Information on administrative issues and bureaucracy in Iran

All Information to offical and administrative affairs apply to Swiss citizens and are personal experiences – last update: 08.04.2019

Bordercrossing

Agarak (Armenia) ⇒ Norduz (Iran)
38.851899, 46.201717

• Passport stamped at entry
• random questions, eg name, profession, itinerary
• panniers x-rayed

date of entry: 22. of October 18

Sharja (United Arab Emirates) ⇒ Bandar Abbas (Iran)

• Printout Visa stamped at entry (Passport no stamp)
• random questions, eg name, profession, itinerary
• paper form with personal info filled out

date of entry: 20. of February 19

Visa procedure

Application for Visa over e-Visa system online:
https://e_visa.mfa.ir/en/

You will need:

• digital copy of passport → details
• digital pass foto → detail

If your application is accepted, you will get a confirmation (pdf to email) with a barcode. Go to the selected embassy or consulat to pay the visa fee and get your visa. In our case, it worked like this (August / September 2018):

1. application over e-visa system (while we were in Turkey)
2. after 2 hours, the application was accepted (official 10 business days)
3. 2 weeks after the confirmation, we visited the consulate in Batumi, Georgia
4. We got a bank account number and the adress of the bank to transfer 70€ (per person)
5. at the bank, we paid the amount in georgian Lari in cash, passport is needed for the transfer
6. we handed in at the consulate: bank transfer receipt, passport, printed confirmation from e-visa system with barcode
7. after 30 min, we got our passports back with the iranian visa

The second time we applied for visa, the procedure was a little bit different:

1. application over e-visa system (while in UAE)
2. application was NOT proceeded within 2 weeks
3. 2 weeks after application, we visited the embassy in Muscat, Oman
4. we paid 30$ per visa with credit card at the embassy
5. we got a printout with the iranian visa

Visa extension

Visa extension in Hamedan at the police station for Manuel’s 30-day visa.

Visa extension in Yazd at immigration office for Martina and Roman’s 60-day visa.

Mobile

Irancell Tourist Prepaid SIM card (date of purchase: 25. of October 18)

• 10 GB data for 1 month ∼$3 (330’000 IRR)
• SIM-card ∼$2 (150’000 IRR)
• SIM registration only with passport
• myIranCell app will be installed to activate data-package
• voice, SMS and 5 or 7 GB packages available

SIM card (GSM network) will be deactivated after 1 month (iranian or foreign SIM card!), registration of the hardware is needed for GSM network longer than 1 month.

Registration of a phone can be done in different places (e.g. travel agency, mobile phone shop, airport). There is the following procedure:

1. You need to be registered by a authorized agency
2. You need your passport
3. They apply registration online, the process will take up to 5 days
4. you recieve a SMS with Hamta code
5. you need to follow the activation process on your phone
6. You activate your phone via IMEI code, iranian phone number and Hamta code

Money

Iranian Rial IRR

• Exchange rate at the border: 1€ → 120’000 IRR (22. of October 18)
• Exchange rate at bazaar in Tabris: 1$ → 135’000 IRR (25. of October 18)
• Exchange rate in Esfahan: 1$ → 120’000 IRR (End of November 18)
• Exchange rate in south Iran: 1$ → 100’000 IRR (End of December 18)

official exchange rate is 1$ → 42’100 IRR (25. of October 18). There is high inflation and changing money at the black market is forbidden.