Dushanbe – The Kyrgyz Visa … Finally

The Kyrgyz visa, finally

It has been about ten days I am stuck in Dushanbe (and with side-trip to Istaravshan), due to the Kyrgyz visa application. I will post the comment of Istaravshan and Dushanbe later when I get proper Internet connection. Now, if you dont mind, let me share the struggle to get the Kyrgyz visa.

As an Indonesian passport holder, I need an invitation to get the Kyrgyz visa, and the invitation should be approved by the ministry of foreign affairs in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. I applied through the Indonesian embassy in Tashkent. The Indonesian embassy contacted the Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs and they said that my visa was approved, I just needed to go to the Kyrgyz embassy in Dushanbe to pick up the visa.

Monday, October 9th I went to the Kyrgyz embassy. It was well hidden in an alley near Insititute of Teby. The embassy only accepts visa application one day in a week, that is on Tuesdays. Not wanting to repeat my tragical Tajikistan visa (which cost me 250 dollars for the red tape), I called my embassy in Tashkent to ask for confirmation about the approved invitation.

They called by phone to the ministry in Bishkek. Fatimah, the Kyrgyz officer, said that as the invitation from the embassy was personal invitation, the Indonesian embassy had to pay the fee, and the fee had to be paid only in Bishkek. The hospitable Indonesian ambassador agreed to pay for my visa (thank you very much Madam Sunarti), but the biggest problem that we had nobody in Bishkek to go to the ministry to pay for visa.

The day passed. As the Dushanbe Kyrgyz embassy only opens one day in a week (really practical working days), I had to wait for another week.

The ministry of foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan also opens its counter 1 hour per day (10-11 am) and closes on Wednesdays as well as weekend. We have to get used with this kind of minimal and pleasant working hours. The only one Indonesian embassy in Bishkek had been contacted on Thursday and made the payment to the ministry. Fatimah told the Indonesian embassy that the application was approved, I just needed to go to the appropriate embassy, and no proof can be sent nor visa index to be given.

I crossed my fingers when visiting the Kyrgyz embassy in Dushanbe, with only having an invitation letter from my embassy. The Kyrgyz embassy in Dushanbe is a very quiet, small embassy. No people was applying for visa nor queues outside the building. All visa applicants are to be entertained by the Consul himself, in his private office.

Back in 2004, this was what I got as the receipt of my passport, in Kyrgyz embassy in Beijing

Mr Lasat (maybe I got his name wrong) was a very friendly man. He read the letter from my embassy, and he was very polite when talking. It was indeed far from the image of Central Asian bureaucracy.

Suddenly the ambassador phoned him, but the phone connection was cut. “Damn, this made in Tajikistan,” smiled him complaining the telephone connection. He checked his file and found my invitation was sent from Bishkek since two months ago (so Fatimah was lying about the payment to extort some money from my embassy). He signed my application, took the visa sticker sheet, and put it in my passport. I got my Kyrgyz visa in less than 30 minutes with a very nice conversation with the Consul.

So, with the visa in hand, I am ready to leave Dushanbe, very possibly tomorrow, to the mountainous Pamir area of Tajikistan. By then Internet connection would be very limited and the blog probably would be updated from Kyrgyzstan.