Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
would be revoked. Over time, the implementing regulations for the de-
cree were specified and unified. Tourists got used to being issued a 30-day
single-entry tourist visa at the Dushanbe airport since 2010. However, Ta-
jik officials may issue, for example, a private visa at the airport requiring
further bureaucratic procedures, including compulsory registration. The
full visa-free regime with developed countries is still under the consider-
ation. Although Tajikistan Lower Chamber of the Parliament approved the
respective bill, the rule has not been signed by President yet.
13
Both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and, to some extent, Kazakhstan have
managed to employ the liberalization of their visa policies to create the
impression that visas do not represent significant obstacles. In particular,
the opportunity to obtain a visa at the airport had a decidedly positive
impact on the number of tourists in both mountainous countries and the
impact of 2012 visa-free regime introduction in Kyrgyzstan could serve as
positive example for other two countries. Kyrgyzstan, in particular, ranked
among countries offered as tourist destinations by European tourist agen-
cies (especially those offering adventure or active tourism). In the case of
Tajikistan, its situation is complicated both by its isolated location and the
lack of transport access, as well as by other bureaucratic obstacles ana-
lyzed further in this text.
While the three aforementioned states have gradually more or less suc-
cessfully sought to liberalize their visa policies, the two remaining states
of Central Asia have continued to maintain rigid visa policies or even
complicated them further. Any steps taken toward liberalization have been
minor in nature.
Since the beginning of its existence, Uzbekistan has established a clear
visa regime with all countries except those of CIS. The issuance of a visa
was tied to a letter of invitation by an Uzbek travel agency (initially, this
was a monopoly of Uzbektourism, the former UzbekIntourst). Starting in
the mid-1990s, however, visas could also be issued by other travel agen-
cies and at the airport, upon prior agreement. But Uzbekistan was the first
country in Central Asia to consolidate its embassies and brought relatively
clear rules issuance of visas, something which was rare in the 1990s. In ad-
dition, a relatively effective system was introduced in which travel agen-
cies arranged an invitation for a fee and, upon doing so, were able to send
13
Tajik Lower Chamber Approves Visa-Free Travel Bill for Western tourists. RFE/RL, May 25, 2012.
http://www.rferl.org/content/tajik-lower-chamber-approves-visa-free-travel-bill-for-western-tour-
ists/24592819.html
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