Visa

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All foreign citizens visiting Uzbekistan on temporary basis (whether they need visa or not) must submit documents for registration at the place of residence within 72 hours upon arrival to Uzbekistan. Registration is not necessary if you arrive to Uzbekistan during weekend or holidays or if a period of your stay will not exceed three working days. During stay in a hotel your stay will be registered by hotel administration. Upon checking out you should remember of taking the registration form with you stamped by the hotel administration. Registration in Uzbekistan is essential and unavoidable. To enjoy your stay, follow the rules and make sure you are registered.

If you stay in flat or private house then you should be registered via Local Police Department of Registration, so-called (OVIR). Those who issue a Letter of Invitation for you must care about your registration, applying to OVIR for it. This service is chargeable. After filling in necessary forms and paying applicable fees, your passport will be left at the OVIR office for a few days, as it demands a registration process. Just in case keep copy of your passport (make copy of page with an entry visa too) with you at all times.

If you take an overnight train journey, keep the ticket stub or booking confirmation as proof of your whereabouts. If you are camping or staying with friends or at a homestay for more than three nights, you should register at the local OVIR to ensure you (and your hosts) are in the clear.

Punishments for failing to register are applied arbitrarily and you never know if you'll be the unlucky one. Whilst most people will get away with a few missing registration slips (and may not have them checked at all), some unlucky ones could be even detained for couple of days and fined for up to US$1,500 each for failing to register. The requirement for foreigners to register within three days of arriving in any given place is an irritating overhang from the Soviet period and, even more irritatingly, it is often enforced by the authorities. Unless you have plenty of time and money to throw at extricating yourself from the problem, play it safe.

* Please note that it is illegal to stay at private house with tourist visa. You can stay in private house only with business or visitor visas after having special authorization.

Business Visa holders require special authorization to stay in private homes, which should be obtained prior to arrival in Uzbekistan. Ask your inviting business or organization to help you with this. Without such authorization, you will be required to stay in authorized hotels, where they will register you automatically.

Did you know?

Uzbekistan is one of only two countries in the world to be ‘double landlocked’ (landlocked and totally surrounded by other landlocked countries). Liechtenstein is double landlocked by 2 countries whilst Uzbekistan is surrounded by 5!

Did you know that Uzbekistan lies in the very heart of Eurasia, the coordinates for Uzbekistan are 41.0000° N, 69.0000°

Uzbekistan is home to the Muruntan gold mine, one of the largest open pit gold mines in the world! The country has 4th largest reserves of gold in the world after South Africa, USA and Russia

Uzbekistan is the world capital of melons. They have in excess of 150 different varieties, which form a staple part of the local diet, served fresh in the summer and eaten dried through the winter.

It is Uzbek tradition that the most respected guest be seated farthest from the house’s entrance.

Tashkent’s metro features chandeliers, marble pillars and ceilings, granite, and engraved metal. It has been called one of the most beautiful train stations in the world.

The Uzbek master chef is able to cook in just one caldron enough plov to serve a thousand men.

When you are a host to someone, it is your duty to fill their cups with for the whole time they are with you. What you must not do, however, is to fill their cup more than half-full. If you do that as a mistake, say it is a mistake immediately. Doing it means you want them to leave. Wow! Amazing, right?

To Uzbeks, respect means a whole lot. For this reason they love it if, even as foreigners, you endeavour to add the respectful suffix opa after a woman's name; and aka after a man's. Example: Linda-opa and David-aka. You could also use hon and jon respectively.

Having been an historic crossroads for centuries as part of various ancient empires, Uzbekistan’s food is very eclectic. It has its roots in Iranian, Arab, Indian, Russian and Chinese cuisine.

Though identified with the Persia, the Zoroastrism probably originated in Bactria or Sogdiana. Many distinguished scholars share an opinion that Zoroastrianism had originated in the ancient Khorezm. Indeed, today in the world there were found 63 Zoroastrian monuments, including those in Iran, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thirty-eight of them are in Uzbekistan, whereas 17 of these monuments are located in Khorezm.

One of Islam's most sacred relics - the world's oldest Koran that was compiled in Medina by Othman, the third caliph or Muslim leader, is kept in Tashkent. It was completed in the year 651, only 19 years after Muhammad's death.

Tashkent is the only megapolis in the world where public transport is totally comprised of Mercedes buses. And due to low urban air polution it is one of the few cities where one can still see the stars in the sky.

You would be surprised to know that modern TV was born in Tashkent. No joke! The picture of moving objects was transmitted by radio first time in the world in Tashkent on 26 of July 1928 by inventors B.P. Grabovsky and I.F. Belansky.

Uzbekistan is the only country in the world all of whose neighbours have their names ending in STAN. This is also the only country in Central Asia that borders all of the countries of this region

Uzbeks are the third populous Turkik ethnicity in the world after Turks and Azeris (leaving both in Azerbaijan and Iran)

Did you know that there was silk money in Khiva? Super interesting right? Of course, but the best part of having silk money was that it could be sewn into your clothing.

Famous Islamic physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna in the Latin world) who was born near Bukhara was the one of the first people to advocate using women’s hair as suture material – about 1400 years ago.

Uzbekistan has a long and bloody history. The most notorious leader of Uzbekistan was Timur (or Tamerlane) who claimed descent from Genghis Khan. His military campaigns have been credited for wiping out some 5% of the world’s population at the time.

If you have thought that some of the Islamic architecture in Uzbekistan resembles that from Northern India, then that is because Timur’s great great great Grandson, Babur Beg, was the founder of the Moghul Empire that ruled much of India for almost four centuries! Babur’s great great Grandson was Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal.

Uzbekistan was once a rum producig country. There is still a real arboretum in Denau (city near Termez on the border with Afghanistan), grown from a selection station that studied the prospects of plant growing in the unusual for the Soviet Union subtropical climate of Surkhandarya region: only here in the whole of the USSR sugar cane was grown and even rum was produced!

Uzbekistan has been ranked one of the safest countries in the world, according to a new global poll. The annual Gallup Global Law and Order asked if people felt safe walking at night and whether they had been victims of crime. The survey placed Uzbekistan 5th out of 135 countries, while the UK was 21st and the US 35th. Top five safest countries:

Singapore
Norway
Iceland
Finland
Uzbekistan

Exchange rates

100 RUR

13717.5 UZS

100 USD

1053775.33 UZS

100 EUR

1266005.57 UZS

100 GBP

1469068.42 UZS

Weather in cities

Tashkent

Samarkand