Turkmenistan is beginning to reveal how its new electronic visa system, officially launched on October 1, 2026, will work in practice.
As of October 2, 2026, the official evisa.migration.gov.tm portal provides access to the main requirements for the program introduced the previous day by the State Migration Service.
The platform confirms that travelers will be able to apply for an e-Visa online, upload the required documents, pay the official fee and track the status of their application.
The portal went live as Turkmen authorities clarified that, beginning October 1, 2026, all procedures related to the issuance of electronic visas must be carried out through the dedicated online “e-Visa” system.
Tourism, business and humanitarian travel: three e-Visa categories
The new portal currently lists three electronic visa categories:
- e-TU for tourism;
- e-BS for business travel, for stays of up to 30 days;
- e-HM for humanitarian purposes.
For all three categories, applicants must provide at least:
- a scan of the passport biographical page, with the passport valid for at least six months from the date of entry into Turkmenistan;
- a recent color passport photo on a white background that meets International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.
A valid email address is also required. It is used for application status notifications, document verification and delivery of the electronic visa.
No mandatory invitation letter for the tourist e-Visa
The document requirements provide one particularly important clarification for future tourists.
For the e-TU tourist e-Visa, the portal does not list a letter of invitation among the mandatory documents.
A travel itinerary or confirmed hotel reservation, as well as medical insurance, are instead listed as optional documents.
This represents a significant departure from Turkmenistan’s traditional tourist visa process, under which travelers were generally required to obtain a letter of invitation in advance through a local travel agency or organization and have it approved by the State Migration Service.
The new requirements are also consistent with legislation adopted in 2025. As part of that reform, Turkmenistan amended its migration law to formally introduce the e-Visa, including provisions stating that an invitation does not need to be arranged or issued under the electronic visa procedure.
The requirements are different for the other two categories.
For the e-BS business e-Visa, the portal requires a letter of invitation from a company or organization registered in Turkmenistan, including information about the applicant’s position.
For the e-HM humanitarian e-Visa, applicants must provide an official letter from a humanitarian organization or United Nations agency confirming the assignment.
Processing times range from 24 hours to seven business days
The State Migration Service offers three processing options:
- Regular: 7 business days;
- Urgent: 3 business days;
- Super Urgent: 24 hours.
The portal does not yet display a fixed public fee schedule. Authorities state that the amount is calculated during the application process and depends on the parameters of the application.
Payment must be made online when the application is submitted. All fees are quoted in US dollars, and any bank transaction fees are not included.
Application, payment and tracking through the same portal
The homepage indicates that travelers will be able to complete the main stages of the process entirely online.
Once logged in, applicants should be able to complete their application, upload supporting documents, pay the required fees and track the progress of their case.
The portal also includes a public tool for checking the status of an application or visa. Travelers must enter at least two pieces of information from their last name, passport number and visa number.
Another feature allows an e-Visa to be transferred to a new passport, for example if a traveler renews their passport after the electronic visa has been issued.
The service is currently available in English, Russian and Turkmen.
Authorities also provide a support hotline at +993 12 380050 and a dedicated email address: visa@migration.gov.tm.
The portal is online, but no account registration option is visible yet
One issue still needs to be clarified before the full application process can be tested from start to finish.
From the homepage, the “Login to Portal” button leads to a sign-in page requiring a username and password. A password reset option is also available.
However, during checks carried out on October 2 by the travel-document specialists at VisasNews and Action-Visas, no “Register,” “Create account” or similar link allowing a new user to open an account was visible on the portal’s public pages.
This may indicate that the portal is still being fully rolled out, although it is not yet possible to determine how new applicants are expected to obtain their login credentials.
Even so, the platform already provides enough information to confirm the overall structure of the new procedure and the main requirements for the e-Visa.
A separate system handles online registration for foreign nationals
The e-Visa portal should not be confused with the other digital service recently introduced by the State Migration Service.
The official rgstr.migration.gov.tm website is dedicated to the registration of foreign nationals staying in Turkmenistan.
The system allows several procedures to be completed online, including registration at a place of stay, extensions of that registration and deregistration, without having to visit a State Migration Service office.
Together, the two platforms form the main pillars of Turkmenistan’s ongoing effort to digitalize entry and stay procedures for foreign visitors.
VisasNews Take
The launch of the evisa.migration.gov.tm portal now provides a much clearer picture of Turkmenistan’s new e-Visa system. For tourism, only a passport and photograph are listed as mandatory supporting documents, while the traditional letter of invitation is not required. Processing times range from 24 hours to seven business days, and the entire procedure is intended to be completed online. One point remains unclear, however: at the time of our checks, the portal did not yet display any option allowing a new user to create an account.
