Information according to recent visa regulations can be confusing since they are changed often. Even sources like LonelyPlanet.com don’t always give the right information. The best way is to meet and contact other travellers. Also there are different stories from different travellers at the same time, which ensures getting all your visas is challenging for everyone… Often regulations are different for each nationality, so since we are Dutch, make sure you confirm the information below with other sources.

Required for almost every visa:
- Copy of the first page in your passport
- 2 photographs passport format
- Complete filled in application form (available at the embassy or border)
- Enough empty pages in your passport
- Your passport should be valid at least six months more after entering the country

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Europe
Since we have an EU passport, we don’t need any visa to travel here.

Tunisia (December 2008)
For EU civilians no visa is required.

Libya (December 2008)
We didn’t get the visa although we tried for two weeks in Rome. In this two weeks regulations changed twice. The latest information was that we had to book via a tour operator, we had to be with a minimum of 4 persons (although that seemed discussable) and during our whole stay we had to be accompanied by a guard ánd a guide! Two weeks Libya would result in minimum costs of EURO 2.000 which was too much for us. We took a flight to Caïro.

Egypt (January 2009)
On Caïro Airport. USD 15 per person. Valid for three months.

Jordan (February 2009)
Visa on the ferry boat from Nuweiba (Egypt) to Aqaba. It was for free. Leaving the country we had to pay an exit-tax of 5 JD (about USD 8) per person. Officially our visa was valid for two weeks but we were in Jordan for 16 days. We didn’t mention this at the border and didn’t had to pay an additional fee.

Syria (March 2009)
A lot of stories from several sources told us it could be very hard to get the Syrian visa. Not in our case! We bought it at the Der’a-boarder for USD 33 per person and a few minutes later we were able to enter the country. Make sure there is no evidence of a previous visit to Israel! We even heard stories of other cyclers who’s digital camera and laptop were searched for any evidence of a visit to Israel.
We entered Syria twice (the first time at the Der’a-boarder we couldn’t get a double-entry-visa). The second time there were no problems as well. Leaving the country we had to pay an exit-fee of SP 500 (about USD 10?).

Lebanon (March 2009)
We bought the “tourist visa for 30 days” at the border for LP 50.000 (about USD 35). We stayed for 47 days without extending it. Leaving the country they saw we stayed 17 days longer and that we should have extend it. When we said that we forgot and that we loved Lebanon so much, we got another cup of tea and we were told that for this one time it was no problem…

Turkey (May 2009)
Visa at the border. We had to wait for two hours, but after 3 cups of tea, a free map of Turkey and a payment of USD 20 each we could enter the country for three months.

Iran (June 2009)
We finally got a 30 day visa in Erzurum (Turkey) after quite a lot of hassle. We applied in Beirut at the Iranian embassy. It took us about 30 days between our application in Beirut till we received the visa in Erzurum. We were very lucky, because we met a lot of people who were rejected (especially from UK). After a friend in Tehran (businessman) called the embassy everything was arranged very quickly and suddenly they were very kind as well… We had to enter the country within 3 months.

Required:
- Application form (including invitation address in Iran, with a big chance to be verified)
- No evidence of a previous visit to Israel
- EURO 60 per visa (US Dollars are not accepted)

Not obliged, but recommended to increase you chances:
- A LOI (letter of invitation) might help. Since we knew a businessman in Tehran we wrote a letter in which we spoke about future business relations between us and our Iranian friends.
- For women: wear a scarf on your photographs

Turkmenistan (Tehran, June 2009)
No tourist visas possible at the moment. We applied for a “5-day-transit visa”. Since we’re travelling by bicycle, we tried to get a 7-day visa (we heard other travellers managed to get one) but we didn’t get it. Finally we got the 5-day visa which was valid for 6 days… Because we said it was urgent it took 5 working days and when coming back after these days we got the visa straight away. When applying, we only had to hand over a copy of our passports, the rest we needed when picking up our visa.

Required:
- The Uzbek visa (see below). For the transit visa you need to show where you’re going after your visit.
- Exact dates of your travel schedule with the to the places you want to visit and border-crossing points
- USD 50 per visa,
- You need to pay with new Dollar-notes. In our case 2006-notes were seen as old!

Uzbekistan (Tehran, June 2009)
We got a “30 day tourist visa”, with the right preparation it was very easy. After we filled in the application form at the embassy we got the visa sticker in half an hour. You'll have to register once you're in the country, hotels do this for you.

Required:
- LOI (letter of invitation). We got it within two weeks from Stantours for EURO 28 per person (for this LOI we also needed a letter of our job which showed that we are currently employed).
- USD 75 per visa and an additional IRR 3.000 (about USD 3) for “administration costs”.
- You need to pay with new Dollar-notes. In our case 2006-notes were seen as old!

Tajikistan (Tehran, June 2009)
We got a 30 day visa. After handing over all required things we had to wait for 5 working days (so one week), than we had to leave our passport at the embassy for one more day. The visa is valid between the entering date you mention in the aplication form and the departingdate you wrote down. So if you arrive for example 4 days later than the date you mentioned, your visa will be valid for 26 days. Once you're in the country you'll have to register, which we'll do in Dushanbe. For certain area's you'll need additional permits as well.

Required:
- A “Letter of Recommendation” from your embassy (which we got for IRR 3.000/ USD 3 but we heard that for example Swiss people have to pay USD 40 per letter!)
- USD 50 per visa
- Exact date you will enter and leave the country
- Adress in Tajikistan. We wrote down the adress of a hotel from the Lonely Planet, which we did not contact. This was fine.

Kyrgyzstan (Tehran, June 2009)
You have to leave your passport at the embassy. Which means you do not have your passport for five days if you apply for a normal Tourist visa. For an Urgent request you’ll usally have to leave your passport at the embassy for one day. For certain areas you'll need additional permits.
Prices vary from USD 28 for a “normal-transit-visa for 5 days” up to USD 140 for an “urgent-tourist-visa for 30 days”. (“normal” means it’ll take 5 working days, “urgent” means it’ll take 1 day or if you ask you can probably even pick it up the same day).

We applied for an Urgent Transit-visa. This Required:
- A letter (you can write it by hand) with name, purpose of your visit and exact dates of your travel schedule with planned places to visit and border-crossing points
- The visa of the next country in you passport. China in our case
- USD 50 per visa

China (Tehran, June 2009)
Although we applied for a 90 days double-entry visa we only got a 15 days single entry visa (entering China within 3 months). The reason? It looked like the consul had a bad day… In case you travel by bicycle: do not mention this! It’s officially not allowed. In case you want to travel to Tibet: do not mention this! Because of the current political problems it will make your process harder or even impossible. As far as we understood it’s not possible at the moment to travel to Tibet by bicycle (in case you believe it is, please contact us!) and you’ll have to book a guided tour.

Required:
- A “Letter of Recommendation” from your embassy (which we got for IRR 3.000, about USD 3)
- A LOI (letter of invitation) might help. Since we knew a friend in China we wrote a letter in which we told we were invited by him. In some cases a Hotel Reservation required.
- IRR 70.000 (about USD 70) per visa (urgent, 2 days) or IRR 40.000 (USD 40) for a normal visa (which means you’ll have to leave your passport at the embassy for 5 days)

Pakistan (Tehran, June 2009)
We got a 30-day-tourist visa within two days. Usually you'll have to use it within 2 months, we managed 3 months.

Required:
- A “Letter of Recommendation” from your embassy (which we got for IRR 3.000, about USD 3)
- 3 photographs passport format
- Copy of the first page and all the visa that are already in you passport
- IRR 73.000 (about USD 73)

India (Tehran, June 2009)
We applied for a “six-month-multiple-entry-visa”. We didn’t get it. We only got a visa that allows us to enter India by airplane. They said it would take 4 days, but it took us a week.

Required:
- A “Letter of Recommendation” from your embassy (which we got for IRR 3.000, about USD 3)
- IRR 39.000 (about USD 39) for the visa and an additional IRR 6.500 (USD 6,5) for administration costs