Syrian visa at border for Yanks?

If you've read all the other posts, then you pretty much know all the answers already :

• Officially visas are not available at the border, except for people whose home country does not have a Syrian embassy.
• Unofficially almost everyone that tries gets a visa in the end at land borders, however waiting times can be very long (especially for US Americans)
• Generally it is not possible to get a visa at a Syrian embassy that is not in your home country/country of residence, unless you jump through lots and lots of hoops and red tape - which is not worth doing, because you can get it at the border.

George can you copy that into a word document or something so you can paste it up next time, and the next time, and the....

I agree with #1

Gentlemen,

Syrian visa issues often come up on this forum . I’d like to shed some more light on this important matter.
Although the official line is to apply for a visa at the Syrian embassy in your country many visitors to Syria obtain a visa on arrival at airport and land borders.
This official line will not change for a good reason. You may be advised by Syrian officials (in your country) to travel to Syria and told that you can get a visa on arrival. This is correct. BUT if you arrive and your passport is found to have an Israeli stamp then you will not be happy to be denied visa and the implications involved that you have to be put on the next plane and sent back to where you came from. You will be angry and outraged at the officials at the very least.
If your passport does not have an Israeli stamp and you are not on the list of undesirable persons to enter Syria then you don’t have to worry about getting a visa as a genuine tourist at an airport or land border.
Enjoy Syria

Hi Marcopoloo

Are you able to confirm if that is the only reason for the 'official policy' though?

My understanding was that this policy was also somewhat political. That is, as Syrians cannot obtian a visa to the USA or Australia (for example) at the border, then the official policy shall be that those countries shall be denied the same....

HI Aussie
Im not sure if i understand correctly your point. However Syria and many other nationalities from developing countries cnt obtain visa on entry/border of USA , Australia.,or Europe for that matter.
In simple language Syria dsnt mind having millions Australians or Europeans and USA citizens flooding the country to come with their pockets full of hard currency to spend in the country.It would be nice for Syria if that happens
.Only the lucky and rich Syrians are allowed to visit those countries after rigorous checking by the Western embassies and proof of having money to spend .

My first visit to Syria (not so long ago), I obtained a visa at the embassy in Athens instead of chancing it at the border (who knows why now - seemed like a good idea at the time). A solo female traveller had just gone missing in Syria and the consular official was very reluctant to grant visas unless we could show him we were going with a tour group and not by ourselves.

Eventually we managed to get our way by relentlessly arguing that we were the world's most sensible travellers, but there's no way I'd bother with that again. I'd either get the visa at home or at the border. Still, it remains one of the more amusing conversations I've had in my life (as I'm really not that responsible at all) so I remember it fondly. :)

I suppose that is correct, but it is not quite what I was trying to say and not something that I am prepared to discuss here.

Never mind, I was just curious :)