How Can I Get a Visa for Iran?
1.1 Introduction
If you are planning to travel to Iran for any purpose, you need to apply for a visa at first. Like all countries, Iran offers various sorts of visas to foreign citizens, each of which have a slightly different visa application process. In this article, we will briefly explain different types of visas for Iran and how you can apply for one.
1.2 A Quick Note on Kental Iran Travel, an Iran tour guide agency
If you are applying for a tourist visa for Iran, you can simply use Kental Iran Travel as your guide. Kental Iran Travel, a well-known Iran tour guide agency, will exempt you from all the visa application process through E-Visa platform by doing it on your behalf, thus saving you time and energy that could otherwise be wasted dealing with the visa application process on you own.
1.3 Visa types
The Iranian government issues various types of visas to foreign citizens. Below we will explain each of these visa types, with particular focus on visa type B (tourist visa) for which you can apply through Kental Iran Travel.
1.4 A – Entry
The Iranian government grants visa type A to those foreign citizens who want to travel to Iran for the following purposes:
- Educational & cultural Faculty members and researchers
- Common Carriers, transporting goods and people
- Officials, political, and economic members, art and sports teams, international organizations and specialists
- Internationally Recognized merchants and experts
- The United Nations employees and affiliates
- Relatives of the foreign citizens residing in Iran
1.5 B – Tourist
If you are planning to spend your holidays or retirement period visiting Iran’s numerous natural and historical attractions, visa type B is the one you need to apply for. Applying though a travel agency such as Kental Iran Travel will help you speed up your visa application process.
1.5.1 How to apply for a tourist visa?
In general, there are two main ways you can receive a tourist visa for Iran. The first way is Normal Visa, which is received after you fill in an online visa application form through the main E-Visa platform. The second way is to apply for a tourist visa through a third-party agent such as Kental Iran Travel.
In order to use the services of the Kental Iran Travel during your stay in Iran, you will need to apply for a tourist visa filling the online application form on Kental Iran Travel website.
1.5.2 Tourist Visa Validity
The validity of a tourist visa for Iran is three months. That means you can enter Iran anytime during the three months following the issuance of your tourist visa. When you enter Iran with a tourist visa, you can stay in Iran for 30 days. When this period is over and you are willing to stay in Iran for longer, you can request to renew your tourist visa for 30 days. You can repeat this process for three times.
Unfortunately, though, the citizens of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada are not allowed to renew their tourist visas.
1.6 C – Pilgrimage
If you are planning to visit holy places in Iran, you need to apply for visa type C.
1.7 D – Diplomatic
The following groups are eligible to apply for a Diplomatic Visa for Iran:
- Temporary employees of diplomatic and consular offices, and international organization offices in Iran
- Temporary guests of diplomats or official employees residing in Iran
- Diplomatic or Official passport holders attending conferences, apprenticeship, cultural & educational programs, …
- Diplomatic or Official passport holders with tourist or pilgrimage purposes
1.8 E – Education
Visa type E is granted to those students, researchers, and religious scholars who are willing to study at Iranian educational institutions. For this purpose, you need a Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status from the Science Ministry, Education Ministry, or an accredited academic institution in Iran.
1.9 F – Temporary Work
This type of visa is granted to those skilled workers, specialists in various majors, and engineers who wish to work in Iran. For this purpose, you will need a sponsor whose business is approved by the Labor Ministry.
1.10 G – Transit
Transit visa is granted to those foreign citizens who are passing Iran without any intention to stay. So, drivers and tourists who are passing Iran on their way to their destination need to apply for a Transit visa.
1.11 H – Media
Visa type H is granted to members of foreign media, including members of radio channels, prints, digital press, and also directors and film producers who want to travel to Iran to work in their professions.
1.12 Investment Visa
If you have the invitation of a legally registered Iranian company, business visa is the type of visa for which you need to apply. For this purpose, you will need to obtain the permission of the Media & Public Diplomacy Center after you apply for a visa.
1.13 I – Investment
Visa type I is for the merchants and investors who need to travel to Iran for investment-related purposes. To apply for an investment visa, you will need to have an investment permit approved by the Organization for Investment Economic and Technical Assistant of Iran.
1.14 M – Marital
A marital visa is granted to foreign men who are married to Iranian women and willing to travel to Iran. Also, the children of such family are eligible to apply for a marital visa.
1.15 T – Medical
Foreign citizens willing to travel to Iran for medical purposes must apply for a type T visa. However, you will need an approved letter from an authorized medical center.
1.16 How to obtain a visa for Iran
There are two main ways you can apply for a visa for Iran. The first way is to apply through the Foreign Ministry’s E-VISA platform. For each of the visa types mentioned above, you will need to submit slightly unique supporting documents to obtain a visa. The second, and easy, way is to ask a travel agency such as Kental Iran Travel to obtain a visa on your behalf. This method is helpful if you are applying for a tourist visa. Kental Iran Travel, a Tehran-based Iran tour guide agency, in particular, will save you a lot of time an energy by doing the paper work of obtaining a visa on your behalf in a very short period of time.
However, the good news for some applicants is that citizens of eleven countries are exempt from visa requirements. So, if you are a citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Georgia, Armenia, Venezuela, Malesia, or China, your passport will be enough for travelling to Iran.
1.17 Conclusion
In first part of this article, we briefly explained different types of visas for Iran. We also introduced two main ways one can apply for a visa in Iran. You can do it either independently though the Foreign Ministry’s E-Visa platform or through a travel agency such as Kental Iran Travel, an Iran tour guide agency in Tehran. The second way is the easiest way, in particular, for those applicants willing to come to Iran for touristic purposes. Kental Iran Travel will save you a lot of time and energy obtaining a tourist visa for you, without you having to deal with the paper of work on your own.
Here you should link this phrase to the article “Iran Visa One Arrival and E-Visa Iran.”
