Visa requirements for Iranian citizens

Iranian citizens need a Schengen visa, which covers all member states for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, Iran and 39 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

149 countries ask holders of the Iranian passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Iran without one: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda and 144 others.

105 countries ask holders of the Iranian passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 51 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Iran, and 1 also takes applications through a visa application centre there (India).

54 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Iran, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Iran, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Azerbaijan (5), Israel (4), the United Arab Emirates (3) and Turkey (3).

The United States refused 62% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Iran in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 167 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 29 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in Iran refused 29% of short-stay visa applications in 2025 (all Schengen consulates worldwide: 15%). Among the 74 countries where they received at least 10,000 applications, that is the 26th highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the Iranian passport

By continent, the Iranian passport is visa-free in 7 countries in Asia, 3 countries in the Americas, 2 countries in Africa and 1 country in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Iranian citizens are allowed in Armenia (90 days), Haiti (90 days), the Seychelles (90 days), Turkey (90 days), Georgia (45 days) and Micronesia (30 days).

Visa on arrival

Iranian citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Lebanon and 17 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Iranian citizens enter Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Benin and 44 others. Ivory Coast, Kenya and Suriname ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Where Iranian citizens are not admitted

According to the visa data used here, Iranian citizens are currently not admitted to Libya, Syria and the United States.

Iran’s neighbours

Iraq, Armenia and Turkey admit Iranian citizens without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: Turkmenistan (visa required), Afghanistan (visa required), Pakistan (e-Visa for up to 30 days) and Azerbaijan (e-Visa for up to 30 days).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Turkish passport ranks 86th (112 destinations), the Azerbaijani passport ranks 118th (72 destinations), the Armenian passport ranks 127th (67 destinations), the Turkmen passport ranks 173rd (47 destinations) and the Iraqi passport ranks 196th (30 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 43 can enter visa-free, 145 get a visa on arrival, 9 need a visa from an embassy or consulate and 1 is not admitted for Iran.