Do Americans/Brits/Canadians need a guide and/or visa to travel Qeshm Island (Iran)?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 24 Jul, 2023
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I am an American. I have also been to Iran. This summer, I would like to go to Qeshm because I don’t want to travel with a mandated tour guide.
I contacted a travel agency in Iran (https://1stquest.com), and I have exchanged several emails with Mona, who is a travel agent there. She has been very helpful. She called the MFA for me, and they confirmed that Americans do not need a visa to travel to Kish or Qeshm. She will be booking my hotels there and helping me with all my other travel arrangements in Iran.
You can only avail the visa free travel if:
- You are flying directly to the island.
- You are staying for less than 14 days.
Since the only way to fly directly to the island is from Dubai, you first have to make your way to Dubai, and then hop on a flight to Qeshm. It takes about 40 minutes.
All other travel to the island requires a normal visa for Iran
A few more tips that might be handy:
-
There are conflicting reports regarding communication. If you are on a roaming line (that works in Iran) you may only be able to receive and not make any outbound calls. Messaging (SMS) will work without issues.
-
You have to make sure you have enough cash with you, as all hotels will require a cash deposit before renting out any rooms.
- How to find accommodation on a multi-island trip to the Azores?
- Do I need to have an electrical converter when traveling to Sao Paulo/Brazil?
Kish and Qeshm Islands are free zones, as you mentioned, and based on the Iran Free Zones’ rules travelers of all nationalities can visit these regions without visa and guide. You can visit http://www.irantourcenter.com/one-of-the-best-beach-resorts-in-iran/ (I work in this travel agency) for more information about Qeshm.
our rep in Tehran went directly to MFA and you can be 100 percent sure of being able to visit Qeshm without visa and guide as an american citizen with the direct flight from DXB.
- Is it possible to manage without cash, but with credit cards only when visiting San Francisco?
- How close is the Geneva Airport train station to the airport?
As per Timatic, used by airlines and based on information the Iranian immigration authority gives to IATA, you do need a visa, which, for an American, will involve having to get a guide if the Interests section says so (since that’s where you apply)
UPDATE: Timatic now says:
Visa exemptions:
Passengers arriving at Kish (KIH) and Qeshm (GSM) islands
for a maximum stay of 14 days.
- This does not apply to nationals of Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia, India, Iraq, Jordan,
Pakistan, Somalia and USA.- This does not apply to passengers with a British passport.
UPDATE 2: Fred mentioned a travel agent named Mona, who said Americans can definitely enter Qeshm visa-free.
The very same Mona now told me via e-mail (today):
First of all thank you very much for your concern and helpful tip. The problem is Iran MFA rules are changing all the time, one day they ask for visa in Qeshm and one day they don’t. That’s why we do not recommend any US citizen to travel Qeshm and Kish without visa and guide until [the MFA] are confident about visa rules. But we try to lower their cost by hiring cheap guides and skip other unessential cost.
In addition, Timatic consistently says the visa exemption does not apply to Americans.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘