Hello to all you people out there from the wonderful place of Erzurum in Eastern Turkey.

Just a note of caution if you are thinking of applying for a VISA through IranianVisa.com.

We applied in Greece (Athens) and paid for the 2-5 day service. Three-and-a-half weeks later we still waited.

IranianVisa.com (HAmid) suggested we could pick up the visa at Instanbul/ANkara/ERzurum if we wanted to move on (boy how we did as Athens is so damn expensive to sit around).

We CHECKED several times with MR Hamid whether this was ok to do and also checked he had changed the request with the Foreign Ministry from Athens to Erzurum. He told us many times a copy of authorisation would go to Erzurum AS WELL. Multiple emails told us we could get the visas with the same code at Erzurum.

1800 MILES LATER after several visits to the consulate we find out that MR Hamid is 'economical with the truth' - our authorisation is only valid for Athens and we are in Erzurum. Flights back to Athens and accommodation will cost about 1000 Euro - it's cheaper to stay here for another 7-10 days as they process ANOTHER application; the VISA code is useless anywhere APART from Athens! At no point did he tell us anything apart from this!

He then told us that we would have to reapply again!

We now (five weeks later) have to apply all over again through the consulate in Erzurum.

Best wishes to all of you out there!

Cathy and Bernard

www.worldtour.org.uk

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Touching the World: A Blind Woman, Two Wheels and 25,000 Miles

Just a follow up to previous post.

Have emailed IranianVisa.com several times. Not responded to any emails at all.

Still stuck in Erzurum as we process another application through Consulate. Seven days here so far - went today but will be at least Saturday before we hear anything (10 days) - Tehran Ministry closed Thursday and Friday. We could be here for a while yet!

Cathy and Bernard

www.worldtour.org.uk

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Touching the World: A Blind Woman, Two Wheels and 25,000 Miles

well, i have to agree and disagree with the previous post. hamid is a wanker... but he did get my visa eventually (after angry phone calls, e-mails, and requests to get my money back). i had to wait for weeks and months longer than promised. eventually, i gave up and went to syria, lebanon. but when i e-mailed him from lebanon (months after i was promised the visa) I got the authorization code as promised. I picked up the visa from syria... but then I had to fly to iran rather than ride. anyway, i got the code and the visa from iranianvisa.com (and i'm drunk at the moment, so perhaps i shouldn't give any further details). desertsoul... you take over now. (the moral of this story? don't post while drinking. sorry community.)

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Jeremy Kroeker
www.MotorcycleTherapy.com

After sitting in Athens for 3.5 weeks and now in Erzurum for two weeks I guess you can understand how we feel.

GGGGrrrrrrr, it makes so annoyed!

Cathy and Bernard.

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Touching the World: A Blind Woman, Two Wheels and 25,000 Miles

Sorry to hear your bad experiences...

...but calling Hamid a 'w@nker' is probably a wee bit harsh...I used them too but got my code sent through maybe 2 or 3 weeks after my payment was cleared. I was in Pakistan and applied for my Iran visa at the Iran consulate in Quetta with my code. The next day I picked up my Iranian Visa.

Whether or not Iranianvisa.com actually helped, I can't really say but without the code, I would have had to apply for the visa and come back to the same place several weeks later. At least with Iranianvisa.com, I could carry on travelling and got the visa very quickly once I had the code.

My main gripe is really the cost, it was so bloody expensive (at least £90 or so) plus you have the 32Euros for Iranianvisa.com.

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Mike


www.singapore-scotland.blogspot.com
www.argentina-alaska.blogspot.com
My little Vid: India/Pakistan

BMW R1150GS
Suzuki DR650 SE: Ride it like ya stole it. Oh, somebody just did...

After ripping out what is left of my hair.................

Today Cathy and I go the consulate in Erzurum to find out that she can get a visa and I have been turned down - lot of use for a blind woman on a motorbike!

BTW - I filled out both applications with EXACTLY the same details apart from the personal information. The Embassy said it was because of the 'who you are going to visit / where staying section'. Same hotel address on both - then they said it was because you needed an 'invitation' and I didn't have one (but neither did Cathy?) I think they just liked her headscarf perhaps? She does have lovely blue eyes!

I am the same person whom they would have let in if we had stayed in Athens to pick up the visas (after Hamid told us we could go to Erzurum to do this). I don't think I have changed in the weeks? A little older, perhaps, a little greyer (definitely). No new convictions for anything as far as I know.

Now we think we have to go back to Istanbul and air freight the bike over Iran to Karachi - we have wasted nearly six weeks on this shambles due PURELY to IranianVisa.com - I am really grinding my teeth.................................. even if Mr Hamid is a nice bloke he has knackered us with his wrong information when we paid him for supposedly knowing what is / and is not possible re. Visas.

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Touching the World: A Blind Woman, Two Wheels and 25,000 Miles

Iranian visas are a lottery, I'm afraid. Sorry you lost this time. I found similar things with Pakistani visas... I'm not sure you can blame the visa agency for not knowing about the refusal, even if you can blame them for many other things.

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

Hi there

I think you misunderstand. They told us we could pick up the Visas from ERzurum once we had our code and this was not true. If they had done their job properly in the first place then we would not have had to reapply!

Best wishes from Erzurum as we plan our way around this!

Cathy and Bernard

www.worldtour.org.uk

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Touching the World: A Blind Woman, Two Wheels and 25,000 Miles

Just to keep tread updated.
For me iranianvisa.com not so bad. Got visa yesterday after 24 days, no problems, no hassle. British passport.

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http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/cimek/1/tpod.html

We also got our visa without to much hasstle, although a few days later than promised. I have read recent issues on another post on this forum so it must be very luck based i think.

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Mr and Mrs Rixxy - London to Australia 2011 - 2012
www.jamesandcat.com