Visa policy of Azerbaijan

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.
General visa requirements.
Passport must be valid for at least 6 months after the expiry date of the Azerbaijani visa applied for. If there is less than 3 months for the expiry of a foreign citizen's passport, a visa will not be granted. 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.
The visa application form may be filled online and submitted to the diplomatic mission.
Visa exemption.
Citizens of the following 11 countries can visit Azerbaijan without a visa for up to 90 days:
Non-ordinary passports.
Additionally holders of diplomatic or service category passports of Albania, Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Libya (temporary not applied), Lithuania, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam and only holders of diplomatic passports of Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Laos, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Spain and Sweden do not require a visa to visit Azerbaijan.
Visa waiver agreements have already been signed with the following countries but are not yet ratified or applied:
Visa on arrival.
Citizens of the following countries can obtain a visa for Azerbaijan on arrival valid for 30 days obtainable at any international airport.
Citizens of can obtain a 30 days visa on arrival only if arriving on a direct flight of Azerbaijan Airlines from New York City.
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 Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates can obtain a visa on arrival for a maximum stay of 30 days.
The cost for the visa on arrival is $20 US Dollars except for Japanese passport holders (Free).
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. 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. The e-Visa is issued within 3 working days. As of May 2018, the designated 95 countries or regions are the following:
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.
British travel magazine Wanderlust rated the Azerbaijan e-visa system (ASAN Visa) as the easiest visa to get in the world in 2017.
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.
From 15 May 2018 citizens of Bahrain, China, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, United Arab Emirates can obtain an electronic visa on arrival in Baku International Airport.
Visa facilitation.
Azerbaijan concluded a visa facilitation agreement with the (excluding Denmark, 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.
Bans.
Due to a state of war with Armenia, the government of Azerbaijan has banned the entry of citizens from Armenia, as well as citizens of any other country who are of Armenian descent (including Armenian Russians, Turkish Armenians, etc.), to the Republic of Azerbaijan. There have been exceptions, notably for Armenia's participation at the 2015 European Games held in Baku.
The government of Azerbaijan strictly bans any visit of foreign citizens to the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh (the "de facto" Republic of Artsakh) 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 territories without permission are subject to being refused entry to Azerbaijan and being included into the "list of persona non grata". The same policy applied to the Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh until they returned to Azerbaijani control as a result of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.
2020 pandemic travel restrictions.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the issuance of electronic visas and visas on arrival was suspended.
According to the last circumstance, the lock-down extended till 28 December 2020.
Visitor statistics.
Most visitors arriving to Azerbaijan were from the following countries of nationality: