Be careful when you post your passport to the London Embassy...

The Consular section of the Uzbek Embassy in London is open between 10:00 and 13:00 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

I made the wrong assumption that the Embassy itself would still be open on Tuesday and Thursday, and posted my passport by Special Delivery on a Wednesday.

The upshot of this was that no-one was there when it was delivered and it was returned to the sorting office. Despite a few phone calls to the Consular section, it seems they are pretty busy and thus couldn't make the trip to the sorting office. It took three weeks before they went to pick it up; normally, the item would have been returned to me by that time and frustratingly I couldn't get the Post Office to return it so I could try to re-send to arrive on a day they were open.

On eventual receipt of the passport on a Friday it only took a couple of days to process the visa, which was fine, but beware of this if you need your visa urgently.

Geebsie

I was about to put up an identical thread, and point people to the other thread you have updated.

And here was me feeling bad but your situation is even longer than mine. My passport was also sitting in the delivery office for 2 weeks. I had given them an overall three weeks and it was the last visa for me to get, and I already had an LOI pre-approved.

Unfortunately, the 'service' from the consular section can only be described as negligent in circumstances like this.

Of course others could say 'you should have checked your track and trace with the post office' - yes I could have checked it 7 days earlier but the long and short of it is that I have spoken to the embassy about 7 times this week, and have spoken to 4 different people. I was told by the two people they would go and collect it, and three times I was told this they didn't, and three times they never called me with an update as requested.

I ended up speaking to another department via the phone options and begging someone else to take ownership of this and making sure they went to collect my passport. I was told that Royal Mail would NOT give me the package (which I can understand for normal circumstances) regardless of it being my passport so it was all out of my control apart from constantly calling the embassy. No emails were acknowledged (I specifically asked them to confirm receipt) from three different embassy email addresses. Their fax was never picking up when I tried to fax them on many occassions.

Luckily today I've been told my visa is being processed and returned today, and I have the tracking number. I can only apologise to the Royal Mail for all my hits on their track 'n' trace website this week ;-) I had said I was flying on Monday (erm, that's a week earlier than reality!), and that the start of a 12-18 month trip would be affected if I never had my passport. I asked three different people if they understood the situation that it had to be returned that day (that message was delivered three days in a row) but it effectively made absolutely no difference to them.

I can't remember if this embassy offers an 'express' option for additional costs but it would have made no difference.

I cannot thank the person I spoke to a couple of times today for chasing it up and actually calling me back with an update when the passports had been collected. I just wanted to give the man a big hug (I think he was from foreign affairs).

Anyway, I'll stop waffling on and on now - you can probably tell it's been an emotional week. I can now kick back, delete things from my work computer, and walk out tomorrow night with a huge grin on my face as I hand in my pass, drive home, and go to the pub........

Edited by: budgettravelnotes
PS : I just checked my dates and realised that I too had posted my passport on a Wednesday so an attempted delivery was made on a Thursday..... although the recorded messages on the consular section say they are closed, the embassy was staffed (including the consul) today - a Thursday.

Could either of you clarify a couple of points for me, please? I have a UK passport but live in Portugal (no C. Asia representation here, which makes everything harder).

(a) Do I need a LOI in London? Uz Emb website says yes, travel gossip says no or maybe...

(b) Is 2 days, mentioned by one of you, the typical time taken to issue a visa?

I would be applying in person. I'm reluctant to book a flight until I'm quite clear about the visa.

Thanks! I'm on the verge of giving up on C. Asia because of the bureaucratic difficulties (just missed a trip to UK because of Icelandic ash, to cap it all.)

Just scrolled down and seen go_2's post saying no LOI is currently needed. I'm still interested in the 'time taken' aspect.

Dequincey:

The LoI issue seems to be in a state of constant flux. I'd be interested to hear what budgettravelnotes had to pay for the visa - I was £50 but I've heard of others paying £58.

I'm not sure about the two days being the norm, or whether they just expedited my application given the time that had passed.

budgettravelnotes: The difficulty I had was staying calm and reasoned - knew I had to as the Consul held all the keys at the end of the day.

What's your Central Asia itinerary? I see you're a Scot too - where from? Following in the footsteps of our compatriot, Mr Murray!

Hi folks,
Sorry for late reply - I've started my trip and am in Oman.

I did get my visa back but at the absolute last minute, despite telling them I left a week earlier than I was it arrived in the last possible post that it could have otherwise our trip would have to be delayed.

I too found it really hard to be polite to them on the phone. I was told 3 times they were on their way to the post office and it was only after I pleaded with someone in another dept (after hitting a 'non-consulate' number on the phone system) to take responsibility of chasing him up that it actually happened. It's crazy...but maybe a good warm up for central Asia!?!

I can't remember exactly what I paid for it to answer another query but £50 sounds right - I'd have to check. I also applied with an LOI pre-arranged from stantours.

I am inded a fellow Scot - and it's a great country to head back to sometime - I love it.

My itinery from Oman is Uzbekistan on Monday for around a week. I friend there has organised a train and accommodation in Burkara (easy option!), then heading to Osh in Kyrgyzstan. We'll then probably head up around Arslanbob, Bishkek and over to spend a while in Karakol. In early June we're popping over to Almaty to hopefully fly to Olgii in western Mongolia. After spending about 4 weeks there we're making our way to Hong Kong to hit NZ with some working visas.