Entering Turkmenistan at the Ashgabat Airport

Entering Turkmenistan at the Ashgabat Airport was originally published in 2025

Back in October 2024, I flew into Ashgabat Airport on the Turkmenistan Airways direct flight from London to Ashgabat.

As long as you have all the proper documents in line, entering Turkmenistan by air is a breeze.

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Requirements to Enter Turkmenistan & to Board Your Ashgabat-Bound Flight

Passport: The usual, make sure it has at least two blank pages and at least six months validity remaining.

Letter of Invitation: A letter of invitation (LOI) issued by the MFA is required to enter Turkmenistan. Your tour company will be handling this for you. Turkmen LOIs take 10-20 days to issue on average, so you should begin the process for your Turkmen LOI with this timing in mind.

Boarding the Flight to Turkmenistan

Checking in for the London-Ashgabat flight on Turkmenistan Airways was just like any other flight aside from having to show our Letter of Invitation issued by the Turkmen MFA in Ashgabat. Once you’ve shown your LOI, your boarding ticket will be printed and you can head to the gate.

Arriving at Ashgabat Airport

The giant bird-shaped Ashgabat Airport is glitzy and spotlessly clean and navigating your entry, even bleary-eyed in the middle of the night is quite simple but does require a few steps.

Follow the Signs to Passport Control

Simply follow the signs (and the crowd) toward Passport Control. Once you’ve reached the area where COVID tests are administered across from the visa and bank windows, you’ll stop here.

Transit passengers will continue in another direction from here (most of the passengers on our flight all seemed to be transiting through Ashgabat bound for India).

Once you’ve gotten to the COVID test station and visa counter area, you will be instructed to go to the nurse sitting at a table to the left where your COVID nasal swab will be administered.

Take a COVID Test

The COVID test only takes seconds, swabs are put in vials, and from there, no one knows. It didn’t appear names were written on the tubes anyway, so my instinct is that it’s all for show still at this point (I mean, are there any other countries left requiring a COVID test to enter?).

Go to the Visa Counter

After your COVID test has been administered, the nurse will point you to the visa counter across the hall and tell you you need to pay for the COVID test at the bank counter next to it.

At the visa counter, hand over your passport and LOI. Here the officer will write a receipt for $85 USD to be taken to the bank counter the next window over to be paid.

Go to the Bank Counter

At the bank counter, hand the woman working at the desk the receipt from the visa counter. She’ll then punch the numbers into a calculator and hold it up saying 130.

This grand total of $130 USD includes your visa fee ($85 USD), COVID test ($35 USD), and migration tax ($10 USD).

Note that you DO NOT want to exchange any money to Turkmen Manat here (or at any official bank for that matter). The bank rate is $1 USD to 3.5 Manat, whereas the street rate is much better (13-18 Manat to the dollar).

Go Back to the Visa Counter

Once you’ve settled your bill at the bank counter, you’ll be sent back to the visa window. By the time you get back to the counter, the official will have your visa already slapped in your passport and ready to go.

Get Your Visa Stamped into Turkmenistan

Next, continue down the hall where you will receive a stamp on our visa, officially entering you into Turkmenistan.

Go Through Customs

Finally, the last stop was at customs where we were only asked if we had medications or any drones before being instructed to put our bags through the X-ray.

Once that’s done, you’re officially in Turkmenistan.

Registering with Police

Foreigners remaining in Turkmenistan for more than three days will need to have their passports registered. This isn’t something you will necessarily need to worry about as your tour operator will be handling this process for you.

Have any questions about entering Turkmenistan at the Ashgabat Airport?

Askin the comments section below.

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