Visa policy of Turkmenistan


In accordance with the law, citizens of all countries require a visa to visit Turkmenistan, unless they have special passports or are from certain parts of Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan. To obtain a tourist visa for Turkmenistan, all foreign nationals must supply an invitation letter issued by a travel agency licensed in Turkmenistan.
Holders of a letter of invitation issued by a company registered in Turkmenistan with a prior approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can obtain a visa on arrival valid for 10 days, and extendable for another 10 days.
Citizens of all countries have the right to visa-free transit through the international transit area of Ashgabat International Airport.

Special permits

A special permit, issued prior to arrival by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is required if visiting the following places: Atamurat, Cheleken, Dashoguz, Serakhs and Serhetabat.

Special visa exemptions

Holders of diplomatic or service category passports of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Korea, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and holders of diplomatic passports of Estonia, India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan do not require a visa to visit Turkmenistan. Holders of diplomatic passports of Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States may obtain a free visa on arrival.
A mutual visa exemption agreement for diplomatic, service and official passports was signed with in August 2019; however, it has yet to be ratified.

Statistics

is one of the most closed countries in the world. Very few foreigners are granted a Turkmenistani visa. Directly after independence, in the 1990s, Turkmenistan was a slightly more open country than it is now, and in 1998, for example, 300,000 foreigners visited the country. Between 2000 and 2013, however, the number of visas issued was tiny fitting a policy of isolationism, the neutral status of Turkmenistan and the dictatorship in that country.
YearVisitors
1992—1994
No data
1995
 218,000
1996
 217,000
1997
 257,000
1998
 300,000
1999
No data
2000
 3,256
2001
 5,200
2002
 10,800
2003
 8,200
2004
 14,800
2005
 11,600
2006
 5,600
2007
 8,177
2008
 9,777
2009
 7,628
2010
 9,631
2011
 8,687
2012—2013
No data
2014
 More 110,000
2015
 More 110,000
2016
 More 130,000
2017
 More 130,000
2018
 More 130,000
Total More 1,700,000

Country20182017201620152014201120102009200820072000
108,288 105,269 98,176 96,604
77,387
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
28,127 27,490
29,047
No data
No data
82
250
140
96
80
68
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
3,874
3,397
2,391
2,355
2,133
122
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
1,143
1,277
1,392
1,576
1,338
270
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
531
660
535
663
566
430
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
277
392
412
595
600
340
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
253
388
344
508
537
282
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
245
238
296
439
160
95
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
212
230
315
232
682
650
Other
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
2,080
2,799
1,803
3,313
2,081
999
Total
No data
No data
No data
No data
No data
8,697
9,631
7,628
9,777
8,177
3,256

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