Transit Visa On Arrival Yangon, What Are The Steps Required, Please Someone Must Know

[asiamint]

Can i get a flight to Yangoon and recieve a transit visa on arrival?( it seems many posters of articles on here have termed that phase and it's noting of the sort, or is it?)

i will be there 20 hours, im from the uk and have a return ticket out of there.

to me a visa on arrival means flying into the airport and getting your visa on arrival?

many posters on here think visa on arrival means this 'Pre-arranged on-arrival Myanmar Visa' this is because there just posting the wrong information.

and companies like this http://www.myanmartr...visa.htm never tell you if their information is up to date and they use the term also, who has the right information?

they say this is their meaning of visa on arrival

Pre-arranged on-arrival Myanmar Visa

On-arrival visa applicant sends the required particulars at least two weeks prior to arrival date. We will send the applications to the different ministries in new capital, Nay Pyi Taw. After receiving the permission, we will go to the airline to inform that the on-arrival visa has been approved so that the airline will allow you to board the flight bound to Myanmar. We will send a copy of on-arrival visa approval to you as the airline authorities may check with the documents they already received from us. Once you arrive to Yangon airport, go to the on-arrival visa counter before the immigration booths. The immigration officer will check the documents they have from us and the visa will be printed on your passport. Finally, you will go to the airport immigration booths for visa check (and queue if necessary like others). You’ll be welcomed by a company staff to take you to the hotel.

So who is right the offical website or these companies? after 3 hours i still have no clue

im hoping this post will save me a lot of time and many others in the future.

it says here on the offical website from what i can gather that these are the only these visa's that will be issued at the airport, notice no turist visa

The title of the page on the offical site is

http://www.mip.gov.mm/visaonarrival/

MYANMAR VISA ON ARRIVAL

BUSINESS VISA US$ 50 70 days ENTRY VISA US$ 40 28 days (Meetings / Workshops / Events) TRANSIT VISA US$ 20 24 hours

this offical website does not give you a step by step guide on what to do, but from what i can gather

for a transfit visa

2 photo's

return ticket out of there within a 24 hour

passport expiry longer than 6 months

then it say's download the form

apply for Visa On Arrival at Airport Immigration Section obtaining the application form either from the airlines in Myanmar or the following website www.mip.gov.mm of the Ministry of Immigration and Population.

go the website and none of the links go to the correct form , typical

does this sentence say that you can get the form on arrival? if so why are airasia turning people back

so my question is if i book airasia am i going to be stung by them and turned away?

im going for 20 hours, that qualifys for a transit visa? and the UK is on the list of 26 countires on their offical page, if the laws have changed then why is this on the offical website?

Date of Commencement (1-6-2012) (26 Countries)

Australia France Japan Norway Switzerland Vietnam Brunei Germany Korea Philippines Taiwan Cambodia India Laos Singapore Thailand China Indonesia Malaysia Spain United Kingdom Denmark Italy New Zealand Sweden United States of America

does anyone no for sure what the situation is?, i've wasted so much time reading incorrect posts and Air Asia have been more than useless, rude customer service and a total waste of time, if they can turn you away at the ticket counter for no visa then why cant someone at airasia tell me before i pay for the ticket what the requirments are, in my opinion total rip off, the requiremnet to travel to myanmar should be as clear as day before i buy a ticket, they deal with the airport in yangoon on a daily basis, how difficult would it be to keep their customers updated before they buy non refundable air tickets, i get the feeling they make plenty out of this.

thanks for any help, a quick reply would be very much appreactied

cheers

[SeaVisionBurma]

asiamint - your post is rather long and at first read a little confusing, and you are mixing up info from a private company as well as the government website.

Having a go at the mods - given the info you are trying to find out - isn't fair either.

Is this your first visit to Myanmar?

It is a country undergoing rapid change, but unfortunately there hasn't been any consistency in their visa policies up until now.

The post "Myanmar introduces visa on arrival to facilitate foreigners entry" is a news article which was re-posted here, and that thread is eight months old.

The terminology also changes depending on who you refer to.

Yes - there is a Visa On Arrival service, and yes, these must be pre-arranged. These are terms given by the government and local travel bodies in Myanmar.

So perhaps lets take your queries one step at a time.

From the initial part of your post - you are trying to work out whether you can get a transit visa. Correct?

Let me ask you how soon you are travelling - give us some rough dates.

We can continue from there.

In the mean time - settle down, and we'll try and help

SVB

[asiamint]

thanks man, it's been a tough day

i want to go on the 6th of feb and come back on the 7th of feb

just need transit visa back within 20 hours to bkk

and thanks once again

[SeaVisionBurma]

thanks man, it's been a tough day

i want to go on the 6th of feb and come back on the 7th of feb

just need transit visa back within 20 hours to bkk

and thanks once again

No worries - I can see you are a little frustrated, and I can understand it. The terminology is confusing, but unfortunately this is the reality for the current Myanmar visa situation.

So are you flying UK-Yangon-Bangkok - or UK-Bangkok-Yangon and then back to Bangkok? Sorry not clear on this.

Either way, with only a couple of days to go I don't think you're going to be happy with the response.

Your best bet is to call the Myanmar Embassy in the UK as soon as possible, and see if they can assist.

Explain to them that your flight is already booked, and you want to know whether you can board in UK without pre-approval for a visa.

Not that this will help - but I flew Bangkok to Yangon last month with Air Asia, and without a visa in my passport had to talk my way onto the plane.

Even airline staff are not up to date on whether or not they can allow people to board - this is entirely the fault of the Myanmar authorities, as there has been no clear policy or training on this.

Will also send you PM now, as I may be able to help if I can get further info from you re airline etc

SVB

[asiamint]

sorry about that

bkk to yangon, yangon to bkk

[SeaVisionBurma]

sorry about that

bkk to yangon, yangon to bkk

Okay that helps - from reading your initial email, it seemed as though you were in the UK.

If you're in Bangkok now - I would suggest an early trip to the embassy tomorrow morning.

As you can probably now see - although the visas issued at Yangon airport are referred to as Visas On Arrival (in news articles, on the official govt website, all the travel websites, even airline websites) - they are not yet at the stage where you can just hop on a plane without some pre-approval.

This is simply the state of play at the moment, and I have referred to this where possible whenever I have answered other queries on this forum.

Are you able to get to the embassy in Bangkok tomorrow? This is your safest bet, given that there is barely a day or 2 before your flight.

Also - what airline are you flying?

[asiamint]

a thai travel agent is calling embassy tomorrow to see what can be done, thanks once again, it does seem weird that i can boat into Koh Song and get stamped and leave, strange that they are making it so difficult for people to see the country.

After what you said about getting on baord air asia it's sounding like a bit of a nightmare, i thought for transit it would be diffirent. Although i can do the blagging bit and wave round one of their visa forms, if you think that wil get me on the aircraft i might do it, just the other end in yangon that might kick up a fuss.

My fault but i never plan anything two weeks in advance, i just want to fly in spend some decent cash and fly out the next day, i cant see for the life of me why they make it so difficult, and to top it all off my friend is waiting for me to tell him what's it like there to invest. Be funny when i say i could not even get into the country.

thanks for all your help once again

[SeaVisionBurma]

No problem at all - have sent you a PM with further info.

Please let us know how you get on - all this info and feedback is very helpful to other forum members.

cheers

SVB

[asiamint]

Thanks for the help SVB and i just wanted to clarfiy my first opening post above for anyone reading on, the problem i had was with the term VOA in the myanmar visa section , and as SVB pointed out the government in Myanmar have a diffirent view about what that term means. i respect all the great info here and the work you have done SVB

That one term is so mis leading though and i guess goverments love to put a spin on everything

[hopdafru]

so... how did it go?

I'm curious as I also thought that VOA meant hopping on the plane with a couple of pictures and $50. Doesn't look that way!

[SeaVisionBurma]

Curious also - asiamint, did you manage to get there okay?

Incidentally today was outrageous at the embassy, with a national holiday tomorrow meaning it will be closed.

Queues even just before midday were still outside and down the street.

Still - I managed to get an application in this morning for someone, and collected this afternoon.