Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
nationals must pay an extra 480som to cover
the cost of faxes sent to the Indian embassy in
your home country (allow around one week).
Iran
Once you have a visa clearance code from Tehran
the visa application takes two days and costs
€50 for most nationals, €180 for Brits. Ameri-
cans can only visit by tour. The sensible way to be
sure of getting visa clearance is applying online
through a reputable travel agency like www.
key2persia.com or www.persianvoyages.com,
ideally allowing several weeks for the procedure,
which you can start from anywhere - you simply
need to know which embassy you plan to collect
it from. In principle such clearance can be ar-
ranged much more cheaply (US$10) in Bishkek
through
Persia Agency
(Map p234; Soviet 166b),
but we have not tested the theory ourselves.
Some nationalities report getting a ive-day
transit visa without supporting documents in
around one week.
Kazakhstan
One-month tourist visas cost US$30/60/90
for single/double/triple entries from the Kaza-
khstan embassy (p307) and are usually ready
three days later. Single/double transit visas cost
US$20/40 and are generally available the next
working day.
Fees for your visa need to be paid several
kilometres away at Kazkommertsbank (p245).
Most travellers arrive at the embassy as it opens
then dash to the bank to return with the receipt
before 11.30am (return taxi fare 250som), but
if you know the right fee, it can prove easier to
pre-pay and bring the receipt to start with.
Russia
Applications at the Russian embassy (p307) are
only accepted from 1pm to 3pm Tuesday and
Thursday. With an original LOI and health insur-
ance certiicate some travellers have succeeded
in getting a tourist visa issued within three days.
But don't make any assumptions.
Tajikistan
Providing that the consul (p307) is in town,
30-day visas (or 45-day visas on request) are
painlessly available for US$75/85 single/
double entry, plus a 100som processing fee. A
full gBAO permit is stamped in on request at
no extra cost. One photograph, no need for LOI.
The process usually takes one day, but can last
only 15 minutes if there's no queue. But if the
consul's away there's no visa issuance at all.
Uzbekistan
Call between 2pm and 4pm Monday to Friday
to be put on the visitors' list (usually possible
for the next working day, but not Mondays).
Fill in the online application form at evisa.mfa.
uz, then turn up at the appointed hour (usually
10am with everyone else) bringing a 3x4cm
photo and a copy of your passport including
every page with any kind of stamp. Most na-
tionalities pay US$75/105 to receive the visa
in four/seven working days but Americans pay
more and things can take considerably longer
if the embassy is busy. Fortunately they usu-
ally allow you to keep your passport during
processing so you can apply then head of to
the hills. Alternatively, visas can be issued the
same day if you have a pre-arranged agency
LOI, but that requires advanced planning and
more money.
8
Getting¨There¨&¨Away
AIR
Bishkek's
Manas airport
(
%
69 31 09, 69 37
98; www.airport.kg) is the main hub with
relatively inexpensive international connec-
tions on Turkish and Pegasus (via İstanbul),
Flydubai (via Dubai), Ukrainian International
(via Kiev) and Aerolot (via Moscow). Osh
VISAS¨FOR¨KYRGYZSTAN
Around 60 nationalities can tay for 60 days or longer without a visa, including citizens
of mot major Wetern and former Soviet countries, plus Koreans and Japanese. Israe-
lis, Serbians, Romanians and Bulgarians are not included, but are amongt a lit of 21
nationalities (including citizens of several Southeat Asian and South American coun-
tries) who can get visas without a LOI, often on the spot for US$110/125 single/double
entry. Nationalities not on either lit - including Chinese citizens - generally require a
visa-support LOI approved by the Minitry of Foreign Afairs (p245) in Bishkek.
If you need a visa and there is no Kyrgyz embassy in your country, going through
a Kazakh embassy intead is sometimes possible. Some Bishkek travel agencies
including Dotuck Trekking (p246) claim they can organise visas on arrival given
suitable preparation.
Visa¨Extensions
Visa extensions can prove iddly. It's often easier and far cheaper to simply leave the
country and return.
