Visa policy of Azerbaijan

Entry (right) and exit (left) stamps in a Swedish passport

Visitors to Azerbaijan must obtain a visa from one of the Azerbaijani diplomatic missions, unless they come from one of the visa exempt countries, countries eligible for visa on arrival or countries eligible for electronic visa. Visitors must hold passports that are valid for at least 3 months beyond the intended period of stay.

Visa policy map

Visa policy of Azerbaijan for ordinary passport holders

  Republic of Azerbaijan

  Visa free

  Visa issued upon arrival by air. Also eligible for ASAN electronic visa.

  Visa on arrival under special conditions. Also eligible for ASAN electronic visa.

  Eligible for ASAN electronic visa.

  Visa obtained in person required prior to arrival.

  Entry banned

General visa requirements

Azerbaijan visa

Passport must be valid for at least 6 months after the expiry date of the Azerbaijani visa applied for.^[1] If there is less than 3 months for the expiry of a foreign citizen's passport, a visa will not be granted.^[2] Citizens of specific countries listed, who are required to obtain a visa with an ordinary passport or with a service passport, have to obtain a visa before travelling to Azerbaijan. Visas are issued in at an embassy or consulate of the Republic of Azerbaijan or upon arrival at the border crossing points of the Republic of Azerbaijan.^[3] The visa application form may be filled online and submitted to the diplomatic mission.^[4]

Visa exemption

Citizens of the following 9 countries can visit Azerbaijan without a visa for up to 90 days:^[5][6]

Non-ordinary passports

  Azerbaijan

  Visa free access for diplomatic and service category passports

  Visa free access for diplomatic passports

Additionally holders of diplomatic or service category passports of Albania, Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Libya (temporary not applied), Lithuania, Morocco, Montenegro, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Vietnam and only holders of diplomatic passports of Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Laos, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Qatar, Spain and Sweden do not require a visa to visit Azerbaijan.^[7]

Visa waiver agreements have already been signed with the following countries but are not yet ratified or applied:

•  Benelux – on 23 November 2017 for service passports^[8]
•  Bolivia – in August 2017 for holders of diplomatic and service passports^[9]
•  Chile – in September 2018 for holders of diplomatic and service passports^[10]

Visa on arrival

Azerbaijan visa on arrival, issued to a national of Singapore at Baku International Airport

Citizens of the following countries can obtain a visa for Azerbaijan on arrival valid for 30 days obtainable at any international airport.^{[11][12][13][14]}

_{1 - including  Hong Kong and  Macau}

Limited visa on arrival

Citizens of  United States can obtain a 30 days visa on arrival only if arriving on a direct flight of Azerbaijan Airlines from New York City.^[17][18]

Visa on arrival for holders of an official invitation letter issued by the State Migration Service of Azerbaijan or other Azerbaijan government authority. Visa on arrival for staff of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and their dependents, provided holding an official invitation letter issued by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Passengers with a residence permit issued by a GCC Member State can obtain a visa on arrival for a maximum stay of 30 days. They must travel with a national of the GCC country that issued the residence permit.

Electronic visa

Azerbaijan introduced electronic visas for citizens of designated countries in January 2017. The system is called ASAN Visa and the visas are issued for a single-entry visit up to 30 days.^[19] The e-visa should be printed and presented together with the passport (that should be valid at least 3 months more than the validity period of the electronic visa) at the border checkpoint.^[20] The e-Visa is issued within 3 working days.^[21] As of May 2018, the designated 95 countries are the following:^[22][23][13]

_{1 - including  Hong Kong and  Macau}

As of February 2017, ASAN was looking into the possibility of making the electronic visa application available directly at the ports of entry at the border with Georgia, Russia, Turkey, and Iran.^[25]

British travel magazine Wanderlust rated the Azerbaijan e-visa system (ASAN Visa) as the easiest visa to get in the world in 2017.^[26]

There are plans to expand the ASAN Visa system for the issuance of visas to citizens of Azerbaijan as well. As of January 2018 Morocco was selected and negotiations were under way with Lithuania and United Arab Emirates.^[27]

From 15 May 2018 citizens of Bahrain, China, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey, United Arab Emirates^[28] can obtain an electronic visa on arrival in Baku International Airport.

Visa facilitation

Azerbaijan concluded a visa facilitation agreement with the  European Union (excluding Denmark, Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom) which reduces the number of documents sufficient for justifying the purpose of the trip, envisages issuance of multiple-entry visas, limits the length of processing and reduces the issuing fee or waives it entirely for many categories of EU citizens.^[29]

Bans

Due to a state of war with Armenia, according to media reports the Government of Azerbaijan bans the entry of citizens from  Armenia, as well as citizens of any other country who are of Armenian descent, to the Republic of Azerbaijan^[30] (though there have been exceptions, notably for Armenia's participation at the 2015 European Games held in Azerbaijan).

The government of Azerbaijan strictly bans any visit of foreign citizens to the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh (the de facto Republic of Artsakh), its surrounding territories and the Azerbaijani exclaves of Karki, Yuxarı Əskipara, Barxudarlı and Sofulu which are de jure part of Azerbaijan but under control of Armenia, without prior consent of the Government of Azerbaijan. Foreign citizens who enter these occupied territories, will be permanently banned from entering the Republic of Azerbaijan and will be included into the "list of persona non grata".^[31]

Visitor statistics

Most visitors arriving to Azerbaijan were from the following countries of nationality:^[32][33][34]

Country	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013
Russia	853,082	744,125	685,555	843,851	903,242
Georgia	537,710	506,306	571,648	699,532	810,390
Iran	362,597	248,632	149,600	131,179	143,579
Turkey	301,553	313,341	288,620	314,476	361,413
United Arab Emirates	102,360	53,180	2,379	821	638
Iraq	62,454	62,983	2,147	738	991
Ukraine	57,756	55,508	55,119	58,201	51,802
Saudi Arabia	33,273	-	-	-	-
Kazakhstan	-	31,994	27,145	29,468	28,226
United Kingdom	-	29,514	34,892	33,563	32,841
Uzbekistan	-	16,093	15,185	19,336	18,627
Total	2,691,998	2,248,773	2,006,176	2,297,804	2,508,904

See also

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Azerbaijan.

• Electronic visa (evisa) to Azerbaijan
• Azerbaijani passport
• Visa requirements for Azerbaijani citizens

References

External links

• Republic of Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (in English)
• State Migration Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan (in English)
• Electronic Visa System of Azerbaijan Republic