Do France passport holders need a visa to visit TM?

French ordinary passport holders need a visa to visit Turkmenistan. A letter of invitation (LOI) from a licensed Turkmen travel agency, certified by the State Migration Service, is required before you can obtain the visa at an embassy or on arrival at Ashgabat airport. There is no visa-free or true eVisa channel as of May 2026. Turkmenistan is one of the world's hardest countries to enter independently, and France is not exempt. Every foreign tourist, including French ordinary passport holders, must obtain a visa. The cornerstone of the process is a letter of invitation (LOI): you book a tour with a licensed Turkmen travel agency, which arranges the LOI and submits it to the State Migration Service for certification (typically 2-3 weeks, faster with express service). Once certified, the LOI is valid for 3 months. With it, you can either apply for the visa at a Turkmen embassy/consulate beforehand, or pick up a visa on arrival at Ashgabat International Airport. Standard tourist visas are usually issued for up to 10 days, extendable. Outside Ashgabat, an accompanying guide is generally mandatory. In April 2025 Turkmenistan amended its Migration Law to introduce an electronic visa and abolish the LOI requirement, but as of late May 2026 the e-visa platform has no confirmed launch date and the implementing presidential decrees (categories, fees, validity) remain pending, so the LOI system still applies. Travelers should default to the LOI/tour-operator route and budget several weeks of lead time.