Reza jamili
What are the requirements for preparing medical travel to Iran?
Up until the rise of coronavirus, Iran was one of the leading medical tourism powers of the Middle Eastern region alongside Israel, Turkey, and the UAE, with the medical travel to Iran being a key part of the country’s tourism strategy. Although the Covid pandemic has ravaged the world and medical tourism industry, this industry is slowly recovering and is on the verge of returning. Still, each country has a set of requirements that need to be fulfilled in order for patients to gain entry to it for medical travel. In case of Iran, the most crucial of these requirements in the medical visa, also known with as the Visa Code T, which is one of the 12 types of visa given by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
What do you need to acquire this visa?
For all of Iranian visas, including the medical visa that is required for medical travel to Iran, travelers need to go online and submit their request for visa and required documents on the website of the Iranian ministry of foreign affairs.
these requests are submitted in two forms, first through the person of the traveler and the second through their representative medical tourism facilitator company, insurance, diplomatic party, bank or medical center.
First steps and waiting time
Now that your request for medical travel to Iran has been submitted, it is important to note that other than the ministry of foreign affairs, the ministry of information and the ministry of health are also involved in the process of approving your request, this is done due to the vast area of services that fall under the authority of the visa in medical, health and cosmetic fields.
Both the patient and one of their attendants during their medical travel to Iran are eligible to submit the visa request, although the best method is to submit your request through a medical tourism facilitator company. These companies will greatly help you through their connections and will save you both money and time. Currently there are 45 verified such companies in Iran rady to help international patients.
What documents from inside Iran do you need?
All medical travel to Iran has to be approved by a responsible medical center and physician. These parties also need to be verified by the ministry of health through acquiring an IPD permit (International Patients Department). If the responsible physician and medical center lack this permit, then the patient has to resubmit their request.
The importance of the approval by responsible physician and medical center stems from the fact that it clarifies the medical intentions of the traveler and their attendants, as well providing an official environment surrounding their medical travel to Iran. It also protects them through ensuring the legal process of their treatment and protects them from middlemen and brokers.
What information and documents are needed to submit a request?
In order to acquire the medical visa and begin your medical travel to Iran you need the following:
- Patient’s Identification
- Patient’s home address and phone number
- Patient’s mobile phone number
- Patient’s intended staying time in Iran
- Patient’s location of residence in Iran
- Date of Arrival
- Patient’s host Identification
- Patient’s host address
- Patient’s host phone number
- Patient’s host full national card number and birthday
- Patient’s passport photo
- Patient’s personnel photo
- Letter of approval from the responsible hospital
- Letter of Approval from the responsible physician
- Patient’s Resume in Persian and English
Process of Approval
After all the required documents are uploaded into the ministry of foreign affairs website, they will evaluate the legitimacy of the documents and in case of an issue, they require the traveler to adjust the inaccuracies within 12 hours.
After this, the request will be referred to a committee composed of members of the ministries of information and health that will evaluate the case regarding security, and upon their approval, a medical visa will be issued for the traveler and they can undertake their medical travel to Iran.
Duration of the Process
On average this process will take about 10 days. However based on the patient’s country of origin it may take up to 15 days, with patients from Germany, France, Canada and the UK sometimes waiting up to 20 to 30 days. The visa itself is valid for 30 days, with the possibility of it being extended up to 90 days if the responsible parties deem it necessary.
Costs of Acquiring a Medical Visa
Medical visas both have a 50 percent reduction in costs, and are usually faster to acquire. This is done to further facilitate medical travel to Iran. Based on the patient’s country of origin the cost will vary from $60 to $80.
PCR Tests
Effective since summer of 2020, all parties entering the country are required to provide a negative PCR test, proving they’re Covid free. The results of this test have to be provided 4 days before the travel.
