Applied from UK, Bradford. After India carrying on to Australia, then after that to USA and down to final destination, Ecuador.

Just a call from the consulate saying visas have been approved :D

Well good luck and safe ride. If you need any help while in Pakistan specially around Lahore, feel free to contct.
Cheers
Bagsrpacked

Hey all,

Can I resurrect this thread?
We're driving from London to Sydney starting next month and Pakistan is next on our visa hitlist. We're going from Iran to Pakistan then to India and we're all British Citizens.

I just emailed the High Commission in London and they said

"You need to apply visa in UK before travelling.
Please check requirements for TOURIST VISA.
You are planning to travell on you car so please provide following documents as well.
Car registration
Car insurance
International driving licence
International itinerary
Itinerary for Pakistan
Hotel booking if possible.
If you are working for [employer], please provide reference."

So I have two questions.

1. If we apply as overlanders with a car does anyone know what the deal ios with vehicle insurance?
2. Should we, instead, just not mention the car and pretend we're just on buses or trains and then deal with the car when we get to the border? (We'll have a carnet)

Are we likely to get a visa? Is it better to just go and speak to them? I'm based near Bradford and can also easily get to Birmingham.

First Rule when dealing with officialdom: don't volunteer any info.

Pak visas have been covered extensively on HUBB. It seems that overland visas are unlikely to be issued. Pretend to fly into Islamabad and you are going to visit Gilgit & Hunza.

Vehicle at the border is not an issue with carnet.

Thanks for the reply.

So you reckon to just say we're flying into Islamabad then make an itinerary that centres around sightseeing in Islamabad for a couple of weeks?
Are they likely to ask for proof of the flight?

Thanks again

Also - are they likely to get suspicious that i'm applying for a visa about five months early?

Yes, no: nobody goes sightseeing in Islamabad. As I said: you are going to Gilgit & Hunza, or pick another destination out of a guide book. You can mention Lahore.

No idea, but a fully refundable ticket is only going to cost you 100$ or so in fees.:innocent:

You can't: it's only valid 3 months from date of issue.:taz:

Ah bollocks, I was under the impression it was six months. That totally buggers my plans.


This says six months

Passport And Visa Information in Pakistan

Def 3 months, just checked mine from 2010 in my passport.
DO NOT go to London they will refuse you, go to Birmingham, there is a consulate in Bradford but I haven't visited there so can't comment.
As Bedd says they will know you're blagging it if you don't get your facts straight before you speak to them.
See my earlier post on this thread about a LOI.
We did have insurance from Turkey onwards (Iran,Pakistan and India, 7 months).

Cheers
Pete

We came through Pak around a month ago now. I'd go with what beddhist says. If they don't ask don't tell. I was all geared up to talk about trains and so on but in the end they took one look at our LOI and just filled the stuff out. LOI seems to be the most important thing. The process was painful and started dragging a bit via post so we had to go to the embassy and magically got sorted in the same day.

This was in Dublin though so things vary...

Our visa was 3 month validity before date of entry with 1 month stay after date of entry. Supposedly it can be extended but we didn't. We rocked up at the border with Carnet etc and no weird questions got asked. They even fed us and let us camp in the customs house grounds!

Neil

You will not need an LOI. In fact, you can't get one in your home country, because there is no embassy there of your own country. :oops2:

Let's not complicate things. It's bad enough as it is, having to blast through Europe and Iran in 3 months. Unless you organise a 2nd passport and get your folks back home to post it to the consulate for you. But that complicates matters further...

By LOI I meant from a "tour agent" Lost Horizon Treks and Tours - Northern Pakistan's friendly, professional tourism experts not a letter of no objection from an embassy.

I've just been told by the High Commission that the validity is six months and you can apply to extend that (not sure how easy that would be in practice).

I was issued the visa a little while ago, the validity is six months.