Tajikistan visa for Indians

Our primary motivation of the recent Central Asian trip was Pamir Highway. It passed through Tajikistan, and we needed to get visa. Tajikistan has an e-visa policy for Indians. In this post, I will explain the process and my experience getting the visa and border crossing.

The official website to apply for the visa is here. The website looked straightforward, and I started to fill in the details. It asked for basic personal and travel details. The only document it asked me to upload was the passport copy. Surprisingly, uploading a photo was not needed.

There was an optional field to add any other documents. Since it was optional, I did not bother to upload anything else.

Pamir highway passes through GBAO (Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Oblast), and a permit is required to enter the province. Thankfully, the website allows people to apply for a GBAO permit with the visa. I just had to select that option. Easy! Many country nationals have visa free entry into Tajikistan. They still need to obtain GBAO permit at the OVIR office in Dushanbe.

I submitted all the details and made payment through the credit card. Once the payment was successful, I received an email with the body “On YYYY-MM-DD we have received your 50.0 USD payment (30$ for visa, 20$ for GBAO permit) for your Visa application with ID XYZ. The application is under study. You’ll receive automatic updates via email whenever the status of your application changes”. There was no mention of the time period. Even the FAQ section in the e-visa portal was not clear on the processing time.

Waiting

I looked at the status regularly. For the first two days, the status was showing “submitted”, and it allowed me to modify the application. After that, it was changed to “Validation in progress”.

My friend Subbu applied after two days. He was asked to submit additional supporting documents after the payment. He uploaded flight tickets, itinerary and hotel booking.

It was almost two weeks since I submitted it, but there was no further update. Some forums mentioned people facing delays in previous years. I was a bit nervous as Tajikistan was the primary destination of our Central Asian trip.

I sent a mail to the Tajikistan embassy in India about the status. Their response was quick. They said that they were only responsible for physical visas and not for e-visa. They asked me to contact the email address available on the e-visa website. In the same email, they also mentioned that it would take 10 working days to process the visa. It was the 10th working day.

I decided to wait for a couple of more days. Interestingly, I received the e-visa on that day! My friend also received the visa on the same day.

Entry experience

We entered Tajikistan from Uzbekistan. Though the crowd was smaller, it took more time due to network issues. Two notable events happened during that time.

1. While we were patiently waiting, a virago entered the scene and started shouting in a high-pitched voice. We could not understand due to language issues, but it was clear that she did not like waiting in the queue. Everyone was annoyed, but we could not tolerate her wailing and let her complete the immigration process. In most countries, such behaviour in immigration areas would have resulted in arrest.
2. An Indian lady in front of us was denied entry to Tajikistan. Her date of entry in the e-visa was in September, and it was still August. She would have made an error during visa submission or the visa approver would have made that mistake. But the onus was definitely on the lady to check the details. She paid a heavy price for not verifying visa details before. She was in a panic mode and crying but she would have to turn back and re-enter Uzbekistan. Super important to ensure that the visa details are proper.

In our case, they did not ask any questions. They stamped on both visa paper and passport.

In Pamir highway

Pamir highway has check posts at regular intervals (2-3 each day) where we need to show our passport and visa with GBAO permit. It is important to have the visa in printed format. Usually, the driver takes all the documents and submits them to make entry.

Exiting Tajikistan

We left Tajikistan from Dushanbe airport. Before immigration, we were asked to show our US dollars. Kazakhstan experience came into my mind. Upon showing up, she said that I had very little money. I said that I used the credit card and anyway I was returning home. She was not satisfied with my answer but allowed me to continue. The immigration was quick.

Summary

e-visa makes it easy for Indians to travel to Tajikistan. Ensure that you apply a month before to accommodate any delays.