I’m wanting to take a Turkmenistan tour mainly because of my interest in the Akhal Tele horses.

Thank you for your wishes and response.

I am no longer in the US. I am in Helsinki and enjoying border-free Schengen area 🙂

I don’t think that Kazakhstan’s consular services are inherently corrupt.

However, I am sure that other bureucracies in Kazakhstan can be corrupt. I have experienced that personally growing up in Kazakhstan. However, things are improving and changing for the better the more I visit and see positive changes on the ground.

My point in my earlier observations was that US (arguably one of the most developed countries in the world, famous for rule of law, democracy etc, a country with over 233 years of existence an independent state) still has flaws in terms of visa issuance, bureaucracy etc. Therefore I think it is unfortunately quite natural for newly independent states of Central Asia to have these problems. It takes time to build institutions, governance, rule of law as is the case with many developing countries.

I am glad that people like you visit my country and the region and write about it.

I personally wish that all Central Asian states had a similar common Schengen style visa, so a visitor can go to say Uzbekistan, then Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan without having to apply to separate visas. In addition, I want for foreigners from richer countries be able to get their visas at the airport on arrival or remove visas altogether for 90 days or so. I think that will happen when my generation becomes policymakers in the region’s countries. It is a matter of time.

All the best,

I would like to share my observations about my experience in the US with visa and bureaucracy.

About visa thing, I can share my insights/perspectives based on my own experience. I was a student at the college in the US and grad school. In additon, I worked for several years upon getting my master’s degree.

Yes, Central Asian countries have problematic bureaucracies, but in the US I lived in Virginia, Maryland and DC, I had to wait 5-6 hours to be rejected a local state-issued ID by rude, unprofessional staff who would insult me for being non-white and foreign. Whenever I went to Motor Vehicle Administration I would have long lines and then incompetent staff in the US.

In addition, getting a visa to the States, unlike Americans I had to show my bank account balance, property, family ties as far as how color underwear I have 🙂 Also a visa costs at least 100$ for Kazakhstan citizens to go to the States, and then we have to go through interviews, and get an appointment 2-3 weeks in advance. Then embassy gives me a visa for one-year although I am a student for 4 years in college, so every year I had to renew my visa if I would go back to Kazakhstan to visit my family. Some of my friends were rejected visa after a year in the US, although they didn’t break any rules. Basically visa decisions are made by a consul and everything depends on his or her mood.
About statistics you mentioned, I wouldn’t include Kazakhstan there.
I personally met former US ambassador to Kazakhstan, Mr. John Ordway in Washington DC, he mentioned that 97% of Kazakhstan citizens didn’t overstay their visas and 99,9% returned, making Kazakhstan one of the top countries that don’t break the immigration rules in the US. Therefore I don’t see any reason why Kazakhstan citizens have to go through these visa headache either.
About the border, flying in to the States, as a foreigner I have to do fingerprints and wait 2-4 hours in some airports particularly the JFK, and Dulles International and once in Chicago O’Hare, I was called f-cking Kazakh for not understanding their fast English when I first visited the US.
I have never tried the land border to the US so I can’t share my experiences. However I have traveled by plane quite a bit both in developing and developing countries and I can say that the US Customs and Immigration has a long way to catch up with many countries’ including Kazakhstan, Turkey and let alone the EU countries, Canada, Norway, Finland etc.

It is true that it takes time for systems to change. We lived in the Czech Republic for five years, from 2001 to 2006 and are very familiar with its foreigner’s police (we still have residency there). It is still not perfect and I still see discrimination of Asian & people from former Soviet Union, it is getting better.

Enjoy your time in Helsinki and the rest of the EU!

I – as a US citizen – also get nervous going through my own immigration services when we arrive in the States since my passport is full of stamps from “strange” countries. Fortunately, we have yet to have any problems but I always prepare myself in case I get questioned. And yes, you unfortunately experienced the worst of American customers service – the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles).

I hope your experiences in the United States in future are more positive.

We stayed at Hotel Orzu in Tashkent (Ivleva Street #14 – Tel: 120 80 77/120 88 22) and it was a nice hotel in a good location. A couple of years ago it was $33 for a double room, but I believe it has gone up in price since then.

Enjoy your trip!

Securing a visa here in Washington does not (according to the consular officer at the Uzbek embassy) appear to be a problem — as opposed to having her prepare a LOI.

Now, what about having her visit me here in the US? I suspect, it’s going to be like trying to run against 100 mph headwinds. Any advice?

And….. where to stay in Tashkent w/o going broke. She has a daughter and I’m not sure it makes sense for me to intrude. Thanks