How to Extend Your Tourist Visa in Mongolia

This post is only for those with US citizenship. If you are visiting from another country, make sure you know what your options are. You can find more info here.
Once we realized that we would be in Mongolia for 31 days, thus overstaying our complimentary 30-day visa by 1 day, we had two options.
1- Try to change the date of our plane tickets to Vietnam or 2- apply for an extension.


We decided to apply for an extension. It would be easier than changing our flight as well as our Airbnb reservations, which we had also already booked. We knew this was the plan when we landed in Ulaanbaatar but decided to wait until the next day to sort it out. We were pretty wiped after our journey. {link}

We are SO fortunate that our Airbnb host helped to arrange a driver for us. The same driver who picked us up from the airport when we landed also arrived bright and early the next morning to take us back to the airport to find my missing backpack (which was delayed from the previous day) and take us to the immigration office.

Honestly, we would have been so lost without him!

For starters, the immigration office is not at the airport, but about a mile away. And not a very walkable mile, so we were so glad to have the transportation.
Next, navigating through the process was a bit confusing. Luckily for us, our driver was familiar with this process and was a big help!
To save you some potential future headaches, here are the steps you need to take to get your tourist visa extended in Mongolia.
If you are staying longer than 30 days in Mongolia (but less than 60 days), you can apply for a one-time 30-day extension.

Before you arrive

• Bring with you a copy of a 3×4 passport photo no more than 6 months old
  Usually, when you get your photo taken at any drugstore or photo shop, you are given several copies. Keep them and bring them with you!
• Be prepared to pay 140,000MNT which equals to about $57 if you are extending it for the full 30 days. If you are extending it for shorter, then the charge is less.

• Make a copy of your passport.
  You will need a copy of your passport with the stamp of your entry to Mongolia, so you can either get a copy in town or have them copy it for you at the immigration office. The copies there were cheap, so I would just do it there.

You can get cash upon arrival at the airport or they do accept credit cards.

When you arrive in Ulaanbaatar:  (or within 7 days of your arrival)

Find the immigration office, which is located here:

Address:  Нисэхийн Зам, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Again, it’s not far from the airport,  but it’s not a very walkable route. So hire a car.
If you haven’t arranged a driver before your arrival, ask a driver at the airport how much for driving you, waiting, and then driving you to wherever you are staying in the city.
Our ordeal ended up taking about 5 hours (because of having to get passport photos and pick up my lost backpack) and only cost us 30,000 (or $12.00). However, we tipped big because, again, we would have been SO lost without our trusty driver!

Once you arrive at the immigration office:

• Ask for the paperwork needed to extend your stay and fill it out completely. There are several tables to sit at. They will also ask you to provide a letter explaining the reason for your request.
• Once your paperwork is filled out, go to the counter that says Канон to make a copy of your passport. When we were there the counter was by the front door and looks like a security desk.

Photocopies have a small cost, but honestly, I can’t remember what it was! It wasn’t much so have some small bills on you if possible.

• Next stop is the bank. You need to go to the bank inside the immigration office to pay your fee. They will look through your paperwork, so make sure to have it ready. You can pay in cash or credit card.
• Finally, you are ready to submit your paperwork with your attached photo. Back in the main room, there is a machine to take a number to wait to be seen. The numbering machine was all in Mongolian, so we couldn’t really tell if it was something we needed to do, so you may want to ask someone. They weren’t too busy when we were there so were able to walk right up to the counter we needed.
• Then wait.

We were told that visa extensions can take up to three days so had planned on coming back, but we lucked out and they were able to get our passports complete with visas back to us that day.
That’s it! It really looks like a lot, but the process was fairly straightforward once we learned the system. And of course with the help of our translator/ driver/ personal hero.

Do you have any tips on extending tourist visas in other countries?