Here on PersiaTours' visa section, you can find latest updated information and guides to get Iran visa. PersiaTours is among the limited number of official tour, travel and visa agencies in Iran with an official authority from Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to process and obtain travel permits to Iran.

Therefore, take time to review Iran visa tips and guidelines, and if you need further information, please be in touch via https://persiatours.com/contact/

Visa Application form:

Required Documents for Iran visa:

• Passport's main page image, with at least 6 months validity
• Personal photo with solid white background (ladies are NOT required to wear head covering)
• Filled out Iran visa application form link

Invitation Letter for Iran Visa (Grant Notice of Iran Visa):

This is an official letter from the Iranian MFA, sends to Iranian consulate of your choice (here, PersiaTours); which enables you to collect your visa from your desired Iranian consulate or one of the Iran international airports. Getting this authorization number is the most important step in Iran visa process. You will usually have your Iran visa in 1 or 2 days (depending on the embassy) after having the authorization code of Iran visa.

The duration of sending Grant Notice varies depending on your nationality. Generally, for most nationalities, it will take around 7-10 working days. For special nationalities such as Americans, British and Canadians, it will take 1-2 months.

Other names of this invitation letter are: Reference Number of Iran Visa, Authorization Number of Iran Visa or MFA code.

Note: The validity duration of this invitation letter for receiving Iran visa is one month since the issuance time. And since the time visa stamped, you have three months time to enter Iran. The important point is that exiting Iran must be done before the expiration of this three months validity.

The List of Iran’s Visa Free Zones:

You can travel to the beautiful attractions of Kish Island, Qeshm Island, Chahbahar, Maku, Arvand, Anzali, and Aras without Iran visa and stay there for fourteen days. And for extending your stay, you can pay a low amount of money at the affiliated offices to MFA in Iran.

Which Nationalities are Visa-Free?

The following nationalities can enter Iran and stay in Iran for fifteen days without visa and to extend their stay they can pay a low amount of money at the affiliated to MFA offices in Iran:

Azerbaijan, China, Turkey, Georgia, Lebanon, Serbia, Malaysia, Syria, Armenia, Venezuela, Bolivia and Egypt

Iran Tourist Visa:

According to the regulations of the Iranian MFA, Iran tourist visa is issued for foreign nationals who are interested in traveling to Iran individually or with a group with the purpose of visiting Iran, or their friends. You can apply for Iran tourist visa through valid travel agencies in Iran. After sending the required documents, the agency will process your request. Usually MFA issue the visa code after 7-10 working days. Having this code and referring to Iran’s embassy in your country, you can receive your visa stamp. It is issued for a maximum stay of 30 days and regarded as single entry, with option of extensions in Iran. Iran tourist visa remains valid for a period of 3 months from the date of issue.

Regarding your visa place of issue, you can choose Iran International Airports as well as Iran embassy in your country.

Tourist Visa consists of two costs:

1. The money that you give to the agency which is about 50 Euros.
2. Stamp fee which varies depending on your nationality and should be paid in Iran’s embassy in your country.

We can apply for your visa as single entry. The procedures of double entry or multiple entries are different and travelers can go directly to any embassies of Iran and apply themselves.

For receiving the visa in Iran’s embassy in your country you will need to have your original passport, personal photo, 18-digit authorization code and visa stamp fee.

In some of Iran embassies and consulates, there is no need to go in person and you can follow this procedure of sending and receiving the visa stamp fee through post. You only need to call them up and check their preference.

Extending the visa can be done in Iran's major cities.

At the end of three months validity of Iran visa, it is not possible to extend it again.

Iran Visa on Arrival (VOA):

As Iran’s popularity increased recently, especially for the young backpackers, the process of getting Iran visa is now possible at airports, known as Iran visa on arrival (Iran VOA) or Iran airport visa; which is more facile for many nationalities.

The point worth mentioning is that although you can receive your visa upon arrival in Iran, our suggestion is to apply before your travel via the valid travel agencies to get the Iran visa's authorization code.  And the visa collection place can be International airports of Iran which makes the time procedures easier, shorter and safer.

Iran Visa on Arrival Needed Documents:

• A confirmed return ticket
• A valid passport with at least 6 months validity
• A photo to be attached to the Iran visa application form (Bring two passport size pictures with you, recently visa officers are using digital camera to take the needed pictures but still try to bring your own pictures just in case)

All the nationalities except Americans, Canadians, the British, and the citizens of Somalia, Bangladesh, Jordan, Columbia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan can have Iran visa on arrival.
VOA visa has 14-30 days validity and is issued at major Iran’s entry gates like international airports of Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz, Mashhad and Kish.
Visa fee is payable at "Visa & Passport Office" at the airport. Iran airport visa fee depends on the applicant’s nationality.
Case by case basis sometimes an invitation letter or hotel reservation voucher is required by the officer.
The invitation letter can be sent from the Iranian travel agency to Iran’s MFA at least 48 hours before your arrival to Iran airport. Valid travel insurance for your trip to Iran is also needed.
If a passenger’s visa has already been rejected, he /she cannot receive VOA. And you will be held responsible for the return flight and any other costs.
The journalists and reporters who travel to Iran on mission cannot receive VOA.
You need to pay for Iran visa on arrival in cash at the airport.
If you don’t have travel insurance, about 20 Euro is added to the visa fee. These fees are subject to change at around March each year.
Now almost all nationals of about 101 countries of the world can get Iran visa at main Iran international airports upon arrival! In below, you can find the current visa fees of each country.

Iran Visa for American, British and Canadian Passport Holders:

In addition to the normal visa regulations; American, British and Canadian passport holders must have an MFA-approved guide to accompany you from arrival till departure while in Iran. You should also have an exact tour itinerary (It is necessary to finalize your itinerary in advance).

Therefore, you should be in touch with approved Iranian travel agency (like PersiaTours) to arrange a guided tour itinerary about 2-3 months earlier. Then, that travel agency may apply for a visa authorization number from the Iranian MFA.

Meanwhile; the US citizens can get their Iran tourist visa stamped at the interest section of Iran embassy in Washington DC.

At PersiaTours all we need is the needed documents and we’ll take care of the rest, such as your detailed itinerary and your Iran visa authorization number.

Documents required:

• Passport image with at least 6 months validity
• Personal photo with solid white background
• Filled out visa form (ladies are not required to wear head covering)
• A resume or CV
• The links and information of all your social media networks

Mentioned nationalities can travel to Iran free zone without visa for 14 days.

Iran Visa Extension:

Extending your Iran tourist visa while over here is pretty easy and straightforward.  You just need to have the right documents and a good explanation as why you need to extend your visa. The person who primarily will be the decision maker is an Immigration Officer. The office in English is called "Foreign aliens affairs office" and in Farsi we call it "Edare Gozar Nameh ". The officer will ask you why you need to extend your visa. A good answer may range as far as:

I did not think there are so many places that I wanted to see in Iran. I just need more time to see … and ...etc. (fill the blank with a city that you have not visited in this trip, that it is a main stream cultural attraction).

I as planning to see a few main attractions such as Tehran, Isfahan, Yazd and Abyaneh but I ended up spending too much time , let's say in Isfahan and I am short on time to visit, for the sake of argument, Mashhad. Try to choose a city that is not way too far but at the same time not too close.

I got sick and had to skip this and that highlight but now I feel better and want to make sure to go back and see such and such places.

It's a good practice to be as patient as possible and try to answer all the questions that the Immigration office may have to ask you. If all goes well then the officer will accept your extension request.

Iran Visa Extension Documents:

• Two photos
• A copy of your passport main page
• A copy of your original Iran visa

Passport holder in person should be there and fill out the forms and do the interview.

The cost for Iran visa extension is approximately 10 Euros. Price is subject to change. The fee is payable at "Melli Bank". So you need to get the deposit paper from the officer and go to the bank, pay the fee and come back to get the extension stamp in your passport.

Some tips:

It is recommended to try to extend your visa no earlier than two or three days before the current visa is expired.

Tehran visa extension office is always busy. Based on feedback we have gotten so far, it appears that Shiraz visa Immigration Office is the best place for extending your visa. That said; you can try your luck at any city throughout the country.

Go to the visa office in the early morning (about 8:00 in the morning. They are often open around 8 and might close by 1-2 pm) and better to not go there in Thursdays (mostly because that is the last working day of the week in Iran before the official weekend day which is Friday). Visa extension offices are close on Fridays.

If a travel agency is in charge of the initial entry visa to Iran, then it might be better to go to your travel agency and have them give you a letter of recommendation which you then can file along with your extension request letter.

Passenger must have a reasonable excuse to get extension like the ones mentioned above or changing flight schedule....etc.

Extension procedure can take few minutes up to few hours. Better to stay at visa office till get your passport back and make sure all is good before leaving.

Make sure to know exactly when the last day of your visa is. That is critical because you need to do arrangements for your return ticket, other booking...etc.

Travel Insurance for Iran Visa:

As a rule of thumb it is always a good idea to have decent travel insurance whenever you travel abroad regardless of your destination.

Your insurance policy must clearly state that it is valid for Iran. Your personal insurance company wherever you live should be able to do that for you or you can get that through IATI, which is a Spanish insurance company with a good track record in travel insurances to destinations like Iran.