Bishkek – Uzbekistan Visa

For Indonesian passport holders, Uzbekistan visa requires Letter of Invitation. Recently getting Uzbekistan visa is more difficult then before, since the Andijan massacre in 2005. Before the American passport holders were granted multiple entry visa, but since the Karimov president kicked all the American soldiers out, the visa is now only for one month, single entry, same for anybody else. Only the Japanese passport holders still enjoy the privilege of no LOI, no visa fee (they only pay 15$ for the visa).

I got my invitation from the Embassy of Republic of Indonesia in Tashkent. It is a personal invitation from one of the diplomats there, Mrs Sunarti Ichwanto. It is also a 1-month, single entry visa. But they said that the visa can be extended.

The Uzbekistan embassy requires invitation per telephone for people who apply for visa, and as interview will be conducted, everybody either should speak Russian or bring a Russian translator. I came very early today. The snow just started. It was very cold to wait outside the embassy.

I got the first turn to enter, as I called 3 days earlier. The application form was completely in Russian. I couldn’t understand many parts of the questionnaire. The lady staff then filled it for me, and interviewed me exactly the same as what is stated in the application form.

The struggle to get an Uzbek visa sticker

She was questioning, how could I, a young student, got an invitation from a diplomat lady. I said that she was my personal friend. She asked me the age of Mrs. Sunarti. I knew nothing.
“If you are her personal friend, how can you be unknown of her age?” asked the Russian lady working in the Uzbek embassy, in Russian.
“OK, she is about 45 years old,” I said. I thought she just needed to fill the form.
“But you are 25 years old. How can you befriended with 45 year old diplomat?”
I felt that she did suspect about all of the invitation stuff.
“There is phone number of my embassy on my invitation. If you don’t believe it, you can call directly to Tashkent,” I said.

She stopped questioning, and said interview was over. I was asked to pick my visa at 3 p.m. same day.

I came to the embassy, paid 72 dollars (all with brand new, no fold, no stamp banknotes), and got the Uzbek visa stuck in my passport.