Baku, November 5, AZERTAC

With ambitious plans to become one of the world's top travel destinations, Azerbaijan is implementing projects off the beaten track to attract more visitors each year. A Presidential decree of the Republic of Azerbaijan was signed on facilitating the administrative procedure of obtaining a single entry e-Visa, which is valid for 30 days within the duration of 90 days. Initially, the number of eligible countries were determined as 81, which reaches up to 94 as of November 2019.

With the launch of the new online visa system, Azerbaijan opened its borders to tourists. This is followed by the handover of visas upon arrival to ASAN Visa as well. Visa upon arrival is issued within 3 minutes at the International Airports of the Republic of Azerbaijan. As much as 3 minutes seem appealing, there are only 14 countries eligible for this type of visa out of 94 ASAN Visa eligible countries.

So, how does ASAN Visa upon arrival work? No physical copies of documents, photographs or local cash needed during the application process or after receiving the visa. All you need is your passport and a convenient method of payment. Visa upon arrival costs $26 per person and it is possible to pay the visa fee either by cash or by card. As a mode of card payments, only Visa, and Mastercard are accepted equally.

Regarding to standard ASAN Visa, it costs only $23 per person and needs just 3 easy steps to be followed in order to complete the application process. Start applying for an e-Visa, using the official website evisa.gov.az. During the application process, you will be asked to give your first name(s) and surname, the purpose of your visit (tourist, business, humanitarian, etc.), information about the place of work and/or study and precise address of your stay.

After filling out the form, click the Next button and wait for the payment section to be opened. Please note that only online payments are accepted for ASAN Visa and your application process will start as soon as you make payment.

It is also important to be informed that the children are not exempt from visa requirements and they should retain a separate visa themselves. It is not difficult to apply for other members of your family including children as the ASAN Visa system allows you to create a group application form and make the payment for all at once.

You will be notified about the decision on your application within 3 working days. If you are short on time and you need to make the process faster, no problem at all. Instead, you may consider applying to an urgent visa for $50 whose processing timeframe is just 3 hours no matter the time of the day.

ASAN Visa system allows you to obtain an e-Visa with just 3 easy application steps and the travel authorization will be made and sent to the applicant’s e-mail address electronically. Applicants are not even required to print and present a hardcopy of the travel authorization while going through the passport control. However, it is your responsibility to check the accuracy of your data and make a modification to your visa in case any error is revealed, which is possible through the link sent to you when the decision is made on your application.

Thanks to its multilingual employees, language is not a barrier to communicate with ASAN Visa Officers if you are applying for a visa upon arrival as you may find someone speaking English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Mandarin, Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, Norwegian, Russian and Turkish as well as Azerbaijani with them. Do not feel left out if you are not eligible for a visa upon arrival as ASAN Visa’s official website also operates in 9 languages: Azerbaijani, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, German, Arabic and Farsi.

But the difficulty of obtaining visas and lack of consulates abroad might make it difficult to explore this beautiful country squeezed in the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea. The government seems to be aware of the problems and found a way to tackle them. Apparently, facilitation of visa procedures has overtaken the expectations and every year more and more tourists express their desire to visit and re-visit the country. It is no surprise that as of today, more than 1.7 mln ASAN Visas have already been issued.

ASAN Visa does not only issue visas and wishes tourists good luck in their vacation. They send online surveys to its recipients to make sentiment analysis for improving tourist experiences by addressing shortcomings in the tourism sector. It is for the very same reason that ASAN Visa is getting ready to offer a yearlong multiple entry tourist visas for giving a chance to visitors and let them explore the best tourism sites in Azerbaijan. The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan recently has signed a decree and the multiple entry visas will be available for tourists soon. So, pack your suitcase and discover the undiscovered land by only 3 easy steps of ASAN Visa.

Why should you choose Azerbaijan?

Azerbaijan’s rich cultural heritage and its spectacular scenery ranging from modern capital city Baku to picturesque northern towns, including the historic center of Sheki with the Khan’s Palace and mud volcanos of Gobustan make the country an obvious draw for visitors, which are both included into the UNESCO World Heritage List.

War-ravaged post-Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan has transformed itself into a country hosting modern cities while preserving its rich historic heritage. Due to its geographical advantage, locating in the nexus of the East and the West, it can be confidently called the melting pot of different cultures. It is one of a few countries where you may see churches from its Christian past and lavishly decorated palaces influenced by eastern culture.

While describing centuries old architectures and modern skyscrapers, its natural beauties should not be disregarded. Semi-desert area surrounding Baku in the Absheron peninsula hosts the half of the world mud volcanoes. Walking through the volcanoes will definitely give you a feeling of stepping on Mars.

Its potential as a tourist destination have been overlooked for a long time. However, things are changing rapidly as it grows to be one of the top tourist destinations. You will be amazed to see how such a small country comprises mountainous northern and southern district along with semi-desert central districts. Come quickly to discover this little big country!