How hard is it to get into Iraq?

True…Also works out on women.

Iraq has refused some visas on the grounds that the passports contained Israeli stamps. It is useful in the Middle East to have two passports to help navigate these idiotic rules. American journalists can easily get a second passport for this purpose.

a previous thread on secondary passports for US citizens:

http://www.lightstalkers.org/usa-passport-telephone-numbers-e-mail

the underfunded US Passport Agency has gotten increasingly problematic to work with in recent years, so going through consulates/embassies in other countries can be a good option -

Thorne, if you’re still in Kabul, the US consulate over there is far more functional than the passport authority in NYC. Worth a visit if you need your 2nd passport re-issued, extra pages, etc.

Entry into Iraq on an Israeli passport is generally a no go, as is entering with an Israeli stamp. AFA the two passport theory, if you’re caught using two, your problem will be in getting yourself out of Iraq. Border checkpoints in Iraq are never predictable, and if they’re the least unsure of you……

RE. secondary passports: A photographer friend has just come back from Iraq and Afghanistan and he told me that a US pj was detained trying to enter Iraq. He was microsearched as was all his gear and both his passports were cancelled and confiscated when the computer at immigration threw up two passport numbers for him. Now that most countries, especially those with ties to the US admin, have their passport systems interconnected with US immigration. One of his passports was microchipped (the new, secondary one), and the other one was older and not. Last I heard, he was stuck in Baghdad.
So I think the days of getting away with two passports are probably over. The Israeli stamp thing will also bar you from Libya and most other middle east countries except Egypt.

don’t the israelis still NOT stamp your passport if you request?

It’s getting tougher to avoid the Israeli stamp Alan. They see your asking to avoid the stamp as suspicious now, as they know exactly why you don’t want it, and they then take you to “holding” to find out exactly who you are (luckily if you have friends at the crossing it can be done…quietly). As Stephen says, the days of two passports is long gone, unless you want the Baghdad Hilton tour.

The Iraqi ministry stapled both my British passports (one with chip, one without) together and wrote a whole bunch of stuff in Arabic in them with a biro. I get in and out of Iraq OK with them now, but I get funny looks just about everywhere else. [BTW: Hi Thorne. Long time. How’s it going?]

I’m assuming you have an American passport? Also, are you trying to enter Iraq through Baghdad or through the north? Crossing the border from Turkey in the north is a lot easier in general and you will get a Kurdistan visa, not an Iraq visa exactly. However, I used the Kurdistan visa to fly through baghdad and it worked (after spending a few nerve-racking minutes in a back office). Not sure if you might end up with an even bigger headache having both an israeli visa and a kurdistan visa in your passport!

How do you get an Iraq Visa? I’m having a time printing out the application (not Mac friendly), but still unclear about where to send it.
MNF links to here:
http://www.mofa.gov.iq/english/home.aspx
Anyone gone through this exciting process?

Alan as far as I know the Israeli immigration officials if requested will not stamp your passport and neither do they need to stamp the “paper”.

Last time I entered Israel at the Allenby bridge entry point they scanned the barcode on my passport. They have the newer biometric readers and the old barcode style readers. All the information is logged. No problem when I left via Ben Gurion, if by magic my details appear! Things change so not sure of the current procedure. However, I was still subjected to the standard ball breaking inquisition.

With regards to Iraq I flew into Baghdad civilian airport in March last year with visa, all OK until the official saw several Lebanese stamps. He flicked through the pages meticulously looking for something that I can only imagine were signs of being in Israel.

He never said as much but that was the conclusion I came to so I think if they suspect you have been in Israel they will bar entry.

I heard, but don’t quote me, that if you show the immigration officials a photo of your-self in Israeli army uniform and tell them you are a Risk Taker they will let you In piece of piss.