How to deal with Uzbekistan customs.

Hi dear travellers!
In the past we travelled to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan and everything was ok with customs and fine with local population. Next august we go to Uzbekistan and we are a bit weary especially about customs.
We plan to enter UZbekistan by land from Tajikistan and go out also by land to Turkmenistan.
Some travellers report problems with Uzbek customs especially about declaration of money carried.
Usually we have money hidden so usually we dont show neither declare the whole amount of money carried. What we should do on entering and leaving UZ by land?
Also any other tip about UZ officials will be appreciated.
Anastas

Declare all your money when entering UZ. They will search your bags anyway, and they know where to look for hidden stashes. You risk losing any that you don't declare.

As Emmeff says, declare all your cash as precisely as possible.

Most of the time Uzbekistan customs seem to only do a cursory check, but once when I was crossing from Tajikistan to Uzbekistan at the Tursanzade-Denau crossing I was very carefully searched, including a very thorough body frisk. Fortunately I had declared everything, but they would have found my normal backup money.

When I visited Uzbekistan, I arrived overland from Kazakhstan and left to Kyrgyzstan. At both border posts I had the same experience with immigration and customs officials - the Uzbeks were wonderfully friendly, helpful, and easy to deal with, while the officials on the other side of the border were rude, unpleasant, and looking for bribes.

I would declare all the money you have on the customs form. Unless you are carrying an unreasonably large amount of cash on you, I think it's unlikely you will have problems. I did have some unpleasant experiences with the police inside Uzbekistan, but those running the borders were easily the most pleasant officials I ever came across in Central Asia.

Also note that there is a state of smouldering hostility that continues between the Uzbeks and Tajiks. The guards on both sides of this frontier tend to be extra rigorous.

See this website and its associated forum: http://caravanistan.com/border-crossings/

Just FYI, the Uzbek customs form and instructions are available online in English at
http://www.customs.uz/en/static_pages/declaration/308/

Thanks all!

Thanks for these infos, but one question: What is the interest to not declare all your cash? Black market?
RR.

Thanks roro,
the interest is we always have some money well hidden and if we declare all the amount we must be ready to show all the money (so we cannot have it hidden anymore).
Anastas

Hi I crossed land borders from and into uzbekistan and I agree: declare ALL your money. Keep in mind that they will also check your medicines (some drugs like codeine are not allowed). Check the list of allowed medicines on the offical uzbek website. They also check your camera and tablet/laptop looking for sensitive contents (porn or political). And dont believe they dont know how it works: they know exactly where to look....

Thank you,
unfortunately we will miss Uzbekistan,
we were unable to take visa...
Anastas

This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you.