How to get the Pakistan Transit Visa in Tehran (Iran)

The Pakistan visa is certainly one of the toughest documents to obtain for a traveller, especially overlander. It is generally just accessible in one’s home country after long and tiresome paperwork. When moving by land from country to country, instead, it is almost impossible to get. As a matter of fact, Pakistan embassies and consulates only issue this authorization to local residents and not to tourists. This is why it is always better to arrange it in your home country, if possible. Not the case, though, when travelling from Europe to Asia overland, as normally the visa validity only covers 3 months from the day it is issued. You may wish to check Caravanistan for further details.

There are very few exceptions worldwide in which Pakistan visa is also conceded to nonresidents. The Pakistan embassy in Tehran (Iran) is one of them. It just grants a 14-days transit visa though. No other options currently (May 2018) available. The Pakistan embassy in Tehran is located at this address:

Visa applications are open from Sunday to Thursday, from 9 am to 12 30 am, as reported on their website.

Here you have the complete, burdensome procedure to follow:

1. BRING ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS:

For the transit visa you will need:

• Visa application form, which you may pick up at the embassy or download from here.
• 3 passport-size pictures
• Copy of the front page and all pages with stamps / visas in your passport. In case of need, you can also find a copy machine booth attended by soldiers about 100 meters further (on the right, same street side when exiting the embassy) inside an anonymous building. I got asked 100,000 Iranian Rials for almost all my passport pages.
• No Objection Certificate (NOC) from your home country embassy
• An onward visa of another country to prove you are leaving Pakistan. As for me, I went for the Indian Visa. You can read the entire procedure here.

You have to be a bit proactive and put some pressure on the functionary behind the window on the left side (there are two windows, left for visas, right for Pakistani nationals). Bear in mind that in Iran very often there is no concept of “waiting in line”. People cheekily jump the queue without any  particular remorse (see my previous post about Iran). Thereby, try always to approach, inquire and wait nearby until a full answer is provided.

2. WAIT FOR A QUICK INTERVIEW WITH THE CONSUL

I had to wait around 1 hour and a half before being summoned in by the functionary. The consul generally arrives after 11 am. Try to stay close to the inner door (from where you access the internal offices) or in a visible spot to draw the attention.

The conversation is very quick and only focuses on two main questions:

• “Are you aware of the procedure involved in the Iran-Pakistan land border crossing ?”, if you go by land, of course;
• “What countries have you visited before ?”, quite generic, just to make sure you don’t say Israel : )

Only 1 or 2 minutes in total. Then you have to go out to the waiting room again and hang around there for 10 or 15 minutes more until you are summoned again through the window.

3. COLLECT THE PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS 

In your second appearance inside the small internal office, you will be handed a piece of paper reporting fee and payment method for the visa.

As you may notice, there are two essential elements here:

• The total amount of your visa fee (according to nationality). For Italy it was a whopping 87 USD value. Shockingly high for a basic transit.
• The bank name and location where you must make this payment. No payment allowed at the embassy unfortunately.

4. GO TO THE ASSIGNED BANK

In order to further complicate the whole process, they send you to a bank (Melli Bank) located at about 5 Km on foot from there, as shown in the map below:

The bank is right opposite the Turkish Embassy and next to the National Jewelry Museum. It is about 1 hour walking to get there. Alternatively, you can catch a taxi, download and use the popular snapp application or shorten the stretch by taking the metro from Meydan-e Enghelab Eslami to Ferdowsi or Sa’adi. 

I would personally recommend to take a stroll to save some money and kill some time, as anyway you won’t find anybody at the embassy between 1 and 3 pm. Hence you have enough time to get back.

5. MAKE THE PAYMENT

Being the Tehran main branch, the bank is quite big and messy. Just approach any counter and ask. You should be pointed to the counter number 25 (you have to be able to read Persian numbers though) in the Foreign Currency Exchange department, written in English. It is at the bottom on the right.

It goes without saying that the only accepted currency for the payment is US dollars. To top it all, you also have to add 5000 Iranian Rials as a bank commission for the “unwanted” operation.

You will be finally issued a payment receipt to bring back to the embassy.

Important: the embassy requires the original PLUS a copy. Honestly I do not know the reason : ) You can enter any copy center along the way or the one exactly next to the Pakistan embassy I mentioned above.

6. BRING BACK THE PAYMENT RECEIPT TO THE EMBASSY

With your payment receipt and its copy you may approach the embassy to finish the bureaucratic process. Unlikely I was initially thinking, the visa and passport section at the embassy do not open in the afternoon.

You have therefore to use another entrance behind the corner (same building). If in doubt, just ask the diplomatic policeman standing there. He will point you to another gate where you may ring a doorbell to be attended and let in.

The final operation only consists in handing the documents to a kind of receptionist who will confirm you the date from which you can pass and collect your visa.

For Transit Visas the E.T.A. is normally 2 working days. For example, if you complete all the steps by Sunday afternoon, you should be entitled to pick your visa up on Tuesday morning.

7. PICK UP YOUR VISA !

If there are no unexpected hindrances, you should be delivered your passport with a 14 days transit visa in it after the afore-mentioned 2 working days.

Go to the visa and passport section around 10 or 11 am to be on the safe side and avoid any further waiting time.

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

8. VALIDITY

You have 60 days to enter the country from the date of issuance.

To sum up, I was positively surprised by this visa option in Tehran. I truly thought that Pakistan visas were off-limits to nonresidents. Besides, compared with the infinite paperwork (LOI, bank statement, flight tickets, sponsor, etc.) requested at the home country’s Pakistan embassy or consulate, requirements here were definitely reasonable and affordable for a traveller. In addition, the processing time (2 days) was really rapid. At the same time, however, I was a bit disappointed by the following restrictions and pain points:

• Only Transit visa (14 days) available
• Expensive fee (87 US dollars) for a basic transit
• Payment option not so handy

Anyway, it was a great possibility to continue my trip by land towards more and more enticing adventures !

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