Arriving at Baghdad airport I

As regular travellers to Iraq, we usually get pre-arrival visas from the embassy. But, to gauge the tourist experience and any challenges this entails, we decided to try the visa on arrival (VOA) system and, in December 2021, took the cheapest available flight from London (with Pegasus Airlines), landing in Baghdad at the inhospitable hour of 1.30am. 

Arriving in Baghdad 

After disembarking and upon entering the airport building, a medic visually checks PCR tests. If another flight from elsewhere has also just arrived, there might quite a crush of people and still only one medic. [Update: later in 2022, Iraq instituted a new regulation requiring all travellers to Iraq to show proof of two Covid-19 vaccinations, which rendered PCR tests unnecessary.][Update II: In 2023, all Covid-19-related requirements were dropped, with no requirement for tests or evidence of vaccination].

Once past the medic, there's a row of passport booths, one of which is for diplomatic personnel (far right) with the rest for ‘Iraqis’ and ‘others’. Only a few of these may be staffed, depending on the hour and flight schedules. 

On the left of these booths (before going through passport control) is a desk with a room behind it and several rows of chairs nearby.

Visa on arrival 

If you don’t have a visa, you head straight for this desk, where most staff speak some very basic English. There is a single-page form to fill out, so it’s useful have a pen to hand. Questions are in English and Arabic and are basic - personal information, passport details, origin, and where you are staying in Iraq (more on ‘hotel bookings’ below). 

You hand the completed form, along with your passport, in at the desk, and officials will take these away. Don’t be alarmed, your passport will be safely returned to you. 

If you have previous Iraqi visas in your passport, the process will likely be swift - around 10 minutes. If this is your first visit, it will take longer - around 15-60 minutes - although, if asked, staff may tell you it will only take five minutes. You can take a seat and pass the time by reading a book or using the free and usually relatively functional airport wifi to inform your nearest and dearest, or any Iraqi contacts, that you have landed safely in Baghdad. 

You can’t get any refreshments (if needed) until you’ve gone through passport control to collect your hold luggage. If you’re held up waiting for the VOA, don’t worry about your rucksack going sadly round and round on the carousal or being stolen. It will be just fine. If the carousal has stopped, someone will have rescued your luggage and placed it neatly beside the carousal.

When your passport is returned with the visa inside, it’s time to pay for it, which needs to be in cash (dollars). It's best to have the correct sum to hand, as change is unlikely to be available. The sign above the visa desk clearly states $75. However, we were asked for $77. We queried what the extra $2 and were told it was “for the sticker”. We only had the $75 and Iraqi money (IQD) and paid IQD 3,000. Out of principle, we asked for a receipt (which went down badly) and were told this was not possible. The official put this IQD 3,000 in his pocket. We would probably refuse to pay the extra $2 next time, just to see what happens. If you’re not pugnacious like us and don’t have Iraqi dinars, you may like to make sure you have $77 to hand, in exact change.

Hotel bookings

One of the questions on the form is your address in Iraq. When Iraq first opened the visa-on-arrival process, this required a mandatory hotel booking with one of seven hotels, mostly quite pricey options. This regulation has since been lifted, although it can sometimes take a little time for regulation changes to filter down to enforcers.  

A friend had booked us a cheap hotel over the phone (not one of the seven) and we were asked for a copy of the hotel booking, which we did not have. They double-checked the name of the hotel verbally and seemed annoyed but satisfied. However, some tourists arriving without any hotel booking have been asked to pay $50 as "a fine” for not having a hotel booking. We suspect you are more likely to be asked to pay this sum if you have not entered the country before. 

Based on these experiences, overall it seems preferable to have a hotel booking you can show, even if you’re planning to mostly do some kind of local homestay. Anyway, we always prefer to go straight to a hotel after landing, to decompress after travelling and be ready for our first day in Iraq. 

Passport control (and pre-arrival visa)

Once you have your VOA in your passport, or if you already have a visa issued by the Iraqi embassy in your country of origin, you can generally join any queue (apart from the diplomatic one). 

If you have a pre-arrival visa, however, you may still be directed back to the visa desk on the left. If so, staff there will just take your passport into the back room and bring it back after a few minutes. You then return to passport control. 

At passport control, an official (most of whom do not speak English) will check your passport and visa and take a photo of you with a small camera attached to the desk. 

After passport control

After passport control but before the baggage carousels, there is a security scanner through which you put all your bags but not phones. You may get asked to show any photographic equipment you have in your bag. 

You can then collect your luggage from (or beside) the carousel and, if needed, grab some refreshments from a tea stand, selling hot drinks and snacks, although they probably only accept Iraqi dinars.

After you have collected your luggage, you walk out into the main airport through customs. You are unlikely to be stopped here but, if you are, just smile and be pleasant, and open bags or answer questions, if requested. 

Great, you’re in!

A note about VOAs

The VOA process started in March 2021 but initially wasn’t well-publicised, which led to a few problems for travellers at check-in in their country of origin. To be on the safe side, we had printed out a copy-and-paste of an announcement (in English and Arabic) about the VOA from the official London Iraqi Embassy’s Facebook page. At check-in, the VOA was queried, a list of countries requiring pre-arrival visas was checked (Iraq was no longer on it), we waved the print-out around and were able to check in without problems.