Visa for Iran.
 

Hi, I'm hoping to visit Iran this year and have contacted the Iranian consulate in London. I'm an Irish citizen living in UK, with a UK registerd bike. The consulate tell me the following:-

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To obtain visa, you will need to receive a authorization code. This code needs to be issued by Ministry Of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Tehran.

You have two options to gain this code:

Option one would be if you have friends or family in Iran they can visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran and give invitation letter for you and apply for the code for you,

OR

Option two would be apply through Travelling Agencies in UK or Iran and they can apply for the code for you, and the code can be sent to us by MFA.

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Now I dont have a friend in Iran, so it seems will need to use a travel agency.
Does anyone have experience of using one of these agencies or do I just take pot luck on the internet? Thanks

Yes, I used Persian Voyages. Nasrin, who dealt with my application, was as good as gold.

I elected to personally collect my visa from the Iranian Consulate in Dublin after Nasrin had obtained (and emailed to me) my authorisation code.

A day return flight with Ryanair from Bristol Airport to DUB was cheap and cheerful. It was a nice day out too. :smile2:

Keith, thanks for the info. Seems a good option for thr visa. Sent you a PM and would be good to learn more about your trip. Cheers

Jim, I've just replied to your PM.

See thread with new info as of 23/03/2016 here:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...623#post533991

I'm Irish, just picked up my Iranain visa a week ago. You don't need an authorisation code if Irish. You must present in person at the embassy in Dublin and submit your details. Go early in the morning - it opens at 9.30 so I advise being there at 9am as lots of Brits coming to Dublin to have visas processed - embassy in London apparantly not open. You'll be asked to return about 3pm to collect. PM me if you have any questions.

Update:- Persian Voyages told me that even though I was Irish I would need a guide. Iranian Visa agency told me I did not need one so went with them. They got my code from Tehran (which I may not have needed being Irish) and had it sent to Iranian Consel in London.

Here it gets interesting as the newly opened Visa section in London is struggling to keep up with demand. It was chaos there today with a queue of 100 people and they say only 50 will be handled each day. They now open 2 - 5, Mon, Wed and Fri. I got to submit my application at after 5:30 today as they overran the time. There were 20+ people still waiting as i left. Visa will be ready in a week. Maybe should have gone to Dublin!

To be sure of being processed get there at least an hour before it opens and be prepared for a long wait.

You have not said anything about your route. If you are coming through Turkey there is the Iranian consulate general in Trabzon which has a Special relation with the Turks. This place is known for increasing your chances of obtaining an Iranian visa.

That being said I got my visa there in 2014 but am not familiar with how the situation changed with the new (2015) reference code rules.