Once your LOI is approved, the next step is visiting the Libyan embassy in your home country or country of residence. The LOI will come with a 6-digit number, and it’s recommended to call the embassy in advance, telling them about your upcoming visit and the respective number. They told me to physically go there any day, from Monday to Wednesday, from 10am to 1pm, and these were their requirements: Passport with more than 6 months validity 2 passport photos Letter of Invitation Letter from the company you work for, stating the business reason you want to travel to Libya Once they checked that all my documents were correct, they told me to deposit the amount of 60€ in their bank account – which I did at the nearest bank – and come back with the receipt. When I gave them the receipt, they told me to come back after two hours to collect my visa, that’s it.
Requirements are pretty much the same across most embassies but, while some of them require the applicant to be physically there, others allow you to mail them all docs. Moreover, like in Madrid, some embassies issue your visa within 2 hours, while others might take a few days. The best way to find out is by calling your nearest embassy.
Then, you can apply from an embassy of your choice, but you need to tell your local sponsor in advance.
Up to September 2023, the visa was valid for 1 month, from the moment you collect it and it can’t be extended. However, now they say that they will extend it to 3 months.
The visa for Libya used to be one of the most difficult ones in the world, a very painful process full of uncertainties. However, as of April 2024, the Government decided to implement an e-visa system, with which you can obtain your visa in one week.
It costs 63 US dollars.
For now, the approval comes after 5 working days, approximately. Once you get the approval, you have 90 days to enter Libya.
For now, the approval comes after 5 working days, approximately. Once you get the approval, you have 90 days to enter Libya.
In Libya, things change all the time, like nowhere else in the world. Remember that in 2023, the Government also introduced a visa on arrival, which only lasted for 3 months. According to our contacts in Libya, the e-visa is fully working and travelers are getting into Libya without any issues but the real question is: Is the e-visa going to stay? We don’t know, and nobody can’t know, because this is Libya.
Theoretically, you can’t travel independently in Libya. However, travel reports suggest that some travelers have tried to sneak in and our local contacts in Libya informed us that the tourist police are currently working on preventing this. They fear, nevertheless, that if travelers keep coming without a local sponsor, they will eventually block the e-visa.
The following information is irrelevant now, but I prefer to keep it here, especially because the e-visa system could also disappear, meaning that going back to the old way is a possibility, because this is Libya. This is how you used to get a Libyan visa up to March 2024.
In order to get your visa for Libya, the first thing you need to do is get a Letter of Invitation from an authorized Libya-based company. Note that Libyan companies won’t issue an LOI unless you book a full tour of Libya with them.
The problem with Libya is that nothing is official. They say that LOI are issued in 1 week but sometimes they don’t come until 3 weeks later and sometimes they in just 3 days. Libya’s bureaucracy is so random. How long is the LOI valid for? There’s no official date but rumors say it has a 1-month validity, extendable to 3 months. Again, this is also pretty random.