Getting a Visa for Iran

After nearly three months in India and Nepal, it is time to start moving Westward and we decided we would like to visit Iran.  Bob had travelled to Iran in 1974, in the days of the Shah and pre-revolution.  To get there he had taken one of the great train journeys eastbound from Istanbul to Tehran.  So after 40 years and a revolution he thought a return visit and the train trip westbound would be interesting.  I have mixed feelings about our next port of call, mainly around the required dress code for me, but figured it is best to see the country for myself before making any judgements.  Plus the Persian culture and art is so rich.  It will be fascinating and beautiful to see.  First off we needed a visa and it has been a very interesting process.

On our first arrival in Delhi after Agra (we are now on our third visit to Delhi) we went to the Iranian Embassy to apply for a visa.  We were told this was done online using the website ‘visaforiran.com’.  So back we went to the hotel to fill in the form online.  The form was a bit more detailed than other visa forms (eg, asking for father’s name and requiring uploading a copy of our passport face page – love the convenience of smart phones) but straightforward enough.  But the payment process proved to be a challenge. 

Because of sanctions, most countries cannot bank directly with Iran so a third party is needed to make payments.  We had to make a payment of 60 euros to a bank in Thailand for the visa processing fee.  The website stated this would take 3-5 working days and then we would be provided with a confirmation number which we would then take to the Embassy in Delhi and to get our visa.  They offered three methods of payment:  direct bank transfer, credit card or make a bogus booking for a hotel room in Tehran.  The last option was just too weird and by this time our scam radar was on high alert.  But this was what the very nice man at the embassy told us to do so we just needed to proceed.  We first tried a bank transfer but our SMS security from our Australian bank wasn’t working with our Indian sim card.  A Skype call to the bank in Australia was made but the transfer still wasn’t working.  I tried a credit card debit for my application and would have to wait for the next day to see if that worked.

Early the next morning we were back on the computer trying to make payments.  The credit card transaction didn’t go through and another long Skype call to our Australian bank fixed the bank transfer problems.  So the payments were made, we kept our fingers crossed that we hadn’t thrown away 180 euros to some scam and felt we could head for the hills of Shimla and escape the heatwave of Delhi.  

We spent 12 sensational days in Shimla but still did not have our confirmation numbers.  Although several emails assured us everything was in train and they were just very busy at the moment.  We decided to see a bit more of India as the worst of the heatwave was over and spent a few days in Jaipur via a stopover for a couple of days in Delhi.  (Jaipur is the subject of the next post with lots of photos.  After Shimla it is my favourite Indian city.)  In Jaipur Bob got his confirmation number and a few days later mine arrived by email.  Back to Delhi to finalise the process.

Armed with our confirmation numbers and passport photos, mine requiring me to wear a head scarf, we returned to the embassy.  After filling in another short form with our photos we were asked to wait.  One and a half hours later we were told with the utmost apologies that Bob’s confirmation number hadn’t come through to the embassy.  However as they knew we were hoping to travel asap, they made some calls and a half hour later all was sorted.  

Now to the payment.  This time we had to pay 9,240 rupees to a bank in India, the United Indian Bank, which was a five minute tuk-tuk ride from the embassy.  We were given a perforated receipt sheet with three different coloured receipts which we took to the bank, made our payment, brought back the yellow receipt to be returned to the embassy.  The next day at 4 pm we picked up our visas and went off to book the airline flights – again no direct flights so we need to go via Muscat on Oman Airlines – another adventure to be had.  (We did actually find an Iranian airline, Mahan Air, which does fly direct but only twice a week and leaves at 1am arriving at 4.15am.)

So the whole process took 24 days and cost $250 each.  All our interactions with the embassy and the staff in Tehran were very helpful and pleasant but the process took longer than expected and the banking through third parties was ummm... interesting. 

We compared this to getting our Turkish visa which took 10 minutes online, paid $60 each and received a visa pdf by email which we could print off or show in electronic form and that was that. 

However to be fair our Chinese visas last year took over 3 weeks to process but then we were living in Canberra and working so it didn’t seem so long and of course we didn’t have the convoluted banking processes.

The joys and learning experiences of ‘no fixed abode’ travel.