
Visa policy of Turkmenistan

In accordance with the law, citizens of all countries require a visa to visit Turkmenistan, unless they have special passports or are from certain parts of Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan. To obtain a tourist visa for Turkmenistan, all foreign nationals must supply an invitation letter issued by a travel agency licensed in Turkmenistan.
Holders of a letter of invitation issued by a company registered in Turkmenistan with a prior approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can obtain a visa on arrival valid for 10 days, and extendable for another 10 days.
Citizens of all countries have the right to visa-free transit through the international transit area of Ashgabat International Airport.
Special permits.
A special permit, issued prior to arrival by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is required if visiting the following places: Kerki, Hazar, Dashoguz, Serakhs and Serhetabat.
Non-ordinary passports.
Holders of diplomatic or service category passports of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Korea, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and holders of diplomatic passports of Estonia, India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan do not require a visa to visit Turkmenistan. Holders of diplomatic passports of Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States may obtain a free visa on arrival.
A mutual visa exemption agreement for diplomatic, service and official passports was signed with in August 2019; however, it has yet to be ratified.
Statistics.
Turkmenistan is one of the most closed countries in the world. Very few foreigners are granted a Turkmenistani visa. Directly after independence, in the 1990s, Turkmenistan was a slightly more open country than it is now, and in 1998, for example, 300,000 foreigners visited the country. Between 2000 and 2013, however, the number of visas issued was tiny fitting a policy of isolationism, the neutral status of Turkmenistan and the dictatorship in that country.