LOI (letter of invitation) : tourist visa changes in "ex uss

[vincent danna]

hello,

i ve heard and read that some countries of "ex ussr" are changing their rules to get a tourist visa : before, most of them required a LOI (letter of invitation) in order to get a tourist visa.

more and more, in some of those countries, you don t require a LOI anymore to get a tourist visa.

it depends also on your nationality and also maybe in which country you apply for your visa.

1 or 2 french friends recently applied for "ex ussr" tourist visas from france or europe :

kazakhstan, kirghistan, uzbekistan : didn t need a LOI.

russia : still need.

turkmenistan : still need and still hard to get a LOI : therefore, most people just take a transit visa (no need LOI).

tajikistan : don t know.

afghanistan : no need.

what are your recent experiences, according to your nationalities and the countries where you applied ?

thanx to all in advance for making that clear and helpfull together :-)