Mongolian visa

I'm planning to travel soon to Mongolia as an independent travel (not as part of a tour group).


There is no longer a Mongolian Consulate in Hong Kong but I have seen some references to the availability of a via upon arrival at the airport (I'm planning to fly in).


Has anyone had experience of doing this as it's a bit risky to just show up and hope for the best.


Cheers

You need to be a HK passport holder (not just ID card holder) and even then it's only available for 14 days, after which you need to apply for a visa.


As to the visa on arrival, I'm getting conflicting sources of information - eg, I have called two of the Mongolian Consulates overseas who have putme in touch with agents who absolutely insist that visas are not available on arrival. Also the guidebook i have (2008 edition) says that this facility has been withdrawn. But the official Mongolian travel website says it's possible (having said that , their government website still lists the address of the HK Consulate although this closed three years ago.


That is why I am trying to find out whether anyone has actually obtained a visa on arrival, as an independent traveller not as part of a tour group ...

Hi,


Same thing for me, I am planning to take the Trans-Mongolian express from Moscow to Beijing and have found a lot of very conflicting information. I'd rather find a way of getting visa rather than finding out at the border that things where not as clear-cut as explained. I tried also tried to contact the embassy in Beijing but did not get any answer.

I am organizing the Visa for my Father that will be traveling with me in Europe trough a company specialized in "Difficult" visas but can not afford to do it with my own passport as I can't stay 2 to 3 weeks without travel documents. Anybody know a company organizing the same kind of services in Hong Kong ?

I am HK permanent resident and travel on a Swiss passport.


Thanks a lot for any piece of advise.

My specific inquiry related to an ex-HK visa, which does not have a Mongolian Consulate. In this case, there was confusion about whether i could either simply turn up at the border, or get a letter of invitation purchased from a Mongolia based travel agencies (as a stand-alone service, you can find them on the web), or whether I had to travel via Beijing and obtain a visa from the Mongolian consulate there.


But if you are entering Mongolia via a country that does have a Mongolian Consulate - as I expect Russia does - then the public information is clear: you must obtain a visa beforehand if you are not a passport of a country that is exempt (I haven't checked Switzerland ...). That means to me that your first point of inquiry should be whether you can obtain an express visa in Moscow or from another European country you may be travelling through with your father, and whether this works with your itinerary. The only option would seem to be some sort of pre-arranged at-the-border visa obtained from a travel agency when you are travelling as part of a mongolia tour group package. But if you and you fathers are independent travellers then this option won't be available to you - at least as far as all the information I can see.


Let me make it clear: I don't know the answers; it's just that from all the information I could find, the advice was unanimous that if you are travelling independently (ie, not as part of a tour group) from a country that has a Mongolian Consulate, then you must get a visa before arriving. But where you were travelling direct from a country that didn't have a Mongolian Consulate, the advice was conflicting.


Hope this helps ...



I have no other real information as I tired of the uncertainty myself and went to Borneo instead!


Good luck and if you do get a definite answer, please post in a reply as I may want to do it again at some point!

Thanks for the answer,

you are right, my case is a bit different because although I live in HK, my point of entry will be from Russia.I have for now heard from a couple that ended spending a long week-end in Hanoi because it seem a lot easier to get a visa from there!!!

In my case changing destination to Borneo won't do, I made sure I won't give up by paying the train ticket from Moscow, my own sadistic way of forcing myself to deliver.

I will be posting whatever solution I'll find.

Thanks again.

Hi jhc,

I promised to post my solution and did not do it, so sorry.

What I wanted to accomplish :

I wanted to take the train from Moscow to Beijing, no stop with my then 79 years old father, I lived in HK and him in France.

I needed a Russian, Mongolian, and Chinese Visa.

I'll only write about the part in HK.


1)et your tickets as some countries might want you to prove that you have the ticket out of the country. I did that trough an agency that provided me with both the flight from switzerland to Moscow and the train ticket to Beijing

2) some countries like to know when you are going to get out and where you are going, and sometime prove it, so that mean that you are better of getting the visas in invers order of the visit so Chinese visa first. I had a multiple business visa for china, so that was done.

3) As I was going in and out without stopping in Mongolia I went for a transit visa. I called the Mongolian Ambassy in Beijing, a Nice guy told me to pop in in Beijing for an overnight, promised me to get the visa next day. I told him I was living in HK, that I would rather avoid spending two days in Beijing just for a visa and when I asked if I could send in my passport via courier he just laughed and told me to come to Beijing and have some fun ...

As I did not have time for fun in Beijing, but was going to have fun very soon in Singapore I got my visa there. Do your homework, download the forms in advance, get the ID pictures, have the money ready, The Mongolian Wrestler at the reception looked like he game straight out of a very heavy boozing night, barely understood what I wanted, was thrown off by the fact that I had all I needed and lost completely track of what was going on because I did not need him to laboriously explain me what he needed, on the other hand if you don't have what is needed on hand you might spend one more day to get your Visa. BTW the Wrestling guy was very nice, just lost in translation. The day after there was a lady as lost as the wrestler, she first asked me what I wanted, was totally surprised that I was there to retrieve my passport, tried to get me to fill in all the papers again, that took 5 minutes to find my passport, I could see the pasport, it was in the drawer she opened 3 times, but she did not seem able to identify the swiss passport for what it was (It's red and has a white cross on it and of course my picture...). She then called a young man that solved the problem in 30 seconds, he did not seem to have spent the night sipping vodka :-). btw, not complaining, it was entertaining and everybody was very polite and nice.

4) The russian visa was no issue inHK, a very pretty young lady was nitting at the reception both time I went there, It seem that her only role is to point visitors at an other lady that was not nitting that seem to run the whole show. Again no complains, all nice people. The surprise was that the Visa for a swiss passport was much more expensive than for other countries, I wonder what neutral Switzerland did to the Russian guys to deserve that ?


Final word, really get your papers in order, while entering and exiting Russia and China is not a big deal, entering and exiting Mongolia took really time, with multiple visits of multiple officials asking to see our documents and making a serious search of the compartment, The police and custom ladies where very nice and actually very nice looking, but I got a clear NO NO message from an Armed guard outside the train when I tried to take a picture of the train station, The guy was massive, I measure 1m87 but the guy was towering me and had twice my shoulders.

Sorry for all the rambling, but I really had a great trip and lot of fun and can't help but share a few stories.

Hi there. I read your post. First of all i want to tell you that HK passport holder does not need any visa to go mongolian within 14 days. I am mongolia guy and live in HK Yong long. I travel with my girl friend "HK girl" to mongolia 2 times. So I am sure No need worry for visa, if you need to stay more than 14 days, you can extend your visa again in Mongolian Immigration Depatment near Airport "Chinggis Khaan".

if you need more information about mongolia. please check next website.

http://www.hongkong.mfat.gov.mn

http://www.immigration.gov.mn/


or you can ask me by email tsogtoo_dash@yahoo.com