The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan says that now all Tajik nationals need foreign passport (passport for international travels) to travel to Uzbekistan.
Recall, a government-to-government agreement enabling nationals of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to visit each others’ countries for up to 30 days without obtaining a visa was signed in Dushanbe on March 9 during Uzbek president’s state visit to Tajikistan.
Tajik MFA notes that the countries should complete some intrastate procedures for application of that agreement.
Tajik foreign ministry also notes that now all Tajik nationals need foreign passport (passport for international travels) to travel to Uzbekistan to travel to Uzbekistan.
Before that, residents of districts bordering Uzbekistan could use the Tajik internal passport to travel to Uzbekistan and they could stay in Uzbekistan for five days without visa.
Meanwhile, Tajikistan’s Foreign Ministry has stopped issuing blank blue-color foreign passports and only biometric foreign passport are issued in Tajikistan.
Tajikistan introduced biometric passports on February 1, 2010. German Muhlbauer was granted a contract for purchase of blank biometric passports for Tajikistan. A two-stage tender for purchase of blank biometric passports and appropriate equipment, announced by the Agency for State Purchases at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was held in June 2009. On August 27, 2009, Tajik MFA and German Muhlbauer signed a contract on purchase of the blank biometric passports and appropriate equipment for Tajikistan.
The price for foreign passports of a number of CIS nations has changed this year. In Tajikistan, the price of foreign passport has remained the same, while in Kazakhstan, it has risen twice as much this year. Uzbekistan is introducing a passport for international travels only this year. Currently, Uzbeks use a single identification document, known as a "common civil passport," to travel abroad. The document has special pages for external trips to which a special exit visa or permission to travel abroad is affixed.
To obtain an international biometric passport in Tajikistan costs 75 U.S. dollars plus 115 somoni (equivalent to 13.00 U.S. dollars) for government duty (75 somoni) and service (40 somoni). The passport is issued in 15 days.
Tajik foreign passport is followed by the Russian foreign passport, which costs 3,500 Russian rubles (equivalent to 61.8 U.S. dollars).
Kazakhstan’s foreign passport now costs 19,240 tenge (equivalent to 59.1 USD), Armenian foreign passport – 25,000 drams (equivalent to 51 USD), Azeri foreign passport – 40 manat (equivalent to 23.2 USD), and Kyrgyz foreign passport costs 530 som (equivalent to 7.7 USD).
