Visa to Iran
All the nationalities can enter Iran except the Israel passport holders. Of course, the visa application result may be vague for some nationalities as there have been some cases that have been rejected, but it is a strong point for Iran tourism that close to 100% of the visa applications to Iran are issued.
Some nationalities such as Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, and so on do not need to have the visa before the entrance and they can stamp at the airport and be in Iran for 15 days.
To get the tourist visa before the entrance to Iran, you can do two things:
1) Apply through the Iranian Embassy of your place, city or any country
2) Apply through an Iranian travel agency
If the Iranian Embassy does not accept your application or wanted the hotel voucher, the letter of invitation or any other related documents, it means that you should apply the tourist visa through a travel agency.
To get the tourist visa through an agency, you need to send the passport copy in JPG format, in good quality and not heavier than 40 KB. You also need to fill out the online visa form through the agency link and submit.
The visa application is sent to MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and after a process of 10 – 15 working days for non Americans; the positive or negative visa result is announced. Mostly, it will be announced sooner.
If the positive visa issuance is announced, a 6 digit code which is called “ visa authorization number “ or “ visa code” is given to you to be able to collect your visa from any expected Iranian Embassy or even some especial airports (by the pre-announcement of MFA).
An amount of visa collection fee is needed to be paid to the Iranian Embassies which is the governmental fee and different from the agency service fee, it may be negotiable.
You have 1 month time to refer the embassy and collect the visa.
The visa validity to Iran:
The Iran visa is valid for 3 months to enter and depart Iran and the visa duration validity is based on your application, but it cannot be more than a month for the first step. It can be extended to one more month but under the especial reasons.
As soon as you collect your visa, you have 90 day time to enter and depart Iran.
The Iran visa for Americans
The visa process for the American passport holders would take longer. It is advised to consider at least 45 -50 days before your trip to Iran to apply for your visa.
The needed documents are the same as the other passport holders although a resume may be helpful too.
The American passport holders cannot apply through an embassy and they should choose a travel agency which can apply for the visa, the tour package either. Because according to Iran tourist rules, the Americans must be joined in a guided tour package throughout their trip to Iran.
An important point is that the agency which applies for the visa of the American passport holders must arrange the hotel accommodation and also the authorized tour guide and announce the name of the hotel and the tour guide to MFA when the visa application is sent.
The visa application form includes the following questions.
Visa form to Iran:
First name:
Surname:
Email (*):
Sex:
Marital status:
Spouse name:
Father’s name:
Date of birth (DD/MM/YY)
Country of birth:
Place of birth:
Nationality:
Former nationality:
Passport NO:
Passport Type:
Date of Issue (DD/MM/YY)
Place of Issue:
Expiration date (DD/ MM/ YY)
Occupation:
Position:
Name of the work place:
Address of the work place:
How many times have you visited Iran?
Visa type:
The expected embassy for the visa collection:
Duration of stay in Iran:
Entrance date (DD/ MM/ YY)
Departure date (DD/ MM/ YY)
Flight details:
Phone:
Fax:
The passport copy:
Comment:
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Airport visa:
The airport visa is indeed the tourist visa and you cannot get it for any other purposes except the tourist visa. The visa validity would be for two week visit.
The visa validity can be extended to next 15 days.
If you want to be sure of having visa to Iran, you are advised to apply for the visa before your arrival.
Nationals of the following countries holding ordinary passports and wishing can obtain a two-week Tourist Visa upon Arrival at the airports of:
IKA: Tehran Imam Khomeini Airport
THR: Tehran Mehrabad Airport
MHD: Mashhad Airport
SYZ: Shiraz Airport
TBZ: Tabriz Airport
ISF: Isfahan Airport
1. The applicant(s) should have a confirmed return ticket and a valid passport with at least 6 months validity and a photo to be attached to the application form.
2. Visa stamp fee is EUR50.00 for the holder of the passport and EUR10.00 for each one of the companions (if any).
3. This type of visa is only for tourist purposes and the followings are not entitled to this visa facilitation:
3.1. Journalists and reporters on mission.
3.2. Applicants whose applications for Iran Visa have been rejected before.
3.3. Iranians holding foreign passports but still maintaining their Iranian nationality.
Albania
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azarbaijan
Bahrain
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia Herzegovina
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
China (People’s Republic)
Colombia
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Denmark
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Ireland (Rep.)
Italy
Japan
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lebanon
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Mexico
Mongolia
Netherlands
New Zealand
North Korea
Norway
Oman
Palestine
Peru
Phillippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia (KSA)
Singapore
Slovak (Rep.)
Slovenia
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Tajikistan
Thailand
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yugoslavia Fed. Rep.
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There are also other types of visas to Iran such as press visa, student visa, work visa and transit visa.
The tourist visa can be used for the transit purpose.
To get the student visa to Iran, the expected institution or university should send the invitation letter. This is also applied for the work or job visa to Iran.
The applicants of press visas should have the invitation letter from any conference, meeting or magazine officials.
Some Tips:
Getting the tourist visa is the easiest one with the chance of close to 100% of the cases who do not have any especial political backgrounds, are not journalist or do not travel for begging or finding jobs.
Some weaker nationalities need to prove that they have enough money support to travel to Iran.
You are advised to choose the expected Iranian embassy for the visa collection with full attention as it may be difficult and sometimes impossible to change the visa collection place after its issuance especially in high seasons.
If you want to change the visa collection place, ask the agency to apply it for you, some agencies ask you the extra fee for the changing process.
Consider at least 1 week for the visa collection process. If you want to post your passport to the embassy from one city to another one, so consider longer process.
As soon as the 6 digit code is sent to the agency by MFA, a copy of it is sent to the chosen Iranian Embassy, so it is better to refer to the embassy after 3 days.
You can also choose the Imam Khomaini Airport as the visa collection place in the visa form which you send to the agency.
*** Please notice that if your arrival airport is different from Imam Khomaini Airport, ask the agency to change it to the expected airport one day before your arrival. This visa is issued before your arrival, but as you collect it at the airport, it is valid for 15 days.
It is said that those who have traveled to Israel cannot get the tourist visa to Iran. But I have had some cases that could get the visa as their goal was just the tourist visit to Israel. It is enough to prove the goal to the MFA and then embassy. If you are asked at the airport that what your reason was to travel to Israel, just say “travel and visiting”.
If your visa request is rejected, you can apply for the tourist visa two months after the visa rejection time.
Those who got the tourist visa, entered and departed Iran can apply for the tourist visa again without any limitation.
The applicants of double entry to Iran should mention it in their visa application forms.
It is not possible to get the tourist visa at the border, so those who enter Iran with their own vehicles should apply for their visas before the land entrance.
British nationalities may have to do the fingerprints when they collect the visa.
The Iranians who have double nationalities must travel with their Iranian passports to Iran.
The person whose father is Iranian but does not have the Iranian passport is considered as an Iranian person and can travel to Iran with the Iranian passport. To get the further information, please refer to the Iranian Embassy of your city or country.
If a foreign woman is married with an Iranian man and their marriage is registered in the Iranian embassies can get the Iranian passport and travel without needing the visa.
