An Announcement from the Kurdistan Regional Government

Dear fellow citizens, following the continuous efforts of the Kurdistan Regional Government to assist citizens and ensure their safe return whose journeys have been suspended due to airport closures; for all those citizens who have contacted the hotlines or filled out the special online forms, and those who are stranded anywhere else in the world, please follow the points below to obtain a visa for Turkey and return to the Kurdistan Region.

1-Visit the nearest Turkish diplomatic mission office (consulate or embassy of Turkey) in the countries where you are stranded. You will be directly granted a 3-day transit visa to return to Turkey, and subsequently, by land to the Kurdistan Region.
2-The ticket for your return to Turkey must be booked through one of the Turkish airlines, and it does not matter which airport in Turkey it is to.
3-Dear citizens, please ensure the following points:

*Ensure that you have booked your ticket before going to the consulate to obtain the visa, as it is a condition that your ticket be with a Turkish airline to benefit from this facilitation.
*Ensure that your 72-hour [visa validity/transit period] is after your departure date from that country, as the visa is only valid for 72 hours.
*Individuals applying for a Turkish visa must not be on that country's banned list and must not have any illegal prior history in that country.
*If your passport is from Dominica or any other country, you must bring your Iraqi passport with you to the diplomatic mission offices to benefit from this facilitation.

For your information, this facilitation is temporary and will only continue until Iraqi airspace reopens.

In case of any issues, please use the same hotlines of the Ministry of Interior's Operations Room / Joint Crisis Coordination Centre and the Department of Foreign Relations. Upon your arrival at the Ibrahim Khalil border point, the Kurdistan Regional Government, through its reception teams, will welcome you, has made full arrangements for facilitation, and is awaiting your arrival. For those citizens in areas where obtaining a Turkish visa does not resolve their issues, we assure you that we will intensify our efforts and will not rest until every remaining citizen is assisted.

"Wishing everyone a safe return..."