Uzbekistan - Getting A Visa
In the past, getting a visa to Uzbekistan was an ordeal.
But now, with the Uzbekistan government opening up its country to the rest of the world, has made things much easier for travelers by letting us apply for a visa online. In most cases, you’ll get an approved visa within 2-3 days. For example, I got mine 2 days after submission online.
There is a large list of countries eligible for this online application - you can check the list here.
E-Visa Tips
Naturally since it’s a new system, some users have reported some bugs and quirkiness in the visa application.
Here are some tips that helped us breeze right through the process:
For ‘Preliminary place of residence in Uzbekistan’, if you don’t have a hotel yet, you can literally write in any random hotel in Uzbekistan.
For Picture issues: make sure it’s in .jpg format, is 300 DPI, less than 1 MB in size, and that your head takes up almost all the frame. Some have reported that 35mm x 45mm works while others have said 413px by 532px works. (We had to edit ours so the head took over almost all the picture frame)
We’ve also heard that Chrome had more success over Firefox and IE. (We used Chrome)
I’d recommend using a gmail account to register.
Sometimes it will look like the payment didn’t go through, but then after 2 days the e-visa arrives. (This is what happened to us)
You might not get a confirmation email that you paid.
When you get the e-visa, make sure to have it printed out and ready to present with your passport at all border crossings. Some people will tell you that you don’t need the physical printout but some border guards and train police are not yet aware of the e-visa. I had to present the printed e-visa when I left Uzbekistan, so make sure you keep it with you up until you leave the country.
