I wonder if anyone can help clarify my thinking. I am travelling on a NZ passport (wife on Japanese one) and to get the Syrian visa we have to send applications to Australia (place of nearest Syrian Embassy) with letters from NZ Internal Affairs and Japanese Consulate authenticating the passports (since we are not Australians). This, plus the small risk of losing the passports in the mail (and they already have brand new Iranian visas inserted so it would be an even bigger loss!), makes me think it would be better to get the Syrian visas at the Turkish/Syrian border. We are hoping to get the Tehran-Damascus train, so would have to be prepared to miss the leg to Allepo and Damascus if the visas took some time. Has anyone else faced this situation? I guess we would have to disembark and walk to a border crossing to apply for the Syrian visa (since there would not be one in our passports). Is this a considerable distance? (The lady at the Syrian Embassy in Canberra told me over the phone that you couldn't get the visa at the border, but from trawling through the postings, it seems that this is just the official line and the reality is quite different.) Has anyone with a NZ passport crossed this border, applied for a visa there, and if so how long did you wait? Has anyone else faced this situation with the train? Would be very grateful for any ideas or insights to clarify things. Thanks very much, - Vaughan
You can get a visa at land border Turkey/Syria
You can get off train and cross on foot get your visa and then find your way on bus or shared taxi crossing borders to Aleppo.This is provide train crew will let you board without visa for Syria????
I would advise against trying this. Even if you can buy a train ticket without a pre-issued visa (unlikely), you will have to get off the train at the border. Unless the visa guys are very quick, the train will leave without you, leaving you stranded in the middle of nowhere. Finding onward transport from the remote trains station could provde very challenging, especially in the middle of the night (the train leaves there at around midnight). Plus if you do not get ther visa you will have to be deported by car (which will incurr costs) as the next train in the opposite direction does arrive until 2 days later.
If you want to get the visa on arrival, get of the train at Malatya or Fevzipasa and take a bus/taxi to Aleppo from there.
George
THanks very much, Marcopoloo and George5. You really have helped clarify the situation. At this point, I have decided to buy a ticket for Fevzipasa or Islahiye, and make my way to the border from there. Or, if the train is delayed as is likely, get off at the stop before Fevzipasa before night falls. I had not considered the possibility of being denied a ticket without the visa.
Thanks very much for your help,
- Vaughan
trusted partner
