Jordan tourist visa pakistani passport 2

By Urooj Hussain

I was very keen on travelling to Jordan after seeing amazing photographs of Petra and Wadi Rum but I had not heard of anyone personally who had been to Jordan before, so I asked around on various travel groups and forums only to get vague answers from everywhere INCLUDING travel agents!

“You can’t apply for Jordan visa from Pakistan”, “It is very difficult” “You need an official invitation letter and then it can take weeks and months to get a visa” was some of the answers that I got. Determined not to lose hope I decided to ignore whatever everyone else was saying and just do an investigation myself.

I simply Googled “Jordan Consulate Karachi” and I got a phone number from an online business directory- Upon calling and inquiring about the visa I was told I would have to “take an appointment” to pick up the form. This seemed a bit strange to me, so I just looked up the location of the embassy on maps and drove there.

I literally just walked in, up to reception and said “I want to go to Jordan, give me a form please” – They looked at me in surprise for a while, asked me to sit down for 5 minutes and then handed me over a form! Getting the form was literally as easy as that.

Please note the visa form is very simple and takes 5 minutes to fill. However, it does not list the full range of documents which you need for the visa. The list was told to me by the visa coordinator (the name is Arsalan) They are as follows:

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR TOURIST VISA

  • Hotel bookings
    Jordan is a small country and you will likely be moving around from city to city in the duration of your trip. It’s best to book a tour from a reputed tour company in Jordan who will manage all hotel bookings for you. I used Bedouin Life Tours. The manager’s name is Ra’ed and he was extremely helpful. They will email you an entire itinerary with hotel bookings and you can show this for your visa.
  • Return air ticket booking
    Get a dummy reservation from a travel agent or book a ticket confirmation that is held for 24/48 hours, take a print out and use it.
  • 3 Months Bank Statement
    You need a bank statement showing a minimum amount of more than 300,000 PKR. This amount was not specified anywhere, however, since Jordan is an expensive country this is the bare minimum amount based on my evaluation.
  • Employment Letter + Salary Slips
    You need a letter from your employer specifying your passport number, and that the dates you are travelling on are approved leave from them. It should also confirm your designation and how long you have been working there. You also need to show 3 months of salary slips. Please note your salary should make sense with the amount of money reflected in your account.
  • Passport
    You need your current passport with 6 months validity.
  • Visa Application Form
    The embassy needs FOUR filled copies of application form, so when you get the form, fill 4 photocopies of it.
  • Passport size photo (any colour background, pasted on all 4 forms)

FAQs

  • What is the fee? Approx 8000 PKR plus courier fee to Islamabad (if applying from Karachi)
  • How many days does it take? 5 working days
  • Do they call for an interview? Yes
  • Do they give a reason for refusal? If they refuse, yes.
  • When can I re-apply if is rejected? You need to ask at the embassy
  • What is the validity period? 2 months from the date of issue
  • How many days of entry do they give? 2 months
  • How to submit the documents? No travel agent required, one of the applicants can go and submit on behalf of every other applicant.

Point to note: they are wary of solo travellers and usually expect people to travel in groups. So if you are a solo traveller you will need to answer additional questions in an interview. This is especially important if you are a girl travelling alone, it’s better to get a male family member to apply with you even if they aren’t going to accompany you on the trip. The consulate people are a bit old school in that way.


HOW TO GET THERE

Timings: Monday-Friday 9 AM-2 PM

Contact:

  • Karachi: 021-32856593
  • Islamabad: 051-2279124

Embassy Address:

Is there any question still unanswered, please let me know in the comments section below. If you know anyone who is looking for this information, share away!

Urooj is Karachi based globetrotter. She writes about her travels on her website Three Day Weekend Life.