I'm contemplating a short visit to Turkmenistan at the end of the year. I hold a UK passport and live in the UK. I'd need a visa and the embassy website gives details. A ten-day, single-entry visa costs US$50, or $85 for an ‘express’ application. In either case, this requires sending your passport away. I'm perfectly happy paying the extra for an express application, but does anyone have any experience of how long my passport will be away? A couple of weeks is fine; a month is more problematic.
The only information I can find is the following from the British Foreign Office, which does not seem entirely consistent with what the embassy says, and may be out of date:
The Embassy of Turkmenistan will refer your visa application to Ashgabat for a decision, which can take up to a month. There is an accelerated 24-hour service costing about 150 US dollars.
