I am hoping that someone can shed some light please on the following. I am an Australian passport holder currently in the UK. I intend to visiy both Jordan and Syria over September/October time, and require some clarification on the visa question. I plan to enter Syria from Jordan, is it possible to obtain a visa for Syria at the Jordan/Syrian border. I realise that I could send my passport to the Syrain Embassy here in the UK, but this could in fact be very time consuming. Any and all advice or recent experiences would be very much appreciated.
1
george5
Most people succeed in getting a visa at the border. However travellers report greatly varying time to issue the visa, anywhere from a few minutes to several hours.
2
keithvl
READ CAREFULLY, BECAUSE I WAS REFUSED ENTRY AND TURNED BACK TO JORDAN, AND IT WAS A VERY COSTLY DAY OUT!
I want to reply to this, and hope all those who see it read this carefully. I was in Amman a few weeks back, and last minute decided to travel to Damascus. So I got onto this forum, and sure enough a few people wrote back with the helpful advise simular to that above.
So I get the service taxi, pay my share and off we go. I pay 5jd exit and at the other side I wait for my 'easy to get visa'. The guard called Damascus, and an hour passes, and the answer with no explanation is a NO. I have been to Israel many years ago, but DO NOT have any iIsraeli stamps in this passport, so no reason there.
So why? Maybe because I'm a photographer, and I put that as my proffession of the form!
Maybe they don't like journalists either! But the cab driver then off loaded the other passengers to other taxis and charged my another 40jd to get back to Amman. And becuase i'd changed money (thinking it would be , according to this forum a sure thing), I lost TWICE on exchanging money. Then I had to get another Jordanian visa to get back in!
Syria will not, luckily, allow the service drivers to abandon you at the border, but they do have you by the short and curlies!
A day out in Syria, I only saw the wall, and it must have cost me $85. Be sure, get a visa before you travel. And if you have an Israeli stamp - forget it!!
PS. Dont stay at the Lonely planets best tip for Amman The Palace hotel. it is a FLEA PIT. I was bitten to pieces by bed bugs. And its 17-18 jd a night! Stay at the Canary a better hotel, No rotten eggs for breakfast and only 22jd a night.
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