get to see the apocalyptic town of Bekdash!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-w...0Garabogaz.jpg