So you had a great time during your Azerbaijan travels but overstayed your welcome? But let’s start at the beginning. Azerbaijan’s e-visa is valid for 30 days. If you intend to stay more than 15 days, you have to register with the migration authorities before these 15 days are up. We thought that the hotel would do this Azerbaijan registration automatically. But this was not the case and we were held up at the border to Georgia. My mom always says “traveling is educational,” so I’ll educate you on what happens if you DON’T register.
How to register in Azerbaijan
You can register online, which takes only 24 hours. You can also send an email with all the necessary documents to qeydiyyat@migration.gov.az. Or go to any ASAN service center in bigger towns with your passport.
What to do if you didn’t register in Azerbaijan
If, like us, you didn’t register as a foreigner in Azerbaijan, not all is lost. I had never had problems at a border. Less so when I wanted to leave the country, but there’s a first time for everything. Luckily, everyone was polite and just explained that we had to go to the next ASAN service center in Balakan. Since we were crossing the border between Sheki and Sighnaghi, we only had to go back about 20 minutes. A nice driver, who had just dropped people at the border, was going back empty to Baku and dropped us in Balakan for free.
But now to the actual penalty process. The ASAN building is super new, has multiple levels, and offers Azerbaijanis all administrative services, including a wedding registry. We had our luggage checked upon entering and then told the ladies at the reception why we were there. They didn’t even consider the possibility that we might be there for proper registration and just asked us “Penalty”? We’re probably not the only people who do their walk of shame there.
Next, we went upstairs to the G counter at the far back, which is specifically for migration services. The case worker informed us that the penalty was 300 manat each. We then asked if there wasn’t any leeway or anything else we could do. We apologized again, just like we did at the border, but to no avail. The other option would have been to not pay and go back to the border. We could have decided to be banned from Azerbaijan for five years, which honestly, we considered for a minute. But I didn’t want this ban to come back to haunt me during future visa applications in other countries. It took about 30 minutes for them to input all the data. We then had to pay the fee at the bank counter, where they accepted card payments. We then had to go back to the immigration counter, sign some documents, and we were free to go.
All in all, this process was really smooth. It was obvious that they have a system in place for this kind of situation. When the border agent first told us we would have to go register, I imagines a dodgy and dark back room. We would pay someone an exorbitant amount in cash under the table. All was well in the end, This little adventure set us back only an around three hours before we were finally on the other side in Georgia. And we even enjoyed one last doner in Balakan.
Leave a Reply