you can't apply for visa extensions in Gilgit until 5 days before the visa expires. as Beck says, the process in Islamabad is more complex, we ended up giving up and are now going to try in Lahore, where you don't have to go through the interior ministry.
Also we met a german guy in Islamabad last week who had gotten two extensions; the first took 19 days to get a 30 day extension, but the 2nd took 2. It seems to be a bit of a lucky dip.
Another thing, better to go for the extension some 5,6 days before the expiry.
When the passport & immigration office collects one's passport, they give a receipt for that.
Dear discosteveo,
You could get a LOI either a Pakistani national or from a Pakistan based tour operator and then you could get your Pakistani visa done.
Dear mossa,
The American travelers can't extend it anywhere else than Islamabad but rest of the nationalities like German, French etc. could get the extensions at Gilgit, Chitral and Peshawar.
All the luck..
Edited by: chitralguy
I met an American couple in Chitral who got their visa extension from the passport office in Gilgit with out any problem so its not true.
yeah, to be honest i think the extensions outside of isloo are fairly arbitrary. i know americans who've done it recently, then some who've had massive problems - and two canadians travelling together who applied in gilgit were told one of them could get it in gilgit but the other had to go to islamabad. as far as they knew they couldn't work out why. anyway. the best thing to do is of course go in and ask a reputable tour operator, hotel concierge or at the office itself when it's time. and don't worry too much. you get all sorts of weird info at times - i imagine it's mainly brinkmanship, because a lot of extensions go through eventually.
Bonjour mes amis,
American travelers can't get the visa extensions in Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral, the only option is Islamabad.
Ciao,
I don't want to repeat the same again but as I mentioned in one of my posts above that I met the the American couple who got their extension in Gilgit so no need to debate on it.
