Visa questions

Visa questions are probably the first that arise after you start planning a trip to Central Asia. Each country has it's own regulations. Below you will find some tips that will help in planning. But please bear in mind that the most up-to-date information should be always checked on official sites.
All travelers must have a passport that is valid not less than 6 months after the date of departure.

 

In general citizens of most countries entering Uzbekistan must have a valid Uzbek visa. There is a short list of countries which have visa-free regime with Uzbekistan and can visit Uzbekistan for 30 or 60 days (depending on particular country) without a visa: Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, Indonesia, Israel, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore,Turkey. Citizens of all other countries require a tourist visa to visit Uzbekistan. Citizens of the following countries do not need to obtain an official invitation from an Uzbek company (verified in MFA of Uzbekistan) and may apply to the nearest Uzbek Consulate directly: Australia, Austria, Albania, Andorra, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China (including Hong Kong), Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Vatican. Please check the list of the countries with simplified visa procedures and most recent details on the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan  In case your country in not in any of the lists, to apply for the Uzbek visa you first need to receive official visa support (invitation) from an Uzbek company and verified in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan.

Visa support and visa procedures

To receive your visa support documents it is necessary to provide personal data (we will send you the questionnaire), and the address of the Uzbek Consulate where you plan to obtain your Uzbek visa. This is essential as a copy of the visa support will be sent to this particular Consulate and you will be able to apply for the visa only there. The procedure of issuing the visa support usually takes about 7 working days (1.5 week). As soon as it is released from the MFA, we send you a scanned copy which you need to take to the Uzbek Consulate together with the set of documents and personal photo. Please check your particular Consulate for the exact list of the documents required. Issuing the visa by the Consulate may take as well a week or more (depends on the Consulate). Please plan your trip and take care of  the visa well in advance to be sure you get it  in time. For those who travel to Uzbekistan with our company we assist in visa procedures and issue visa support documents to obtain Uzbek tourist visa if they are required. Please fell free to contact us.

Turkmenistan is rather closed country and differing from other Central Asian states, citizens of all countries require a visa to enter Turkmenistan. In other words there are no exceptions, so every traveller must apply and get his/her tourist visa to enter Turkmenistan. To be able to apply for this visa an official invitation from a local Turkmen tourist company is required. This visa invitation (visa support) must be verified and approved by Turkmen Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For getting the invitation a certain personal and photo data is required. We will send you all details and a questionnaire. After we get all required data we apply to the Turkmen MFA. The whole procedure of obtaining the invitation may last for quite a long time: at least 2 weeks and up to 1 month. But after the invitation is received you may be sure that you will get your visa. With an invitation visa to Turkmenistan can be obtained at the airport of Ashgabat upon arrival or in any Consulate or Consular division of Turkmenistan outside Turkmenistan. You can get visa to Turkmenistan as well on the overland borders with other countries while crossing the border. There is no need to indicate particular place where you will be obtaining the visa (on the contrary, it is needed in Uzbekistan). Please bear in mind the length of the whole procedure and take care of your visas well in advance. Here is the site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan where you may check current changes if any. For those who travel to Turkmenistan with our company we assist in arranging visa invitation to Turkmenistan. Please feel free to contact us.
Tajikistan offers one of the easiest visa application procedures of all Central Asian states. Although most of the travellers require a valid visa to enter Tajikistan, the visa is now electronic and all you need to do is to apply on https://www.evisa.tj website. Following the instructions on the website an applicant should fill in the forms and upload all required documents, pay visa fee by credit card (currently US $50 per person) and receive an electronic visa by e-mail. No need to visit the Tajik Consulate in person or mail documents there and back. An electronic visa must be printed out and presented together with the valid passport at the border when entering Tajikistan. If you travel to Tajikistan with our company and have questions while applying for electronic visa, please feel free to contact any time and we will assist you with all details. MFA of Tajikistan MFA Consular Dpartment
Similar to Kyrgyzstan, citizens of over than 50 countries may visit Kazakhstan without visa if they come for less than 30 days and the purpose of the visit is tourism. Citizens of some countries may come for up to 90 days. Most recent information on the issue can be found on the Kazakhstan MFA website although for the time of writing this text it's presented only in Russian and Kazakh languages so with online translation one can check it in English like this. Below is the general list of countries citizens of which may enter Kazakhstan for 30 days (or more) on traveling purposes without visa. The list below is a guidance only and includes countries with different visa regulations permitting to enter Kazakhstan (purpose: tourism) without visa for less than 30 days (some citizens can travel for longer periods, please check individually): Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hon Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, UAE, UK, Ukraine, USA, Uzbekistan. This list is only a recommendation, all the information above should be checked with the MFA of Kazakhstan. Please do not plan your visa-free trip without checking the most recent information with official authorities.
Similar to Kazakhstan, citizens of over 50 countries may visit Kyrgyzstan as tourists without visa for 30 or 60 or 90 days (depends on the country). All travelers must have a passport that is valid not less than 6 months after the date of departure from Kyrgyzstan. List of countries can be found at http://www.mfa.gov.kg/contents/view/id/216 (in Russian only). Below is the general list of the countries citizens of which may travel into Kyrgyzstan without a visa for 30 days or more, depending on the country. The particular visa and other regulations for the countries below are different: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Laos, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Korea (DPR Korea), Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Switzerland, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkey, UAE, UK, Ukraine, USA, Uzbekistan, Vatican, Vietnam. This list is not official, it is only a recommendation, all the information above should be checked with the MFA of Kyrgyzstan. Please check the most recent information in official authorities before planning a visa-free journey to Kyrgyzstan.

Getting to Uzbekstan and around

There are a lot of flights arriving and departing from Tashkent so it is possible to find good connections.

Do not mind looking into flight via Istanbul by Turkish Airlines as they have multiple connections and many travellers often chose this option.

Be sure that Uzbekistan Airways offer nice service and have direct flights from Tashkent to many places all over the world.

There are overland border crossings with all other Central Asian countries: Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, so it is possible to drive from one country to another.

It is possible to arrive in Uzbekistan by train from Russia via Kazakhstan.

Travelling by trains in Uzbekistan is one of the ways of enjoying your journey.

There are high-speed daily trains connecting Tashkent with Samarkand and Bukhara - the main tourist attractions of the country. The trains will take you there in several hours, and they are modern and comfortable, ensuring you get a pleasant and safe trip.

For those who wish to travel to more distantly located places in Uzbekistan and neighboring countries there are various overnight trains. But as long as the cars in the train can be of different type, there is no clear and definite system of classes. So every time you get the ticket you need to check what exactly you are buying, how many people will be in your compartment, where there are seats or berths etc. Some information can be found on the official website of Uzbekistan railways

There are convenient domestic flights operated by Uzbekistan Airways and offering easy and fast connection between Tashkent and other tows of Uzbekistan. As already stated before, the flights and service are reliable and comfortable.

Arrival and border procedures

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Money questions

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Time

In Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan time is GMT (UTC) +5 hours. Time is the same for the whole country and there is no change for summer/winter time.

In Kyrgyzstan time is GMT (UTC) +6 hours. Time is the same for the whole country and there is no change for summer/winter time.

In Kazakhstan there are 2 time zones: GMT (UTC) +5 hours and GMT (UTC) +6 hours. Astana and Almaty are located in the GMT (UTC) +6 hours zone. There is no change for summer/winter time.
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