Pakistan visa
 

Hi!
I'm in the final(-ish) stages of planning and I am applying for my Pakistan visa. How tricky has this been before? Have people been 'economical' with the truth - ie, not said you were overlanding? I'm a bit stuck about the "invitation from a tour operator' bit?
Thanks for your help.
ps - still looking for a group to tag along with to cross from China ;)

Hi Bonnie! We just sent our passports from Kathmandu to the pakistani embassy in Holland. We phoned them first and carefully asked if they would issue the visa if we where traveling with our own bikes. They where very helpfull and told us a Loi from touroperator is not necessary. We could just send a short letter about our trip and itinary. I dont know if the same applies to you, so I would advice to call them and explain your situation.

Good luck!

Peter

LOI was needed for Pakistan in 2015
 

As the title says I had to send a letter of invitation to the Embassy of Pakistan last year to get a visa. I got it from a tour organizing travel agency (Lost Horizon Treks and Tours). I think that the cost was about $40 but my payment was returned to me for an unknown reason.

LL

I'll be very interested to know how this goes Bonnie. Please keep us updated.

For few countries Pakistan visa is difficult and need a visa letter from a tour agency. Few agencies have reputation of providing visa letter for money, and risky to get visa letter from them as visa may get rejected.

There is no need to mention overlanding....less is usually more when it comes to visa applications. Choose some boring sounding activities, visiting famous buildings, doing cooking courses etc, avoid mentioning travel to any areas that have had significant violence, don't mention trekking. We needed a LOI for our application in Australia and obtained one from Lost Horizons. If you are cautious you should be fine :) From memory we said we were flying in and out of islamabad and spending most of our time in that area. No problems. Good luck!

Lol.

I said, I want to go to Pakistan with a motorcylce. I requested 25 days and got 90. I sent my insurance paper, my route and all the other documents. This was the easiest visa I applied for. :rofl:

EDIT: I am from Germany. Maybe therefore it was so easy.

many of the tourists these days say that your (Pakistani) embassy is asking for a letter of invitation, then we will simply get it without any extra payment.

Some riders, who met us did not have to show anything like this.

so it can be either way.
very simple, simple, difficult or very difficult too.

kind regards

Pakistan Bikers Club - Since 2007


do let us know, if we can help:D

Update: I went to the London office to get my visa from Gerry's. They were really nice and went through all my stuff. I got a LOI from Kamal at caravanistan (who was also very efficient). I included: their form, LOI, copy of passport, bank statement, copy of driving licence (as proof of address) and a (doctored....) Letter to prove I am employed (I am not). I forgot to print their tick list but it wasn't a problem. I paid £10 to have my passport posted back to me - I think there is no mention of this on their website. Passport and visa back within a week!
Worth mentioning: I am Irish but resident in UK. According to embassy in Dublin I could apply in either country.

Also worth mentioning: Kamal gave me an itinerary that included flying in and out of Islamabad. I did not mention overlanding. Visa makes no note about port of entry.

Hi! Could you let me know how to contact Kemal? I would need to apply for the visa and I need the LOI apparently.

Thanks!

So, we welcome you guys to Pakistan

Do I have to stick to the port of landing in the visa application?
 

Hey Guys,
I'm German and I currently try to get my visa for Pakistan. However I do not really know how I should proceed. Many people say that you should not mention overland travel...
I try to reach the embassy to discuss that with them, but so far nobody answers the phone. Given the case that they do not seem happy about my idea of overland travel I would consider not mentioning overland travel....

But if I do so, I still would have to name a port of landing. Could I simply say that the port of landing will be Islamabad and then enter overland from taftan?

What do you think?

I also dont know if I need a LOI... If they say I need one: could you provide me one pakistanbikersclub?

Hi again! I got the letter from Kamal with the itinerary as if he were to organise my trip, therefore I understand this is all I need and there is no need to provide Itinerary, hotel booking and schedule of visit as it say in the checklist.

I am also applying in the London office. Can you let me know if apart from Kamal´s letter, you provided any hotel bookings, etc. I will say he will do it for me therefore I don´t have to book anything.

Of course I don´t have any flights!:thumbup1:

Hey. Can you give me kamals contact details? I read you didnt mention overland travel and said you will fly to islamabad? Wont they realise that you cheated once you enter in taftan?

Gesendet von meinem ONE A2003 mit Tapatalk

Do you have them already? Otherwise send me a PM.

So I have received my visa confirmation for Iran and in the email you can read this:
Is this the normal procedure and should I openly tell them I am entering by motorbike?

Thanks!

Hi david,
I haven't actually got my visa yet, but I've noticed the agencies for getting the code all act a little differently. Key2Persia for example include a note on their website saying you need to tell them in good time if you deviate from you itin (which you need to include). The lady I'm dealing with does the itin for you and says it doesn't mater what you do when you're in.
I suspect the agency is trying to encourage you to say you are entering by bike so they can try to sell you a guide.
Hope that's the case anyway!
When do you enter?

Thanks! I will tell them the true anyway.

I will plan to enter around late October from Turkey, what about you?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Beginning of September. Will let you know if I get the same message in a couple of weeks

Hi All,

I have got my visa for Iran in London, valid to enter until 30 October, so three months from now, then 30 days.

Now I have to request the one from Pakistan, but I am wondering how the Pakistan visa works, is it valid from the issue date and then you can enter within a period of time?

Can someone clarify?

Thanks in advance!

Hi all, so I went today to the visa centre and they submitted my application but the guys said I should send as well the itinerary and hotel confirmation but I said Snowland would do that (that's a lie of course...).

I will be tracking my application as I hope the ignore that details as the letter it clearly says that he will provide the tour.

Anyway, I have wrote kamal to ask for this but he is not replying... :(

I will let you know how it goes, but it doesn't look promising.

For those applying for a Pakistan visa here in Australia, my recent experience may be of assistance. First I called the Sydney consulate and explained that we are leaving Australia in a few weeks and won't enter Pakistan for about another 8 months. The official advised to simply write a letter of explanation of our particular circumstances and the chances were good they would give us an immediate 6 month extension.

So we went in person to the Canberra embassy just two weeks ago. With the completed visa application, 2 x photos, bank statement and a letter explaining our plan to ride a motorcycle around the world and hence our need to apply for a visa so far in advance.

We anticipated that showing up in person and explaining our situation would be of benefit. We didn't fabricate some cock and bull story about learning Pakistani cooking or similar. Just told the truth. The consular official seemed very reasonable, and accepted that we couldn't possibly book hotels considering our plan. He initially asked, "do you want 30 days?". We responded, "no, that may not be long enough, 60 would be better". His response was, "no, not possible, 45 days is the maximum".

So we left our passports and applications behind, then about 5 days later we got our passports back in the mail, with 45 day single entry tourist visa's and an immediate 6 month extension on the usuall six month validity. :D

Ok, so I have received my visa yesterday (3 working days!) and all is good to go. I never sent the itinerary despite they guy saying the HC would check for it and still I have received the visa.

The initial issue was that the LOI from Snowland stated that I would travel with his agency, so obviously me providing an itinerary would look dodgy.

Thank you all for the information, only India left!

:mchappy:

Hi guys,

I plan to travel from France to India. I'm in the middle of the process of getting all my visas.:funmeterno:

I am a little worried about the Pakistani visa. I've a few question for the people who already get it :

1 - How did you manage airlines tickets requirements?
2 - I've found a tour operator to get the LOI, do I also need to provide hotel reservations & detailed intinerary ?
3 - How long does it take to have your visa?

It would be really great to have your inputs and advices on the subject! Any tips is more than welcome!

Thanks guys!