Azerbaijan visit visa for Pakistan passport holders

Baku is a popular short trip from Pakistan, and the visa process is fully online. The State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan lists Pakistan among the countries covered by Azerbaijan's e-visa system. Pakistan is not on the visa-free list or the visa-on-arrival list, which currently covers countries such as Oman, Saudi Arabia and Japan. So you cannot simply turn up at Heydar Aliyev airport and get a visa stamped. You need an approved e-visa from the ASAN Visa portal at evisa.gov.az before you travel.

The portal describes the process in three steps: apply, pay and download. You fill in your passport details and travel dates, pay by card, and receive the e-visa by email. You can also check your status on the portal's check-status page. The standard e-visa is issued within 3 working days, so apply at least 3 working days before you arrive. An urgent e-visa is issued within 3 hours, including on public holidays and other non-working days. A standard e-visa's start date is set at least 3 working days after you submit, while an urgent one starts on the day it is issued, so choose your dates with that in mind.

The portal's information page lists a state fee of US$20 for the e-visa, plus a US$9 service fee, so US$29 in total, for processing the application. The fee is charged for reviewing the application and is not refunded under any circumstances, so check every detail before paying. If a website asks for much more, or its address does not end in .gov.az, you are probably on a third-party agent site rather than the government portal.

The e-visa gives you a single entry and a stay of up to 30 days. It is valid for 90 days, which means you can enter at any point in that window, but your total time in the country cannot exceed 30 days. Leaving and coming back requires a new e-visa. If you want to stay longer, you must get an extension or a temporary residence permit approved before the 30 days run out. Otherwise you have to leave. Your passport must remain valid for at least 3 months after the e-visa expires, so check the expiry date on your green passport first.

An e-visa is permission to travel, not a guarantee of entry. The portal's conditions say the border service can still refuse entry in the cases listed in Azerbaijan's Migration Code. Carry a printed copy of the e-visa, your return ticket and your hotel booking, and be ready to show you have enough money for the trip. These are common border checks, and they make arrival smoother. Azerbaijan does not publish a refusal rate for e-visa applications from Pakistan.