Citizens of the EU, US, CANADA, JAPAN, SWITZERLAND, NORWAY and ICELAND etc (see opposite countries in green) can only stay for 90 days WITHIN A 6 MONTH PERIOD!!!
"We used Canonic Tur for our letters of invitation. They charged 50 euros which included postage and the whole process took about a month. Cain, Australia may 2011"
!!! IMPORTANT
!!!
New regulations on the Transdniestr border
No visa is required. No invitation letter is required to transit or stay in Transdniestr. Transit of Transdniestr and a 24 hours stay is free and a fee of about 2 USD is applied for a longer stay. Foreign travellers do need to register with the OVIR or militia office in the nearest majour town if staying in Transdniestr for more than 24 hours. If you are booked with Lena in Tiraspol than she will take care of your registration herself. (update May 2010)
It is announced that general policy is to encourage travel of foreigners into the country, but in reality the entry formalities are minimal only for a group of countries and for the others it involves an extrimely unpleasant and expensive procedure of getting an invitation letter.
The lucky nations for whom visa is not required are : EU (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Holland, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden), USA, CANADA, JAPAN, SWITZERLAND, NORWAY, ICELAND, ISRAEL, HOLLY SEE, ANDORA, MONACO, LIECHTENSTEIN, SANMARINO and a number of the countries of the former USSR (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan)
Visas are required for citizens of other countries. A visa can be issued exclusively by the Diplomatic and Consular Missions of the Republic of Moldova abroad. An Invitation Letter is needed to obtain a visa (with exception of Croatia, Israel, Turkey).
There is a list of countries whose citizens do need an invitation letter to obtaine their visa and this list is available on the website of the MFA. AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND and MEXICO do not seam to be mentioned in this list. So, do check with a Moldovan embassy before you apply for your visa!!!
Try Canonic tour or Radu Sargu for an INVITATION LETTER
Normally it is done in 30 days, but may be urgent to 7 days in some cases. The application letter from a Moldovan person is examined by the bureaucrats from the Department of Migration of the Republic of Moldova. They reside in a very nice old building on 124 Stefan cel Mare boulevard bd. in office 419 on the last floor (for information call +37322 544607 / 544606). A copy of your passport and some details about your journey (like the dates of your sejour in Moldova, where will you be entering Moldova at, Moldovan embassy that will issue a visa for you) are requested.
The invitation should be presented at the Moldovan embassy in original, so be ready to spent more time and money for its delivery.
Persons, transiting the Republic of Moldova without a residence visa, can not stay on its territory longer than 48 hours.
Transit
visas are issued for foreign citizens and nonresidents upon
presentation of an entry visa to a third country.
NO REGISTRATION WITH POLICE IS REQUIRED.
This rule does not apply to travelers who are entering Moldova from the side of Transdneistr. They will have to get their registration at sections and territorial offices for record of population of the Ministry of Information Development.
The registration in Chisinau is done at the Central office of the Department of the Informational Technologies situated on 49, Cogalniceanu street. The procedure takes about one hour and costs about 1 MDL. Your host has to be present with you, having on him his "buletin de identitate" and signing in the forms. Open Monday to Friday from 8 am till 5 pm and Saturday from 8 am till 2 pm. Sunday is the day-off.
It happens many time that you don't get an entrance stamp to Moldova while crossing the eastern border of Moldova. To avoid long-time and unpleasant explanations at the Police office in Moldova, please, keep the ticket of your arrival in Moldova.
This is how Moldovan visa looks like (a simple, one entry visa for a month)
An invitation letter issued by Biroul de Migrare looks like
Swedish travellers who entered Moldova from Transdniestr and made their registration in Chisinau, June 2011 :"As a matter of fact we went their on our own (we stayed at an hotel). The procedure took about 10 minutes at the ministery at the cost of 1 lei. We hade no problem what so ever to cross the border to Romania."