Visas 2009

I thought those Information are maybe nice to know for other travelers.There are not many things which are so annoying as the bureaucracy of getting visas in foreign countries. Keep your patience. And good luck! But remember I am from Switzerland and for other countries it is often different. These Visas were acquired between July and September 2009.

India Visa

— In Istanbul they required a letter of recommendation of the swiss embassy and after a fee of 50 Dollars I got it after a week. A friend of mine, from Austria was refused in Istanbul and Tehran because he told them that he will enter over land. So if you do it the same way better avoid telling them how you intend to get there.
 

Pakistan Visa

— First I was refused in Istanbul but I got my Visa in Tehran, after filling all the forms, bring a letter of recommendation, wait 4 days and pay 300’000 Rial, about 30 Euro. But a guy from Holland got it at the same place for about 100 Euros. But at least you can get it there. My friend from Austria got it in greek without problems.
 

Iran Visa

— Argh, that was kinda annoying for me. I read everywhere that you should get a Visa Authorization Code before you go to the embassy. In Bulgaria I ordered one from www.iranvisa.org I paid 85 Euros for the fast/ urgent way because they said the slow one would take over one month. I transferred the money over my bank account. But they said that they didn’t receive it and recommended another way of payment. Around the 24th July I paid the second time over a direct pay- ment to their bank in Turkey at the end of July they said, that they finally got the money. So I tried to get my first payment back but they sent me a mail that I am not allowed to get the money back because that was for the visa payment. They explained to me that they only got one payment — the first one. September I GOT THE VISA CODE it was one day before I would have gone to the consulate in Trabzon Turkey anyway.
I went immediately to the consulate and I got my visa, but he was not really interested in the Visa Authorization Code at all! It looked like I would have got it anyway without waiting 3 month. I guess you have to go through shit like that, if you don’t want to acquire all the visas in advance. I heard of people who have tried to get the Visa in Istanbul and couldn’t get it.
A friend of mine got it in Ankara without code and problems. So it depends where you go, but I can only recommend you to just try it.

If you prefer to do it with code to avoid rejection then I recommend you to use another company than iranvisa. I heard of a company from the Netherlands which is working faster and cheaper. At the 19th of September I got into Iran, I don’t have the double payed
money back, and by now I know that I never will :).

I used the waiting time to go to Georgia so without the waiting period that would have
never happend, and Georgia one of the nicest countries I have visited. So without knowing it, everything worked out how it should.

Georgia Visa

— There is no Visa required :) just go to the border. But remember you can
not pass the border to Russia. But from Russia there is an expensive ferry running to Trabzon Turkey and from there you are allowed to enter Georgia.