Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the invitation to the client via fax or e-mail, while the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Uzbekistan sent its consent for a visa to be granted to the ap-
plicable consular section of the pertinent embassy. The tourist thus only
required a single visit to the consulate and a visa was normally issued on
the spot. This removed the need for a several day wait for issuance of the
visa itself. In addition, in 1994 Uzbekistan introduced an option to have
the visa granted in Tashkent at the airport, upon prior arrangement. While
the consular section at the Tashkent airport had certain problems to deal
with and worked only upon request, the issuance of a visa was definitely
possible. After relaxing the visa rules, Uzbekistan also allowed tourists to
buy only the letter of invitation at a tourist agency, without the necessity to
reserve accommodation and other services. This practice has remained in
force after almost 20 years, and its relaxation is taking place only cautious-
ly. List of countries whose citizens could receive short-term tourist visas
without letters of invitation was released in 2009 only. The list included
several developed countries, while many others were not mentioned (e.g.,
Latvia was included, while other Baltic countries not; Czech Republic is
also included, but other Visegrad countries not). Nevertheless, Uzbekistan's
visa policy thus remains stable and its tourism trades primarily on attrac-
tive locations, which make travelers to the region not want to miss visiting
Uzbekistan, despite some problems processing the visa.
Turkmenistan remains one of the most closed-off countries in the
world, with one of the most restrictive visa policies on earth. Despite a
promising start in the 1990s, when it was possible to obtain a visa to Turk-
menistan at several consulates in Europe even without an invitation, from
the mid-1990s a letter of invitation has become essential for visits. Until
2003, however, a system remained in effect in which the tourist was able
to pay for a relatively formal letter of invitation which could then be taken
to any Turkmenistan Embassy. Travel agencies included the automatic
registration fee in the price of the visa, or permission to enter the border
zone (including popular destinations such as Konya-Urgench). After 2003,
Turkmenistan's visa policy changed significantly in the direction of tight-
ening visa procedures. Requests for a tourist visa began to be examined
much more closely (currently the visa issue and requests for visas are a
focus for the presidential administration)
14
, which forms a significant filter
and brings about the rejection of a substantial number of requests. But
14
Author's interview people close to migration agency in Turkmenistan. Moscow, September 2010.
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