Pakistan Visa

The Invitation must be from a registered tour company in the case of a tourist visa. Karakoram Bikers will write you a professional, clear, concise letter of invitation to suit your particular travel and itinerary BUT we cannot just issue an LOI only. You must be on one of our short or long tours or using other travel services with us. Contact us and we will discuss your travel plans to Pakistan and advise on the simplest options available to you. For indpendent travellers we have short Lahore, Gilgit, Skardu area day tours as well a custom options.

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Karakoram Bikers is a fully registered company with Securities and Exchange Commision of Pakistan (SECP), a fully regsitered and licenced tour operator with the Pakistan Government Department of Tourism Services, member of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce, Pakistan Association of Tour Operators, the Gilgit Baltistan Association of Tour operators and is listed on the NADRA official tour operators list.

To all our visa applicants we also provide a copy of our Tourism Licence and Pakistani Directors ID card. An itinerary is included for our longer tour travellers. We can provide independent travellers with an itiernary documetn for an extra fee.

Most commonly an invitation letter for the Pakistan Tourism Visa requires that the letter comes from a regitered tour company, sometimes a friends invitation is acceptable but most often not. If you are applying for a family or business visit obviousy the relations or business partner would do the inviting. HOWEVER please keep in mind that even though it may be tempting to get any "friend" to write a letter for you, there is a very real security responsibity that goes with that. The person inviting you must be ready to answer all questions regarding your travel, know who you are, where you are visiting, what you are doing and be able to explain their relationship to you.

Sometimes travellers have tried to get hotels to write the invitation. This may or may not work. It is not a guarantee. A hotel is not a regsitered tour operator and has no licence to be able to issue an invitation. Some hotels may refuse or have limtied understanding of the process. It is currently an official requirement that the invitation for torusim visa come from a registered tour operator.

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We charge $105 Australian Dollars for this service. Not only do we write your letter but also take the time to discuss with you the best options to make sure your letter is fool proof. We also include ongoing support through the visa application process and assist you if any issues or follow up requests from the department may arise.  *it is no longer always required for an LOI to be officially Attested but occasionally it is requested - we charge a further $25AUD for this.

It had been a major hurdle for some long term travellers in the past as the requirement was that you must be in your home country or country of residence to apply for the visa. This seems to now (mostly) not be required.

In some rare situations a traveller is called for an interview, the rare times this has happened to travellers on our invitation letter to Pakistan the travellers were able to attend the nearest embassy for their interview. They did not need to be in their home country. Or they were able to provide extra supporting evidence and avoid interviews.

You need to advise us of your expected earliest date of entry and how long you are intending on staying. This information helps us write a quailty inviation that suits your situation.

Generally a visa is given for a particular travel window (usually 3 or 6 months) from the date of issue. You can enter pakistan anytime in this travel window. Most often visas have a 30 to 90 day stay allowance within that window. It is possible to extend your stay from within Pakistan.

Usually the visa will be for 30 to 90 days of travel within the travel window of 3 or 6 months. This can vary depending on the discretion of the issuing consulate or Nadra official. You can also apply to extend your visa from within Pakistan if you would like to stay longer.

As long as you enter Pakistan within the set travel window given on the visa then yes your dates can change. 

There is a 14 day overstay window in which there are no penalties. Technically if your visa has expired you will need an exit permit. Sometimes a border official will request an exit permit if your visa has expired, even if you are still within the 14 days. If you are are needing to stay longer than your number of days issued on the original visa it is best to extend from within Pakistan before it expires. Exit permits and extensions can be applied for on the same Nadra system as the original Visa.

Yes and No. Once in Pakistan you can explore other areas outside of any set tours and what is listed on the itinerary. Keep in mind that Pakistan government has access to all data that is submitted at embassies/NADRA and they can and do follow up on foreigner travellers especially if you attempt to go into areas outside of "safe" Zones. Certain areas you should not attempt to enter (more on this below). If you are travelling through Swat or Peshawar or Chitral areas without a guide then this can potentially cause an issue. Karakoram Bikers requests that you honour your itinerary as per the LOI and do not explore randomly or on a whim in Pakistan. 

Most areas are safe and easy to travel through however keep in mind that some areas, mostly in military containment zones and border lines of control are no go zones and other areas may require an NOC. If you want to go into restricted zones and some areas of the Karakoram National Park you will need a permit and trekking in these areas and above 6000 metres requires a special permit.

Technically you can go to different areas however you should discuss with us where you're interested in and if we need to arrange anything to make it happen. You cannot travel freely in Balochistan, Tribal Administered Area, Azad Kashmir and there are some limitations of movement in Khyber Paktunkwa around Peshawar, Swat and Chitral. We advise having a guide or friend with you if going through Swat and Chitral.

These things are still in a constant state of change and we monitor closely day by day throughout each new season. The entry requirements to Gilgit Blatistan have become far more relaxed with the entry card currently not required and no security escorts.

It is a good idea to have the first night hotel booking. Some applicants are asked for a hotel booking others not. 

Currently it is a requirement to provide an invitation letter from a registered tour company. We cannot issue just an invitation without some servcies booked with us.

We can arrange a custom tour to suit and have a very low key laid back freedom feel to it. You do not need to be on a full tour for your entire stay. We offer some short day and half day otpions and stays at our guesthouse. Contact us to discuss.

The cost of the visa varies from one country to another. Please check with the embassy in your country of residence or the Nadra website for exact fees.

Pakistan Visa approval processing can take as little as 20 minutes to a couple of days to as long as 1 month. The process is usually straightforward once submitted if all documents and details are provided. We advise starting the process at least a month in advance to allow for dealing with any possible questions that may arise. 

Very occasionally an application may take a bit longer for processing and is usually due to not having clear paperwork, unclear plans (or some unusual situation like travelling with small children in own vehicle through Balochistan, travelling independently on bicycle without tour company support, travellers of Indian heritage despite being born in different country and having citizenship of the country other than India and longer stay requests greater than 2 months are some examples we have encountered) NOTE - We have no abiltiy to speed up a process once it goes to ministry of interior despite what an embassy may tell you.

Once we have all the details clear for the letter and payment is recieved we will get the letter to you within 24/48 hours. Often much sooner. 

Usually no. You need to allow a reasonable amount of time for the letter to be written and for the embassy/online system to process your application. We have had the process completed from point of LOI request to receiving visa done completely within a day to a week. But please allow at least 1 month wherever possible. Karakoram Bikers is not held responsible if you have not allowed enough time to process your application.

No it's not a problem but you may be asked about this. Obviously many travellers are visiting Pakistan as part of a larger travel itinerary. It might mean you just need to write a short letter detailing how Pakistan fits into your travels. Some embassies will ask, others will not. 

Basically the rule of thumb is, you can only apply for a visa to Pakistan from the country you are a citizen of and also the country you are a resident of. If you are a resident of a country other than the passport you are holding you may apply in that country as well as your country of citizenship. Just include proof of residency or visa documents for that country. It is now possible to apply for the Pakistan visa using the EVisa system while already "on the road"

Yes. For Evisa holders the pakistan visa can be extended via the online portal.

In past you could also extend your visa for 1 month or 3 months at the Ministry of Interior - Immigration and Passports, in both Lahore and Islamabad. Visas are currently not able to be extended at the department in Gilgit. For extension you need to fill out a request for visa extension and provide two current passport sized photos.

There are many many treks that are easy to access, in open zones without the need for any special permits.

You DO need a permit to enter the Karakoram National park. This includes the areas of K2 and environs from Skardu side as well as central Karakoram National Park including Rush Lake and other treks departing from Nagar. Many embassies are not aware of the actual areas and the tourism requirements. 

Many treks such as Rakaposhi and Diran basecamps, Haramosh Valley, Fairy Meadows, Patandas are all in open zones without the need for permits.

 A trekking permit is always required if the trek goes above 6000mtrs.

Permits are applied for directly to the Ministry of Intierior via a registered tourism company after the visa is granted. Karakoram Bikers can assist with the permit application process. It can take up to 2 months to process

For general travel no, border areas are in zones of remote military containment. There are army check points that stop travellers entering border zones.

Border crossing points are fine, Khunjerab from China, Taftan from Iran. Wagah from India is currently closed to tourism. 

In the past there was a huge scare for foreign travellers and tour companies when the government decided to try to implement the need for an NOC to travel in Gilgit Baltistan. There was a huge uproar and this was never instigated. There is currently no requirement for an NOC to visit Gilgit (Hunza Skardu)on a standard tourist visa. Areas closer to Afghanistan, Iran and India borders do require an NOC, Such as Balochistan, Quetta, Azad Kashmir, Wakhan Corridor.

When arriving from Iran you will be given an NOC in Quetta, you do not apply for this in advance. Please arrive at the taftan border between Monday and Wednesday if you can to allow for the officials to process the NOC. If crossing by road to Iran from the Lahore side then you will need to go to Islamabad to apply for the NOC to cross.