Turkey Iran Border Crossing | Customs and Immigration

Easy border crossing, you should be in the border early in morning( like before 8 am), it's 24/7 open, very professional officers and nice landscape from border towards city of Khoy ( first city in Iranside).

it can be crowded like other borders between iran-turkey. don't forget to be in border early.

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There are many things that need to be sorted out when entering Iran: buying a SIM card, taking out car insurance , exchanging money an so the procedure for border crossing.

With these tasks, Erfan (Mobile: +98 938 355 4132) helped us almost selflessly and easily to find the best solution. 

We are very grateful to Erfan for this valuable support and can only recommend to contact him before you travel to Iran.

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Chaotic border - yard behind turkish side was packed with taxis transporting goods. We tried Friday early morning. An extremely friendly police officer ( good english) helped us to get around waiting for all the taxis in front of us. Customs officer wanted money (road tax as far as I understood). First 200$ then discount 150$. We refused to pay. The guy got angry and handed our documents to a fixer. In the end we payed 15EUR for the fixer (wanted 40).

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Turkey - Iran

We crossed early on Sunday and there was no queue at all. Turkey side was quick and easy.

As soon as I arrived at the Iran side, several people approached me to help with the paperwork. There was a lot of tension in the area (they were kind to me) and an officer controlled with the taser the smugglers who were fighting. The only thing I had to do was go behind the fixer while he talked to everyone.

The passenger side was quite chaotic, very crowded and on top of that the system had gone down. In total the whole process took 3 hours.
After the whole process we pay the fixer €10.

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Turkey to Iran
1. passeneger goes alone uptill Iran exit so take your visa (and scarf) when you get out from the car
2. skip the line of the waiting minibusess and drive directly to Turkish gate. Minibusess go different flow.
3. Pay fixer no more than 10 usd, do 't spoil the market (Iran, no need on Turkish side)

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Avoid this border post.
We passed it on 26/8/2303 in the Iran > Turkey direction. Arrived at 5 p.m. at the Iranian post, exit to Türkiye at 1.30 a.m. That is 8.30h in total, a record as far as we are concerned.
1- This passage is saturated every day with minibuses coming from Turkey to fill up with fuel.
2- you will play the bumper in a total disorganization and in a smell of Diesel which emanates from the tanks which overflow from the vehicles.
3- the traffic jam begins at the Iranian post.
4-3h wait for Iranian formalities.
5- The crush continues between the two posts.
6- Turkish side: Passport control of vehicle registration insurance.
7- Passage of all the trunks, luggage and effects of the 4x4 to the X-ray.
8-Passage of the Vehicle to the X-ray
(I had to insist on not taking the luggage out a second time.)
9-new girl waiting to pass the vehicle over the pit.
10- Anti narcotic control with dog.
Inside the vehicle including on the bed covering our luggage.
11- Verification and signature of the report where all the control points mentioned are listed (including the name of the dog.) This document in a single copy must obviously prove internally the controls carried out and thus satisfy control objectives pre defined. (we were at the end of the month…)
12- new transition to administrative control.
13- After 8.30 am I can finally get out and find Nathalie who, as a passenger, was forced to wait 5 hours on the floor. (no waiting places or even seats)
Tip: Avoid this border post. It has a bad reputation according to the locals (Unfortunately we only found out afterwards)
If you want to try the experience, show up early in the morning to go to Turkey and at the end of the afternoon to join. Iran.
You would thus be in the opposite direction of the countless minibuses that saturate this passage. Please note that the passage is closed at night.
Good luck to you and good luck.

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Crossed from Iran to Turkey. I arrived around midday and there was no waiting queue. The whole process took me 45 minutes. People where very friendly everywhere. I negotiated with a fixer to pay him 6 million Rial, around 10 €.
Had to pay 3,5 million Rial for the fuel for my bike. At the last station on the iranian side the officer asked for 2 million Rial without receipt.
Nothing special on the Turkish side.

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Crossed from Turkey to Iran with my motor scooter. I needed around 2,5 hours, arriving at 8:45 am.
Turkish side was pretty easy. People were very friendly. The guys with the mini buses invited me to bypass the line of waiting vehicles.
On the Iranian side people are also very friendly, but the process is pretty chaotic.
I let a fixer help me but made the mistake to not barter the price at the start. He asked € 65. Finally I paid him € 20.
Do not accept to change money with the guys around. The proposed rate was around 65% of the real value.

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From Turkey to Iran.
Border crossing opens at 9am. But it‘s better to come early otherwise the queue will be very long. (We arrived at 7am and there already were a lot of minibuses waiting in line - the vibe was very intense and angry because of the long waiting times - some of the minibuses already waited 1 day. You really have to fight for your spot in the line).
Once you arrive at the turkish police & customs everything is quite straightforward. Not really fast but okay. (As a tourist car also the passenger can stay in the car they told us.)
At the iranian side everything is quite chaotic. Long waiting times. Many people and baggage around. No real system.
(The day we crossed the border the vibe was very aggressive at the iranian side - we saw several small fist fights. But everybody was very respectful and friendly towards us. The soldiers were very happy to see tourists.
Also at the iranian side is no need to be separated in driver and passenger - just stay in the car.
After the first car check one soldier went with us to the passport and visa control. He had to use a electro teaser to calm down the other people. He managed to guide us through the crowd and to get our visa stamps very fast.
Then we returned to the car and drove to the customs. There the car was checked again - but again only for like 5 seconds.
A fixer and one of the custom staff worked on our Carnet de Passages. They knew exactly what to do. We had to do a car insurance directly at the border - otherwise they couldn‘t do our CDP. The insurance was about 20€ for 15 days.
Take the help of a fixer - he will guide you through the different small yellow houses and will organize everything for you. Without fixer it can be very very chaotic.)
We also changed money directly at one of the fixers at the border - we changed Turkish Lira to Iranian Rial. It was a good rate.
It took us 2h for waiting + 2,5h for the border crossing process.
The border crossing at iranian side is under construction in some parts - it can be very very difficult to drive there with a big motorhome or truck.

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Left Iran to Turkey on this border. Very chaotic, unfriendly and Sepah hardliner controlled. Forced me to pay 120$ of tax (or fine) reasons where changing every time I asked what this was for.

Can NOT recommend this border!!!!!

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turkey side easy and fast.
iran side as already told before bit chaotic. many people involved on put a stamp on some paper or write some on it. we where forced to make numberplate, (maybe why we have 15t truck!?).we ask more time about the printed letter but they give us some paper and say is enought. it wasnt, i had to drove back and after long discussing and i show the picture of what i need i get one. i put the pitcure of the needed paper so the next one crossing the border can show it. it will help i guess.

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We crossed the border from Turkey to Iran. As described, they will separate you in Turkey and also in Iran. The car owner needs to go with the car, and all other passengers need to use the footpath.

A fixer (3-5$) helped us go to every needed station at the border for the car. There are a lot of people involved, and every person needs to put their stamp or something like a date (for sure in Farsi) somewhere.

If you are forced to get an Iranian numberplate, be sure to get an envelop with an official document. For us, they only wrote a letter by hand, and this was not enough - we needed to go back to this border to get the official letter from the officer.

Also ask where you need to pick up the number plate. Wo went to Tabriz and needed to go back to Khoy to pick up the number plate.

If you want to stay longer than one month, tell them to write more than one month on the letter. Otherwise, your number will expire within one month after pickup.

They also put a stamp on the back of your CDP and they need to write some dates on this stamp, and also a signature is needed. Otherwise, the police in Khoy will send you back to the border.

In general: Very chaotic and unorganized border crossing on the Iranian side. The Turkey side is fast, easy, and friendly.

Money exchange is possible at the border, but the rate is bad.

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We entered from Turkey to Iran with our camper and a family of four.
Can be a little challenging with bigger trucks on the Iranian side.
Turkish side fast, easy and friendly.
Some waiting on the Iranian side, but also very friendly.
Driver and passengers are separated when entering the border. Passengers need to take all necessary documents along.
For the camper I didn't need a fixer as everything is quite straightforward and close to each other. Just ask the officers where to go next and ignore the rest...
You don't need to pay anything through the whole process. No taxes, no fees etc

You need:
- PCR Test (easy and fast done in main hospital in Van)
- vaccination certificate
- CNP
- passports
- Visa

We didn't need at the border:
- car insurance (we got it in Täbris)
- health insurance

All finished and entered Iran after 1,5 hours.

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Alle my paperwork was okay but they were not friendly to me. Thy where heresing me and wanted 100€ more. If I didn't pay thay want to send me back in turkey

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We crossed from Turkey to Iran on 2 motorcycles. Pretty straight forward with Turkey you just have to stay on your vehicle.
Iran side went pretty smooth as well. It's just that there is no order of things as how to go about them. So here are the steps.
1) The guards will receive you and check your documents.
2) once you documents are back in your hand there will be someone to guide you instead of you wondering where to go. We paid 1.5 euros to him i.e 500k Rials
3) First you go to immigration and have your visa stamped.
4) Go to customs officer for Carnet. He will write some stuff on it and send you to get you insurance. WE DIDNT NEED INSURANCE FOR MOTORCYCLES APPARENTLY. EVEN THOUGH OURS EUROPEAN ONE IS NOT VALID.
4) After insurance you go to another officer to have the carnet completed and signed.
5) The first officer who wrote on the carnet initially needs to sign and then 3rd person as well.
So carnet is a bit of a hassle to have it done so don't go hitting walls and instead pay some one 1.5 euros for assistance. it helps them too.
We were done in 40mims the whole process.

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We were one of the first tourists since Corona starts. They were not used to do the process since a long time. But very friendly. 1,5 h later we were in the Iran. The problem was, that the border is not made for trucks so the physical crossing was a challenge even they rebuild the whole buildings and structure. They didn’t asked for any proof of vaccination and tests, but it is needed.

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Worst crossing ever. We entered from Iran to Turkey. At the Iranian side, no problem. On Turkey side, they forced us before the XRay to get everything out of the truck. Fridge, Storage, Clothes etc. Took us 2 hours. Bad welcome to Turkey.

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Easy border crossing from Turkey to Iran. Took us about 2 hours in total because we were not that early. We arrived 9ish and there were quite a lot of minibuses queueing, which appeared to commute from Van to Khoy. Car was almost not checked, Carnet work took a while.
They said we could only stay for 10 days with our car. After I told them I want to pick up iranian number plates, they gave me an envelop with the address (written in farsi) of the police Station in khoy.
Insurance was 30€, paying in turkish Lira would have been possible.

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We had a very pleasant boarder crossing from Turkey to Iran. The total process took around 45 minutes. First our passport and visa were checked, and we received a stamp on our visa. Afterwards, the Carnet de Passage was checked and filled in. Then we could drive into Iran. We have Iran on our green card, no questions asked , so cannot comment on insurance. Friendly people.

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Supplement to previous entry:
This happens is at the boarder of Bazargan.
Sorry for confusion, but the process seems to be quite similar.

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We crossed the border from the Iran to Turkey.
It didn't took us very long (about 1 hour), but it was the most annoying border we had..

There were quite a few guys (not officials) who all wanted to help us with the process. They did the copy of our carnet and payed it, wich was nice. Then they went to the fuel fee container and one guy apparently paid 4.320.000 Rial (~35€) for our 60L tank without really telling what's going on. Before they told us to say, that we're driving a diesel because petrol would be much more expensive. We still don't know if pertol cars had to pay the fee actually and how much it would be...
The one guy told us that there is a problem, because we don't have Iranian car insurence. They said they just solved the problem for us by paying 60€ and we shall pay them 40€ therefore (he showed us the number 60 on the receipt which was actually the litre of our tank).

After we stamped our passport and carnet (they were following us all the time and pretent to be best friend and helpful) we wanted to cross the boarder without paying the guys as we still thought that they just tricked us.
They got super angry and very aggressive and wanted sometimes 60€, then 80€ and so on.. We gave them 40€ and tried to tell them that this is the amount they payed for us (we finally got to really see the receipt).
It was super annoying, but finally we could cross the border with "just" paying 40€..

Our advice: don't let these people help you or at least don't give them your carnet or passport. We also had the feeling that the police tolerate all this. They even seemed to worked together..
And make sure that you have rivals left for things like fuel fee and carnet copy that you are not dependent on help of the guys at the boarder.

We were very sad that our stay in Iran ended with an experience like that. Maybe we were just unlucky, but they seemed very routine.

Good thing: the boarder was not very crowded. Sunday morning seems to be a good time for crossing :)

Maybe someone can tell if petrol car also have to pay this fee?

Good luck!!

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We crossed from Iran to Turkey with a diesel car. It took us 5,5 hours, because it was busy and because of ourselves..

No need to take the help of the young guys that offer their services for €5, as the officials are friendly and helped us through the process. Process on Iran side is exactly as described on the previous post.

The diesel tax is 72.000 rials per liter (!!!). Could not avoid paying it (believe us, we tried..), as we had fuel problems because of bad diesel, but after a long discussion they registered only 10 liters and checked the fuel gauge. Minimum charge for cars is 20 liters, so they registered us as motorbike.

Finally it turned out we had also illegally entered Iran (coming from Pakistan), as our passport was not stamped and the e-visa was not registered or stamped either. After several calls we managed to avoid driving to Tehran. So: make sure they either stamp your passport or e-visa!

After 3 hours we reached the Turkish side, and after all checks they told us ‘go back to Iran’. We had to buy car insurance costing €100, so they told. Finally we did go back to the Iran side where you can buy car insurance for 4.3mln (€33,-) Rial for 1 month, only valid in Turkey. You can buy it in a cabin almost next to the diesel tax cabin.

So, our advise: just pay the diesel tax (every diesel car did), buy insurance before you cross into Turkey and arrive early. Border closes about 4pm Turkish time.

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We crossed this border from Iran to Turkey. In general it is an easy border, it took us about 2.5h.
Most important points to know:
(1) We had to pay a tax for bringing fuel out of Iran (we did not have to pay this when we left Iran about 1 year before to Turkmenistan, seems to be new). Therefore you have to go to the first container before the first gate. He will ask you how big your fuel tank is. A table at the container gives you the amount which you have to pay. We said 50l diesel which were 3.2 mio Rial (32$). Nobody checked or asked for our extra fuel tanks on the roof. You have to pay in Rial, but there was a guy (no agent) who took our 100$ note, payed with his credit card and gave us the change in Turkish Lira to a really fair course. In addition you need a copy of your Carnet including a stamp for this payment. There is a container directly at the first gate where you can get a copy for free. You will get the stamp on your Carnet copy in the second container after the first gate.
(2) After that you can go to the passport control and pass the building to the other side of the gate.
(3) To get your stamp into your Carnet you first have to go to the customs container which is before the second gate on the right side (I got a delicious omelette here). They give you a paper which you have to bring to another container about in the middle between both gates. Here you get your stamp.
(4) Turkish side was very easy: first car check, then passport control on the right side and car registration after that. We asked for 3 months for the car which was no problem.
All in all not a bad border.
One more note: we crossed this border in December and had heavy snow on the Turkish side.
And: be careful! The people and kids standing around seem to try to steal sth, lock your car well even inside the gates between the borders!

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Very easy border from turkey to Iran. It tooks us 50mn to cross.
All the border is under construction so it's a mess but there are a lot of people who speak English and could help you.
Someone juste came in the truck but didn't openned anything, just looking like 30 seconds.
We didn't take the insurance there, we took it in Tabriz. It was a little bit cheaper in Tabriz but not that much. It could be easier to take it at the border.

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Bording Crossing between Turkey and Iran. I cross to Iran with green card but I am sure they sell insurance locally if required. Very small crossing, staff at both sides are very friendly, it took us less than an hour to drive out to Iran. Carnet required. Road on Iranian side is not as bad as google maps may show, nearest town is Khoy 40km away.

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