We were (are) planning to start off in a couple of weeks to go Turkey-Iran-Pakistan-India, 2-up with bike. As instructed, we sent our (Finnish) passports and visa applications to their embassy in Stockholm, that is 2 weeks ago today.

After receiving the applications, they first emailed us to ask for our flight tickets & hotel reservations. I replied, that we do not have flight tickets while we plan to travel overland, and we dont have hotel reservations either, because we dont want to book hotels, before we have our visas and know the exact dates.

Now we received the following information from them:
"The Embassy has received the requested documents. Your case has been
processed and the counsellor has refered your applications to
authorities concerned in Pakistan. Considering the fact that you intend to travel
overland on motorcycle and the situation in Pakistan, it is important
for your own safety to get the approval from Pakistan. This means it will
take some more time for us to issue the visas. It is difficult to say how
long, it usually takes up to several weeks."
So, the process which was supposed to normally take a couple of weeks maximum, is now going to take - who knows, how long? Cant help it, but Im beginning to wonder, if theres a possibility tha they´ll actually reject our application - havent ever heard there being any problem before with our nationality, but I guess few people from here ever visit the country. If that turned out to be the case, it would have to be because of the situation in the country, and not because of where we are from. Or if we will get visas, just how long wait were looking at. Meanwhile, we should also get visas to Iran and India, so all in all, this is getting a bit complicated.

Following this board however, travellers seem to be going thru Pakistan more or less all the time (at least until now).

I knew the situation was likely to get worse, with the coming elections and all, but this is still a bit surprising. Looks like our start will be delayed at best, or if there really is now problem to even get a visa, then I guess were going to have to go back to the drawing board.

Anyone else had problems getting a visa to Pakistan just lately? And if so, how long did it take you to get it? Is there anything else I can do, than just wait to hear from them?