Pakistan - LOI for visa and the illusive MAP (motorcycle association of Pakistan)
 

Hey all,

I'm trying to sort out the LOI (letter of invitation) for my Pakistan visa.

I tried sending an email to Snowland, but I was re-directed to travel-culture.com, who whilst initially seemed accommodating when push came to shove haven't replied to my emails. I did however tell them that I was going to travel by motorcycle and that I'd like to 'fake' a tour and itinerary so as to not ruffle any bureaucratic feathers - perhaps that's what's scared them off?

I have since sent an email to Lost Horizon Treks but have yet to hear back from them.

I have searched both google and Facebook for the MAP as suggested by other HUBBers, but it's not turned up any strong results. I may of course be searching for the wrong organisation! Does anybody have any contacts that they might be able to share? (PM is a perfectly acceptable way to do this)

I was in contact with another overlander who recently travelled through Pakistan, who told me that he didn't submit an LOI, nor did he contact a tour agency - he simply booked one night in a hotel, and put their contact info on his application. And he was totally truthful about his intentions and itinerary (Taftan to Lahore). He submitted his application to the Sydney visa office in April this year (2015).

Does anybody have any thoughts on this approach? I do like the "honesty's the best policy" approach...

Cheers guys

Hi,

I (german) was also figuring out, how to get a Pakistan Visa. So I contacted a pakistan friend and he told me, that I won't need a LOI as a german. Moreover I found some threads in hubb, where people say, that you don't need a LOI.
The Pak Bike Club in FB ( I hope, that i took the right one)
https://www.facebook.com/PBC2007

Hi!
Try the Motorcycle Association of Pakistan (MAP) for assistance. They have a newly elected President (Mr Sanaullah Marwat). Check out in his Face Book under the same name.
I last met Mr Sanaullah and some of MAP members in Islamabad October 2015. Helpful bloke.

Amzah

Well, for the benefit of others I thought I'd let you know that we have successfully been granted our Pakistan tourist visas. Below is how we did it - of course, it goes without saying that just because we did this, it doesn't mean you must do it too. Every person (and nationality) is different and there's always more than one way to skin the cat.

We successfully got in touch with Kamal from Snowland Tours, via the Gmail address listed on their page (the other address seemed not to be getting through, hence my initial confusion). Kamal was very quick to reply and happy to help. We put to him our actual planned itinerary without censorship and he suggested making some changes for the sake of visa approval. For $US50/person he provided a letter of invitation and a scanned copy of his official tour company registration documents. His amended itinerary included Lahore, Islamabad, Gilgit, Multan and Quetta. He was very prompt with the processing of these documents.

Before submitting our application I called the Pakistan High Commission in Canberra Australia and asked if it was likely to be granted a tourist visa if we were travelling overland by motorcycle, and I was told that it would be no problem. However, in order to be successful I needed to notify the Australian High Commission in Pakistan of our itinerary and provide evidence of this as part of our application. This I did simply by emailing my details and itinerary to the 'general enquiry' email address for the Australian High Commission in Pakistan, and printed a copy of this email to include in our visa applications. I also registered ourselves on the DFAT Smart Traveller website and included a copy of the registration details with the application.

Our passports were returned to us, complete with visas valid for 6 months from date of issue (entry only for 30 days) in less than 1 week! I was amazed and impressed that in the end everything happened so easily. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for our journey through Pakistan.

Regarding the MAP, I got in touch with some people from the Pakistan Bikers Club, as suggested by Moosi and they are in the process of giving us some advice regarding our non-censored itinerary. I have also found the illusive MAP (Motorcyclist Association of Pakistan) - they have a closed group on Facebook. I've yet to find the time to reach out to them, although they have already accepted my request to become a member of the group.

I hope somebody else finds this helpful, as all the negative banter about Pakistan on this forum and others had us feeling very nervous about a successful crossing

Jimmy - just came through Pakistan a month ago, now into India. Whilst I didn't have time to meet up with them in the end, the MAP guys seem great - just reach out to them by posting in the FB saying what you're up to and asking if people want to meet up, and they'll get back to you for sure. That's what they did for me.

Ed

Awesome
 

Solid effort man. Thanks for posting, big help. Any places you'd recommend checking out?

We've been through Pakistan now - check out this post with very specific details about our experience on the road:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...o-fellow-87387

Regarding recommendations - all the places in the mountainous areas of the north are spectacular. You can't go wrong! We especially liked our time at Nagar Fort, south of Chitral. You're welcome to read over our write up of the journey on our blog here:

Pakistan Archives - Blokes on Spokes

Best of luck mate - pretty epic experience to travel through Pakistan!

Thanks
 

Cheers hombre! Sounds amazing, I'll have a read!