Urgent Pakistan Visa Help
 

We urgently need to apply for a Tourist Visa for Pakistan for our drive through Iran,Pakistan to India.

The Pakistan High Commission website (The High Commission for Pakistan in United Kingdom) advises that the following is required...

Duly filled Visa Form
Original passport (valid for at least six months) along with its photocopy
Two recent passport size photographs (with white background)
Invitation letter from sponsor
ID of the sponsor with complete address in Pakistan
Last three months bank statement
Reference letter from workplace
Itinerary, Hotel booking and schedule of visit

We are hoping to apply from the UK.

Has anyone applied for a Pakistan Tourist Visa since Feb 2010 - how did you get an Invitation Letter from a Sponsor? :confused1:

Ring them and ask what is required. Don't mention anything, just say you want a tourist visa. Think of a safe place on the KKH you may want to visit, just in case they ask.

What is written on a web site and what they require may be two different stories.

We made a couple of reservations for hotels in Multan & Lahore online, and took the booking confirmations with us today.

It appeared to be OK that we didnt have an Invitation Letter but an Itinerary was needed, and the Reservations probably helped.

Unfortunately after a little wait they decided to refer the application. They asked for vehicle details including; Make, Model, Registration Number.

So we're not sure which way this application will go, fingers and toes are now firmly crossed, and we're hoping that the wait for good news will not be too far away.

Update....

We're still waiting to hear on the Pakistan Visa.... phoned up yesterday but was told no ETA and still in Pakistan for referral - not sure if wait will be 1 day, 1 week, 1 month or 1 year!

We've got our Iranian & Indian Visas and are aware that time is ticking away on these now before they expire.

.... therefore starting to think about heading off next week, travelling through Europe, etc and flying back to UK to collect the Visa if we are successful!

If unsuccessful....
- could we reapply in Iran?
- would shipping from Iran to India be an option?
- are there other options?

:confused1: :confused1: :confused1:

We got refused by London when our apps were referred. I then went to Birmingham without an itinerancy but a LOI, said I was doing some trecking and said nothing about traveling on motorcycles and got the visas 2 hours later.
These guys will email you a LOI for free Lost Horizon Treks and Tours - Northern Pakistan's friendly, professional tourism experts

Cheers
Pete

Hey,

We got visa to Pakistan in Italy last June in 30 minutes. The quickest visa ever!!

Tourist are welcome to Pakistan and Pakistani government do finance the programs for tourist development.

May be you have delays with your visa due to recent problems in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Karakorum Higway was closed for a week in May.

Update...

We got a Voicemail from the Pakistan Consulate asking us to contact them.

The following day we went to the Consulate to see if our Visa's were going to be approved or not.

We were told that we would need to complete another form which would be sent to Pakistan along with our application. This would take a further 6 weeks before we would hear something (not sure whether this would have been a final answer at the end of the 6 weeks). :(

As we need to leave soon, in part due to our Iranian Visa already counting down, we proposed that instead of continuing our application to take the 4WD, we would ship our 4wd directly from Iran to India, and if a Pakistan Tourist Visa was to be granted, we would spend a week / 10 days in Lahore whilst the 4wd was in Transit.

2 hours later and we had a Pakistan Tourist Visa :clap:. We also enjoyed Tea & Biscuits with the Consul General himself, talking about our trip and listening to advice on Pakistan and other countries that the Consul General had been based at previously which were on our route. :thumbup1:

And the visa doesn't stipulate where you have to enter, of course.

Excellent: people just need to say that they are flying in and no problem.

I was wondering: the German embassy in Ankara told me they would only give me the LOI endorsed "Air travel only". Maybe I could have used that and applied for the visa saying I was just flying in and visiting Gilgit? Who wants to try this? :eek2:

Me!
i'll go to apply for it next week, NOT MENTIONING WE'RE ON A BIKE! i'd book a room in a lahore's hotel for a couple of night on next late august. plus we also got a fly ticket (fake) to go and back from pak as we should to obtain our pak visas without the f+++++g hassles to declare we're get in there on a bike. i've tried to do it that way 3 years ago, sayng "i wanna go to pak coming on bike from Iran through balucistan". i'd wait a couple of months in vain without any answer at all. went to pak embassy in tehran asking for visa, they've ask me a guarantee letter from my embassy, wich they refuse me. so, i'd check at the airport to ship me & the bike directly to mumbay.
now, i think to had learned the lesson...

i'll keep you updated on what about,
cheers
www.lungastrada.it

pakistan visa in Tehran is completly imposible now
 

Hey ya, my journey is coming to a point of who knows what? The Pakistani embassy in Tehran will not give any visas out to any non Iranian citizens (apparently from two weeks ago the govt made this rule). The Pakistani diplomatic people (both in Tehran and Ankara) are tough and lie and have no compassion or sympathy. I was well prepared and had everything ready to go to apply. Its a full on and an intense experience but it is now completely a no go unless you apply from your own country (but still even if you tell them you are flying in and give all the docs etc, its really difficult). the Pakistani government is doing everything they can to make it difficult for travelers to get in for their security reasons. Apparently you can get one on the boarder of China and Pakistan but then there is the deal with China... and the KKH has had a massive landslide and the damn it created recently broke and washed out 20kms of the highway and a massive bridge.

I have little choice now to get to India overland because I just don't have the funds to ship or fly my Bike. I met these Spanish lads in this 4WD truck today and have just come up from Africa to Iran. I think ill join them and ride into northern Afghanistan and then into the stans, then try and sell my bike somewhere and fly to India and just hire an enfield from there on in with some new funds. I don't know its all gone a bit mad riding round Tehran, but has also been a great experience... three big lads on the bike riding across the city to outings, its so easy to make good friends in Tehran and some wild experiences. Iran is great. I need to extend my visa now for Iran, hopefully it works, its a great country despite the political goings...

If anyone has any uplifting and easy ways with little cash to get across to India from Iran please let me know asap.

Marty

Hi,

Just wanted to drop in on this thread and say thanks for the info. My wife and I hope to travel through Pakistan this year. What are the chances of being turned back at the border though? (might be disaster if you've only a single entry for the other country no?)

Bit of a noob to proper land borders :innocent:

N

If you have a visa then you should be able to enter.

Help! Pakistan visas.
 

We're in Bulgaria and were going to set out to Turkey on Tuesday with the idea of getting Iran and India visas in Ankara, then getting the Pakistan visas in Teheran. Sounds like that plan's blown out of the water.

Anyone any suggestions? Thoughts? It looks like we may have to fly the bikes from Turkey to India........

Matthew and Anita

----------TheBarkingBikers-------------- The Barking Way Round----

My experience is from 2006, so probably too old to be of any use. Here it is anyway:

Applied for IR visa at the consulate in Istanbul, told them I would collect it in Ankara. Takes about 2 weeks.

PAK: couldn't get the dreaded LOI from the German embassy in Ankara, so never applied there. If you can get it, go for it. Don't tell them you are travelling overland. If they ask, you will fly in and visit Gilgit and Hunza.

If either fails I suggest you fly your bike(s) Ankara-Ktm or Dacca. Don't fly to India! Visit Lahaul, Spiti, Ladakh and Zanskar, it will be the right time.

My policy now is: if a country makes it too hard for me to get in with my bike then they don't want me and I go somewhere else.

Well,
Just in case people are in my case and stuck in Iran with a vehicle, there are container boats going to India (4 days sailing) operated by Maersk and WHL leaving Bandar Abbas every week. Sea freight $300 for a 20 ft container.