Citizens of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, China, Egypt, Georgia, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Syria, Turkey, and Venezuela can enter Iran without a visa.

All foreign passport holders, except a few nationalities, require a visa to enter Iran. Here is some detailed information in brief:

• Countries who can visit Iran without a visa: Armenia (90d), Turkey (90d), Azerbaijan (30d), Bolivia (30d), Egypt (20d), Georgia (45d), Venezuela (15d), Lebanon (30d), Malaysia (15d), Oman (30d), Syria (90d), China and Hong Kong (30d).

• Countries who are eligible for Iran airport visa: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Korea, Norway, Oman, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Singapore, Slovak, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, UAE, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

• Countries who need to get Iran visa before entering (from consulate): Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Tajikistan, Colombia, Somalia, Bangladesh, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Canada, United Kingdom, United States, , Ireland, Nepal, Yemen and Libya.
• Countries who can get a 3-month tourist visa on arrival: Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Slovenia.
• Countries who can not travel to Iran: Israeli passport holders and anyone with an Israeli stamp in their passport will not get an Iran visa.

Getting your visa with LeaveAbode is simple and quick:

1. Fill in the application form.
2. Pay the service fee to start the process.
3. Get the authorization code within 2 business days. The authorization code or reference number is the electronic receipt for your visa.
4. Refer to the Iranian consulate to collect your visa or collect it from the airport when you arrive in Iran.

In three ways you can apply for your Iran visa:

• Apply for an Iran visa at the consular section of the Embassy of Iran.
• If you are eligible, you can obtain a tourist visa on arrival at international airports of Iran, for a stay of 30 days. To do this, you must register online on ministry of foreign affairs website. It supports only tourists visa, business or journalism visas must be obtained from the Consulate before departure.
• And finally, as the most reliable method, we recommend you to apply for your Iran visa through LeaveAbode Iran Visa Service that is only €15 and the risk of rejection reduces to zero.

Each method has its pros and cons. Here is a comparison of the three above mentioned methods with the pros and cons of each:

To be at the safe side, it is better to apply for your visa about 4-3 weeks before. However, the process will not take that long, you will have enough time to refer to the Iranian consulate for collection and can book and confirm your flight and other travel services confidently.

However, we accept the requests until 3 working days before your arrival but we don’t recommend it.

It usually takes 2 working days to get the authorization code.

Here is a comprehensive guide about all visa-related time and duration:

• Iranian tourist visa authorization code is valid for 1 month to be stamped.
• After being stamped, you have 3-month time to enter Iran.
• This visa can allow you to be in Iran for one day until 30 days depending on your requested duration. It is extendible for 2 other 30 days while you are in Iran.
• The visa is single entry and if you require more entries, you need to apply twice.

Visa on arrival (VOA or airport visa) is a tourist visa granted to citizens of 180 countries upon their arrival to Iran at international airports of Iran. Read more: What Iran airports can I get my Iran visa?

Later, the Iranian MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) has launched the system of electronic visa application that you must apply for VOA in advance, it is called e-Visa.

But anyhow, this system is not so prompt and reliable, you may need to wait longer time to get authorized while in some cases the passengers never got answer from them.

“Although Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs can offer diverse range of options and services, reports and comments made by foreign passengers indicate that it would be better to apply for visa, even airport visa, prior to travel.” stated by the MFA. So, based on this statement it is suggested to apply for your visa before.