Visa Requirements

A passport and visa are required. Travelers may obtain single-entry visas for USD 131 by mail or in person from either the Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington, DC or any other Azerbaijani embassy offering consular services. Travelers may also obtain single-entry, 30-day visas at the airport upon arrival for USD 131. Visas are not available at the land borders with Georgia or Russia. Double-entry, 90-day visas (cost: USD 131) and one-year multiple-entry visas (cost: USD 250) are only available through an Azerbaijani embassy or through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A letter of invitation from a contact in Azerbaijan is required, and travelers who expect to travel in the region should request a one-year, multiple-entry visa. According to Azerbaijani law, foreign nationals intending to remain in Azerbaijan for more than 30 days must register with local police within three days of their arrival. Foreign citizens should approach the passport section of the local district police office and fill out an application form. The registration fee is AZN 9.90 (approximately USD 12).

To enter Azerbaijan, an entry visa is required for most countries. If you have the luxury of time and are planning your visit from your home country, it is a good idea to try to get your visa from an Azerbaijani consulate. Multiple visas are generally not issued for tourists outside of Azerbaijan. The best deal you may get abroad is a 3 month double entry. However since April 2009 an invitation letter is required. Single entry tourist visas can also be obtained without an invitation at Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku. (From July 2009 invitations should become compulsory also here.) You will need to have two passport size photographs ready for this visa. EU nationals generally pay 60 AZN for any visa from 1 to 3 months length. For Information on visa requirements visit the relevant page in the web site of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.[2]. Those of Armenian ancestry are regularly denied entry, no matter what passport they hold, so just showing up without a visa is not always a good idea.

Note that if your passport shows any evidence of travel to the separatist republic of Nagorno Karabakh, such as a Karabakh visa, Azerbaijani consulates will deny you a visa. Even if you already have an Azerbaijan visa, you will be turned away and deported, or possibly arrested, if you attempt to enter the country with a Karabakh visa in your passport. If you do intend to visit Karabakh, the authorities there can issue the visa on a separate piece of paper at your request, although sometimes they forget to do this even if instructed to do so.