I am a British national, I recently got an Iranian tourist visa. I've always been told that it is easy to extend an iranian visa, but does being British make it any more difficult (or expensive)?
Getting the visa was a bit of a pain (NEVER use iranianvisa.com), and damn expensive (137 EUROS in total), so I wan't to make the most of my time. I seem to remember (I've been to Iran before, but never extended a visa) that extensions up to three months are easy, espeicially if you avoid Teheran.
Thanks
Daniel
danielsprague
1
jeparsi
hi Daniel,
why did you pay so much money for Iran Visa??
all nationals except Americans get visa with only 30 Euro in 5 working days, not 137!!!!
i have read letters of complain about them , saying that they had been charged over.
being british doesnot make it expensive at all, you will take your passport and will explain why you want to extend your visa and they do it for you.
enjoy your trip
2
iranianvisa
To clear the matter :
As far as we know, you have just paid EUR30.00 for your visa authorization to IranianVisa.com.
The amount you paid (EUR137) does not have anything to do with IranianVisa.com, so it's not fair mentiong this when naming IranianVisa.com.
We have clearly warned you on 30 Jul. that the consulate in Bishkek is not efficient and asked you if you could collect your visa at another consulate like in Tashkent.
The only problem with your application was a mistake by the MFA which sent your visa code to London instead of Bishkek, and we asked them to forward the code to Bishkek which took some time. This was obviously out of our control.
Visa extension is currently quite easy, even in Tehran.
3
hareton
Hi,
My friend and I just extended our visas today, in Esfahan (23 Oct). Some quick things to note:
The address for Visa Extensions Office in Esfahan in the Lonely Planet (both Iran 2004, and Middle East 2006 versions) is wrong!! Unfortunately I don't have the new address handy - a kind, random Iranian student droved us there in his car! :)
Also, they did not take the money at the office like the book(s) say - we had to go to Bank Melli for that. Bank was ok to use, apart from large queues.
Prices were 3000R for forms, and 100000R for the bank deposit/visa cost.
Initially we were told it would take 3 days to process. However, the whole thing took us a few hours (we said we needed extension urgently since we had bus tickets to Shiraz). Make sure you head off early in the day to get the forms and get the bank deposit done...offices shut at 2pm and you may have to wait overnight(s).
I'm not sure if being British is different sorry!
Kim and Steve
ps. We found iranianvisa reliable and helpful to obtain the initial visa.
4
darsi
Like much else in Iran, your experience of visa extension will depend on the person who is dealing with you.
5
danielsprague
OK, let me clear up a couple of things
I paid something like EUR 40 for the invitation, I don't remember exactly how much.
The embassy in Bishkek was friendly, and efficient by embassy standards at least. But the visa cost EUR95. I did not pay EUR137 to iranianvisa.
The reason I complain about Iranianvisa is that they don't bother respond to emails, and sent my code to the wrong embassy, then blamed it on the database. No apology, no responsibility taken. They were also late delivering the original code, but this I know is down to the MFA. I have met numerous people who have used this agency, and most feel they have had a negative experience. They must be aware of the volume of complaints against them (just search the site), but they still don't bother to reply to emails... Still, I can't complain too much as they managed (eventually) to get my authorisation. Their sister company Stantours could not be more different - very helpful and professional indeed.
6
hotspotfun
Well, I worked with Darwan Tours & Travel for my visa and although I felt like I waited forever we kept checking in with each other via email and I felt they kept me pretty informed. Although they didn't seem well informed about status, they seemed as in the dark as me and were just waiting for the Foreign Ministry to approve it. Once finally approved they gave me the code right away, I went to the Iranian Interest Section in DC and was issue my visa the same day. So maybe a long time waiting, but seamless once it went thru. My trip is coming up in a few weeks so I can't comment on that portion yet, but so far everything is great.
Sorry to hear you're having a bad experience.
7
middlemef
Fýrstly, I never had any trouble with emils from iranianvisa.com.
Secondly, you will probably need to plan a stop in one of the major cites towards the end of your visa. I was refused an extension in esfahan two weeks into my month visa on the grounds that i had plenty of time left - they said they would only extend with a few days remaining. I did however get one in shiraz a few days later, although it did take some persuading.
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