Hundreds of people in Ashgabat stand in a queue for a visa to Uzbekistan

In Ashgabat, at the embassy of Uzbekistan, lines of hundreds of people, who want to get a tourist visa to the republic can be seen these days, turkmen.news reports.

Every day, from early morning, hundreds of people, who want to apply for a visa or get a sticker issued, stand in front of the embassy. Reportedly, these are only those who come here in person, because the bulk of those, who want to go abroad, use the services of travel agencies for these purposes. 

In January-June 2019, more than 233,000 citizens of Turkmenistan visited Uzbekistan. The main purpose of their trips is the sale of consumer goods here and cash withdrawals at local ATMs. 

In order to restrain the flow of “foreign currency tourists”, the migration service of Turkmenistan and Vnesheconombank are placing new restrictions, turkmen.news writes. 

At 07:00 in the morning, there are already more than 250 people in the list, but people keep coming. There are old people with walking stick and little children. Verbal skirmishes break out spontaneously here and there. People are unhappy that there are two lists, and those, who signed up yesterday, will go first.

Most of them are residents of the Lebap and Dashoguz provinces. But there are also residents of Ashgabat, for whom trips to a neighboring country have become the only source of income.

“There is no normal work in the city, they pay up to 700 manat per month (about $37). Who will live in Ashgabat today with that much of money?” one of the capital’s residents asks.