Hi, we're the kiwi couple mentioned in Beddhist's post.

We tried to get visa's at the consulate in Ýstanbul and were told it would take 10 days. Didn't want to hang around for that long so on the way to Capadoccia called in at the embassy in Ankara.

Handed the forms, PP photos etc over at 10am, deposited 35 US dollars each ýn the embassy bank account and picked up the visa's at 4pm the same day.
They gave us 30 day tourist visa's.

We didn't need any official contacts for Ýran or letters of recommendation.

We met a couple of Canadians who had been waiting for 2 weeks for visa's (also from Ankara) but were being given the run around. Last we heard the application had been "lost"

Good Luck with your application and your travels...

Cheers
Trent and Jacqui

Hi Trent and Jacqui,
thanks a lot for the info.
I am still waiting now over than 3 weeks, here in Addis, i will call them again and lets hope i will succedd .... are you in Iran Now ??? if so could you please write few lines to express your view, on safety, people, and how interesting it is ...

Thanks ones more ..

Mauro

hý mauro...phil austin here. im in turkey and just ran into steven the swiss guy you travelled through africa wýth. im goýng to ýndia výa ýran if you want to hook up drop me an email. im stýll waitýng for my iranian výsa. i used iranianvisa.com to speed the process up...still no word however. hope to see you on the road.

hi
we have have used www.key2persia.com a travel agencey in shiras they have got us two visa's.email your details to them they will then send you a ref number and you go to pick up the visa from a consulate of your choice the 1st took two months the 2nd 14 days
great people

cheers nobby

Mauro,

How did you get on with the visa in the end?

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Salut from Southern France, the bikers' paradise,

Peter.

Well ý am ýn ankara now and applýed for the výsa here agaýn ..they saýd they would gýve a transýt výsa rýght away but ýs a 7 days výsa.. otherwýse ý have to waýt 10 days .ý have opeted for the 10 days .. so now ý wýll be headýng to Capadoccýa and be back ýn a week ..hopefully the výsa wýll be ready ...

mauro

Hi Mauro,

So, no luck in AA? I keep my fingers crossed for you that it works this time.

Seing that the link to the Iranian foreign Ministry on the http://www.key2persia.com/visa.htm page is out of date, here is the page with the latest from the horse's mouth: http://www.mfa.gov.ir/other-sites/consuli/visa.htm

It seems that the use of an agency is no longer required. Could be useful, though, as you don't have to wait around, perhaps for weeks, for a visa that may never come.

What's amazing here: as there are no financial connections with Iran the agency asks you to visit their office and pay the fee when you arrive! I sincerely hope their trust in travellers' honesty is not misplaced. Any travel agent in Europe trying this would go broke fast.

Q: does anybody know how long a tourist visa is valid for to enter the country (not the duration)? I. e. how long in advance can we apply?

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Salut from Southern France, the bikers' paradise,

Peter.

At the embassy here ýn ankara they told me 3 month ... meanýng ýf u get a tourýst výsa for 1 month u can get ýn ýran wýthýn 3 month from the date they ýssued the výsa ...
thanks for the lýnks
mauro

Hi All,

I have been following this post for a while and checked out the www.key2persia.com website that was mentioned above. When you apply online it asks you to enter the entire itinery for our stay in Iran including details about what hotels we will be staying at. As we dont actually get there until Oct/Nov this year we dont have a clue at the moment (we might not even make it that far!) so were wondering how other people have filled out the form?

I guess I could pick a few hotels out of the guide books and say that I am staying there but I want to make sure that I dont get caught out when it comes to them issuing the visa.

hi
just pick a few hotels out of the guide book they don't check up. key to persia good people to deal with

cheers nobby

Hi Nobby,

Thanks for the tip. I'll just check out som hotels in the Lonley Planet and put that in.

Thanks
gazzr

gazzr, how is key2persia going? I'm using Iranianvisa.com, have confirmed everything, am waiting for a reply. They seem professional, are replying to emails no problems. Just wondering how it's going via the key2persia site.

thanks

Hi Bedfordblie,

My girlfriend's looking after the Iranian visa (via) key2persia at the moment but I should have some feedback for you in a few days. I'm hoping that it's nice and easy.

I'll tell her to pull her finger out and get to it!

Regards
Garry

Hi guys,

How did you get on with your visas? Can you post your experiences, please?

Just had an email from our friend Linda (Australian). She had her application in Germany refused and was told she needs an invitation from an agency. German, French and Belgians apparently don't need this.

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Salut from Southern France, the bikers' paradise,

Peter.

Hi, this is Linda. just looking at the key2persia site and wondering how to fill in the itinery form. Can get ideas for hotels from their site but is it a good idea to make up a round trip or just one way leading out to Pakistan? Do you mention Pakistan as an exit point? Can anyone tell me the best thing to do as I´ve already had one refusal.
Thanks
Linda