We were granted 105 days of legal travelling in Iran with visa extended 2 times. Read how we made it and what are the best ways to make the process smooth and time effective.
Is it hard to get Iranian visa in 2023?
Getting Iranian visas used to be far easier before the events of September 2022 and the following internal issues. What we hear from travellers now, is that it is almost certain you get rejected when you apply directly online at evisa.mfa.ir and you would be reluctantly approved when you apply via agency with good reputation.
When we ourselves applied online in July 2022 we got rejected with annotation “Please apply via travel agency” Than we decided to apply via Tappersia and follow their recommendations in terms of timing (apply one month before).
Iranian visa through the agency
We applied in November 2022. via Tappersia. We were asked to fill the form online and provide rough itinerary of our journey. Few days later one of us got his “visa granted” message from Iranian authorities, but the other one did not. Anyway the agency employees had worked on this issue, informing us via online communicator day by day. The other grant arrived about 10 days later.
Than we got to collect the e-visa documents in the Consulate chosen by us earlier. We arrived to Erzurum in north eastern Turkey and showed up in the Consulate early morning. Iran Consulate in Erzurum opens the door for public at 8:30 and we were told that it’s good to be there early in the morning. Bags need to be leaved in special cupboard outside and mobile phone -at the reception point. After an hour waiting we got a piece of paper with account number and the amount to pay in TRL.
By default this consulate applies the rate of urgent visa (75$ for PL citizens) instead of standard visa rate (50$ ) that you should have had granted when applying normal way with agency. Better check the amount and if anything – try to communicate to change it.
With the account number you’re supposed to go to nearest Zirat Bank and pay for visa itself. You can pay in TRL there.
You get back with payment confirmation and exchange this document to the real printed eVISA. The same document you get via email, but again – one of us got this email and other did not, so make a copy of it and keep it in a safe place.
Iranian visa’s extension – what you need to know
Extending visas inside the country is said to be piece of cake, but just as Iran does not rely on strictly followed procedures the whole thing vary from place to place and might be more or less time consuming.
We have extended our visas twice during our stay in Iran at the turn on 2022 and 2023. Our original 45 days visa was applied online through agency and collected in Erzurum in Turkey. We have been informed that we can extend it in any bigger city, 2 times by 30 days, and that we cannot stay more than 90 days in Iran. How did it happen that we were there for 105 days when we can only stay for 90 days? You have to think about it flexibly, just like the rules there are flexible.
The most common information and advice for you given all over the internet are:
- Apply for Iran visa extension in a city that is used to receive tourists (like Isfahan, Yazd or Shiraz)
- Apply just in the final days of your visa validity, no earlier than 5 days before your visa expires (otherwise they will assume you can make it to the border on time and you’d waste your time)
- The most common scenario is to extend your visa by 30 days and you can apply for extension 2 times.
- You will wait for a stamp an unknown amount of time – from 30 minutes up to several days.
This is not very accurate, but coming to Iran you must have accepted certain amount of unknown and ambiguities. This is what travel agents and all sort of “folks, who’ve been there” tell you and the best what you can do is treat it as guidelines to follow. The reality is your luck-based in fact.
Iranian Visa extension step by step
1. Prepare yourself with:
2. Go to Immigration Office of Iranian Police in any bigger city (list of the cities here ) early in the morning (most are open 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.)
3. Fill the form if they ask you to, or let them do that
4. Pay the money they ask (it has been 100 000 tomans for 2 person in early 2023 – about 2,5$)
5. Let the officers do the job
Every immigration office has reception where you have to explain your goal and leave all the electronic devices (above all your mobile phone). At the Immigration office you need to be properly dressed (hijab is mandatory)
When your extension is granted you will not receive any special document. Your e-visa will be stamped on the back. The officer will write down the date of your extension validity by hand, with indian arabic numerals and according to Jalali calendar. Make sure you are able to understand it and if not – ask officer to transfer it to gregorian calendar for you.
Our personal experience with iranian visa extensions
First time we extended visas in Yazd (known as friendly city to obtain extension). We came 6 days before visa expiration date and asked for 45 days extension. We’ve been refused extension longer than 30 days and also we had to wait 2 days for the stamp. I guess the officer serving us had just the bad day to make us wait so long.
Second time we extended in Bandar Abbas – 8 days before expiration and they gave us 30 days in 30 minutes disregarding that the whole period of our stay exceeds 90 days. Gosh, what an luxury experience we’ve had here!
We were received by English speaking lady accountant, who helped to communicate with everybody accompanying us from window to window. They prepared our documents folder by themselves and even filled the application form for us.
Luckily, we used our visa almost to the expiry date and we can say we saw more of Iran than some Irani we met.
If you have a question regarding travelling in Iran please ask in a comment below. We love to share our experience.
