Question:
I want to give a piece of advice to those who are citizens of the countries who can get the 30-day tourist visa at the airports of Iran. I suggest to bring with you something that states that there is this possibility (for instance the copy of the corresponding page of the web site of your embassy or of your minister of foreign affairs), because not all the airlines know of it and you may be denied the boarding pass at check-in. It was what happened to me last month at the airport in Doha (Qatar), where I was bound to Esfahan. For one hour I had to discuss first at the check-in counter, and then with the superintendent of Jazeera Airways, who did not want to let me through because, he said, his company never let any passenger to embark to Iran without a visa on their passport. I finally convinced him that I was right and I got my boarding card only because I could show that on my passport I had a 30-day visa made at the Imam Khomeini Airport in Teheran six months before. I got my visa upon my arrival at the airport in Esfahan. It took 20 minutes and 50 euro.
Answer
For the visa to Iran you have three ways:
1. Fill in the visa form on Iran visa application, it takes about 3-7working days to get your reference number and two working days to collect your visa at the embassy by direct referral or one working week by posting the docs to the embassy. You can pay the visa fee in cash in Iran.
2. Fly to Iran and get a 30-day on arrival visa at the airport. This kind of visa is issued for 98 nationalities excluding USA, England, Canada, Colombia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Bangladesh, and Somalia. If your nationality is among the countries authorized to get it, you can easily collect you visa against offering your passport, a passport-size photo and about 10-150€(depends on the nationality) to the staff at the airport. There is no need to fill in any form beforehand.
3. Refer to the Iranian embassy in your country and ask for a visa to be issued for you. Usually this way takes longer time about 30 days.
Check cheap Iran tours.
