Last updated: August 2026. Re-checked against the US State Department advisory reissued 2 March 2026, the FCDO’s regionalised advice of 22 July 2026, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior e-visa portal at evisa.iq, the Iraqi Embassy in Washington’s published visa schedule, and the Kurdistan Regional Government portal visit.gov.krd, all fetched on 8 August 2026.
Two things are true at the same time, and they point in opposite directions. Getting an Iraq visa for US citizens is now a straightforward online transaction — you fill in a form on the Iraqi government’s e-visa portal, upload a photo, pay by card, and in most cases an approval PDF lands in your inbox within a few days. And the United States government’s formal position is that you should not do this at all. Iraq sits at Level 4, Do Not Travel, the highest band the State Department has. The advisory was reissued on 2 March 2026 and says, in bold, “Do not travel to Iraq for any reason. Leave now if you are there.” The underlying rules, fees and processing times are set out in our Iraq visa guide.
Neither of those facts cancels the other out. A Level 4 advisory is not a law and it does not make your trip illegal. There is no exit ban, no criminal penalty, no passport restriction of the kind that applies to North Korea. What it does instead is quieter and, for most people, more consequential: it voids or hollows out most ordinary travel insurance, it narrows what the US embassy can realistically do for you, and it trips clauses in employer, university and credit-card policies that many Americans do not discover until they try to claim.
So the honest framing is this. The visa question is easy. The decision behind it is not, and it is yours. This article covers what the advisory actually says and what each line of it means in practice, the mechanics of the federal e-visa including the fee tiers and the health insurance now bundled into them, the separate Kurdistan Region system, dual US–Iraqi nationality and which passport to carry, and what an Iraqi entry stamp does to your onward travel — including a US visa-waiver rule that catches people out years later.
The short answer
| Question | Answer as of 8 August 2026 |
|---|---|
| Do Americans need a visa for Iraq? | Yes. For federal Iraq an e-visa obtained before you fly. For the Kurdistan Region, a separate visa, still available on arrival. |
| Can I get one on arrival in Baghdad? | No. Visa on arrival was suspended for US and 36 other nationalities on 1 March 2025. |
| Where do I apply? | evisa.iq (applications at eservice.evisa.iq). Everything else charging you a fee is an agency, not the government. |
| What does it cost? | Government tiers of 151,000 IQD (~US$114) and 206,000 IQD (~US$160). Agencies quote US$160–250 all-in. |
| How long is it valid? | 30 days’ stay, single or multiple entry. Some tiers require entry within 60 or 90 days of issue. |
| Is travel legal? | Yes. Level 4 is advice, not a prohibition. Your passport remains valid for Iraq. |
| Will my travel insurance work? | Almost certainly not on a standard policy. Assume no cover unless a specialist insurer says otherwise in writing. |
What a Level 4 advisory actually is, and what it is not
The State Department runs four advisory levels. Level 1 is exercise normal precautions, Level 2 exercise increased caution, Level 3 reconsider travel, Level 4 do not travel. Iraq has been at Level 4 continuously for years. The March 2026 reissue changed nothing about the level or the risk indicators — State’s own note on the page says so — and updated the summary to reflect changes at the embassy.
The risk indicators attached to Iraq are terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, civil unrest, crime, wrongful detention, health and “other”. That combination matters more than the number. Kidnapping and wrongful detention are the two that insurers and corporate security teams react to most sharply, because both imply a scenario in which money and diplomacy, rather than a medevac flight, are what you need.
It is not a legal ban
This is the single most common misunderstanding, and it runs in both directions. Some Americans believe a Level 4 makes the trip illegal; others treat the whole system as theatre. Both are wrong. The State Department has the power to make a passport invalid for travel to a specific country — it has done so for North Korea since 2017 — and it has not done so for Iraq. No exit permission is required. No customs officer will stop you. If you board a flight to Baghdad with a valid e-visa, you are doing something entirely lawful.
What you are also doing is travelling with the formal, published, on-the-record advice of your own government against you. That phrase has teeth in contract law even though it has none in criminal law.
What it does to your insurance
Most standard US travel policies exclude losses arising in a country under a Level 4 advisory at the time you bought the policy. Some go further and exclude the destination outright. Some are silent on advisories but exclude war, terrorism, insurrection and civil commotion by name, which for Iraq amounts to the same thing. The practical result is that the medical and evacuation cover you assume you have is usually not there, and emergency medical evacuation from Iraq is the expensive part: a repatriation flight from Baghdad or Erbil to Europe or the United States is a five- or six-figure bill.
There is a narrow exception worth knowing. Where a policy excludes destinations that were Level 4 at the time of purchase, a country downgraded after you bought is often still covered. Iraq has been Level 4 for so long that this will not help you. It might help someone who booked a regional itinerary years ago.
What does exist is specialist cover — the kind sold to journalists, aid workers, energy contractors and a handful of adventure operators. It is written specifically for high-risk destinations, it is expensive, it usually requires you to name your itinerary and sometimes to complete a security briefing, and it is the only realistic route to genuine medical and evacuation protection here. We have written separately about how to read the exclusions and what to ask a broker in our guide to travel insurance for Iraq. The short version: get the exclusion list in writing before you pay, and check whether the policy names Iraq, names Level 4 advisories, or names war and terrorism, because those are three different tests.
What it does to consular help
US Embassy Baghdad sits inside the International Zone on Al-Kindi Street and has been operating under constraint for most of 2026. Routine American Citizen Services were suspended from 1 March 2026 during sustained demonstrations near the embassy, and remained suspended into the spring. As of the mission’s 1 August 2026 messaging, US Mission Iraq remains open while on ordered departure and American Citizen Services appointments can again be scheduled at Embassy Baghdad, with the consulate general in Erbil operating in parallel. That is a real improvement on the March position, but “open while on ordered departure” is a thin operating posture.
Be clear-eyed about the ceiling on consular help even in normal times. A US embassy can issue an emergency passport, contact your family, provide a list of local lawyers and doctors, and visit you in detention. It cannot pay your medical bills, get you out of an Iraqi jail, fly you home, or negotiate your release from a militia. The advisory’s own instruction is blunt: “Have departure plans that do not rely on U.S. government assistance.” Read that as a statement of capability rather than of willingness.
The DNA line, explained
Buried in the checklist is the sentence that gets screenshotted more than any other: leave DNA samples with your medical provider in case it is necessary for your family to access them for identification purposes. It is genuinely in the advisory. It is also worth understanding rather than mocking.
That line is boilerplate. State applies the same “if you decide to travel” checklist to every Level 4 destination with a conflict or kidnapping indicator — Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen and others carry the identical wording. It sits alongside instructions to draft a will, designate a power of attorney, discuss custody arrangements for children and pets, and share document logins with someone you trust. The logic is administrative, not predictive: in a mass-casualty event or a body recovered after a long interval, a reference DNA sample held by your own doctor removes weeks of uncertainty for your family. It is the same reasoning that puts dental records in a war correspondent’s file.
So it is neither a scare tactic nor a joke. It is a template item that tells you which category of destination the US government has placed Iraq in. If the checklist strikes you as absurd for the trip you are actually planning — a week of museums and archaeological sites with a licensed operator — that reaction is information too. Sit with the gap rather than resolving it in either direction too quickly. Our overview of how the different government travel advisories for Iraq compare lays the American, British, Australian and Canadian texts side by side, and they do not agree with each other.
Employers, universities and other people’s rules
A Level 4 propagates into documents that have nothing to do with the State Department. Most US universities bar or heavily restrict student and faculty travel to Level 4 countries and will refuse to approve funding, credit or insurance for it; several run a formal petition process with a security review attached. Many employers’ duty-of-care policies use the State Department level as the trigger for prior authorisation, and some corporate travel insurance simply stops at the border. Credit-card trip protection is usually written on the same standard exclusions as retail travel insurance.
If you are travelling with any institutional connection at all — a grant, a sabbatical, a work laptop, a company-booked flight — check the policy before you buy the visa rather than after. This is where Americans most often discover the advisory has consequences.
| What the Iraqi e-visa permits | What the US State Department advises |
|---|---|
| Entry to all of Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, for 30 days | Do not travel to Iraq for any reason; leave now if you are there |
| Arrival at Baghdad International Airport as a private traveller | US government personnel in Baghdad are prohibited from using Baghdad International Airport |
| Tourism, business, family visits, pilgrimage | Non-emergency US government employees were ordered to depart on 2 March 2026 |
| Overland movement between provinces, subject to checkpoints | Do not travel near armed groups or Iraq’s northern borders |
| Issued together with a mandatory Iraqi health insurance certificate | Buy your own insurance and confirm evacuation cover before travelling |
| No security screening of applicants beyond identity and documents | Establish a personal security plan; consider a professional security organisation |
What changed for Americans in 2026
The abstract risk became specific in late March 2026, when the American freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson was abducted in Baghdad by people linked to Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned militia. She was held for eight days and released on 7 April in a prisoner exchange arranged with Iraqi involvement. It is the clearest recent illustration of the kidnapping indicator on the advisory, and it involved an experienced correspondent who knew the country well.
Two consequences followed that bear directly on the visa. First, Iraqi authorities paused online visa approvals for several weeks. The Interior Ministry publicly denied that the e-visa system had been suspended, while a named Iraqi security official told the outlet Middle East Uncovered that “the online visa system was stopped because of what happened with Shelly”. Both statements can be reconciled if you assume the portal stayed technically open while approvals slowed to a crawl and scrutiny rose. Applications are flowing again as of August 2026, but if your approval takes longer than the advertised window, this is the likely reason. Do not book a non-refundable ticket against an unissued visa.
Second, Iraqi security and intelligence units began what officials describe as “discreet protection” of foreign nationals — monitoring, and in some cases tracking, foreigners moving between cities. Travellers report this as a heavier and more curious presence at the checkpoints between provinces rather than as anything obstructive. It is not aimed at you as an inconvenience; it is aimed at not having a second Kittleson.
There is a rule embedded in all this that Americans in media work need to hear plainly: journalists and NGO workers are not eligible for the Iraqi e-visa and must apply through an Iraqi embassy or consulate instead. Applying as a tourist while intending to report is not a loophole, it is a misdeclaration, and in the current climate it is the kind of thing that ends a trip at the airport.
How the Iraq visa for US citizens actually works
The federal Iraq visa for US citizens is an electronic one. Federal Iraq means everything Baghdad administers, which is the country minus the three Kurdistan Region governorates. Until 1 March 2025 Americans could land in Baghdad or Basra and buy a visa at the counter. That ended for the US and 36 other nationalities on that date. The current system is apply-first, fly-second, and airlines check.
The portal, and the sites pretending to be the portal
The official portal is evisa.iq, run by the Ministry of Interior’s Directorate of Civil Status, Passports and Residence. Applications are submitted through eservice.evisa.iq. It runs in Arabic, English, French, Spanish, Kurdish and Chinese. There is a dense population of commercial lookalikes with names built from the same words in a different order — evisa-iraq dot org, evisairaq dot com and others — which are agencies, not government sites. Some are competent. None of them are the ministry, and all of them add a margin. If you are paying more than the government tier, you are paying an agency, whether or not the site says so above the fold.
Fees, and why nobody agrees on the number
This is the single messiest area in every guide you will read, so here are the figures separated by source rather than blended into one confident number.
| Route | Stated cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Iraqi government “visit” e-visa | 151,000 IQD (~US$114) | One entry within 90 days of issue, 30-day stay |
| Iraqi government “ordinary” e-visa | 206,000 IQD (~US$160) | One entry within 60 days of issue, 60-day stay |
| Commercial agencies | US$160–190 typical, up to US$250 | Government fee plus handling; some bundle document review |
| Iraqi Embassy, Washington DC — single entry | US$50 cash | Visit, tourist, transit or religious, valid 3 months from issue |
| Iraqi Embassy, Washington DC — US citizens only | US$150 cash | Multiple entry, one year, tourism only, on a reciprocity basis |
| Applicants of Iraqi origin | Waived | Fees waived at the embassy with proof of Iraqi origin |
Two notes on that table. The dinar figures are the government fee levels that appear in Iraqi sources; the widely repeated “approximately US$160” flat rate is a conversion of the higher tier and gets applied indiscriminately. And the Washington embassy’s US$150 one-year multiple-entry tourist visa, offered to US passport holders exclusively on a reciprocity principle, is genuinely useful for anyone planning more than one trip and is almost never mentioned online. It is cash only, by post or in person, and it takes around fifteen business days because approval comes from Baghdad rather than from the consular section.
Whatever route you use, ask for the government fee and the handling fee as separate line items. An agency that will not itemise is telling you something.
The health insurance nobody mentions
On 30 September 2025 Iraq’s Council of Ministers approved a change that took effect through the federal platform: the e-visa is now issued together with a mandatory health insurance certificate, with the fees collected flowing to Iraq’s Health Insurance Authority. No ministry or Kurdistan Regional Government representation may issue an entry visa without that certificate attached. In practice this means part of what you pay is an insurance premium, and it is bundled rather than optional.
Do not mistake it for cover. It is a domestic health insurance certificate designed to make sure Iraqi hospitals are paid, not an international policy with evacuation, repatriation, trip cancellation or personal liability. It does nothing for the Level 4 problem described above. Treat it as a line on the invoice.
Documents, processing and what actually happens at the gate
The document set is unremarkable: a passport with at least six months’ validity beyond arrival and two clear pages, a digital photograph on a white background, your accommodation details, an itinerary or the name of your operator, and a card that works internationally. The embassy route additionally wants two printed 2×2 inch photographs and, for most non-tourist categories, a letter stating the purpose of travel or an invitation from an Iraqi host.
Processing is advertised at anywhere from 24 hours to five working days depending on who is telling you. Since the spring the realistic planning assumption is one to two weeks, occasionally longer, with no useful status tracking in between. Build a fortnight of slack and do not treat a submitted application as an approved one.
At check-in, the airline will want to see the approval. Print it. Carry a PDF on your phone as well, and a second copy on a different device, because ground staff at a connecting hub in Istanbul or Amman are the people who will actually decide whether you board, and they are working from a Timatic entry, not from Iraqi law. At Baghdad immigration the officer scans the passport, checks the approval against the system, sometimes asks where you are staying and who is meeting you, and stamps. Biometrics — fingerprints and a photograph — are taken on arrival. It is usually unremarkable. Our detailed walk-through of the process, screen by screen, is in the Iraq e-visa application guide, and the wider entry rules including customs and currency limits sit in the guide to Iraq’s entry requirements.
One piece of official information that is out of date
The Iraqi Embassy in Washington’s own visa page still tells readers that “US passport holders can obtain an entry visa to Iraq directly from Iraqi airports without obtaining prior approvals.” That was true before 1 March 2025. It is not true now, and an American who relies on it will be denied boarding rather than turned away in Baghdad, because the airline enforces it first. We flag it not to embarrass the embassy — pages go stale everywhere — but because it is the kind of error that reads as authoritative precisely when it is wrong. If you want the current position on who can and cannot still buy a visa at the counter, we track it in the guide to Iraq’s visa on arrival rules.
The Kurdistan Region is a separate country as far as visas are concerned
This asymmetry catches more Americans than anything else on this page, so it is worth stating carefully and in one direction at a time.
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq — Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Duhok governorates — issues its own entry visa through the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Interior. US citizens sit on Country List A, which means you can apply online at visit.gov.krd in minutes, or simply turn up: Erbil and Sulaymaniyah airports still issue 30-day visas on arrival, and for some nationalities Kirkuk Airport issues 60 days. The administrative fee is 100,000 IQD, roughly US$75, non-refundable if you are refused. The visa is valid 90 days from issue for a 30-day stay. The portal was live and issuing when we checked it on 8 August 2026.
Now the direction that matters. A federal Iraqi e-visa is valid across all of Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region. A Kurdistan-only visa is not valid in federal Iraq. Travellers have been refused at the internal boundary trying to drive south from Erbil towards Mosul or Kirkuk on a KRI stamp, and you cannot buy a federal visa at that boundary. If your trip includes Baghdad, Babylon, Karbala, Najaf, Ur or Basra, buy the federal e-visa first and use it for the whole country. If you are only going to Erbil and the mountains, the regional visa is cheaper and easier.
You will find operators and blogs claiming that since January 2025 a KRI visa permits onward travel into federal Iraq for e-visa-eligible nationalities. We have not found an official Iraqi or KRG source confirming that, and there are 2026 reports of travellers being turned back. Plan around the restrictive rule.
There is a second open question worth carrying with you. That same 30 September 2025 Council of Ministers decision approved the federal platform as the single portal for all Iraqi entry visas, explicitly including the Kurdistan Region, with the KRG to stop issuing independently. Nearly a year later the KRG portal is still issuing. The merger is approved but not implemented. Check both portals before you pay, and do not assume a guide written six months ago still describes the plumbing. The full regional picture, including the intra-Kurdistan border zones the FCDO advises against, is in our Kurdistan visa guide.
Dual US–Iraqi nationality
Iraq permits dual nationality. Article 10 of the 2006 Iraqi Nationality Law allows an Iraqi to hold a foreign citizenship without losing Iraqi nationality, unless they formally renounce it in writing. The practical consequence for travel is that Iraq considers you Iraqi whether or not you feel Iraqi, and whether or not you have ever held an Iraqi document.
Which passport do you show?
Iraqi practice is that Iraqi nationals enter and leave Iraq on an Iraqi passport. The Iraqi Embassy in Washington states directly that people born in Iraq who hold foreign passports do not require a visa to enter, and that visa fees are waived for applicants of Iraqi origin who can produce a parent’s Iraqi identity card or nationality certificate.
That is the legal position. The operational position is messier, and the embassy says so itself in the next line: some airlines require US passport holders of Iraqi origin to hold an Iraqi entry visa when routing through third countries. An Istanbul or Doha check-in agent is not adjudicating Iraqi nationality law. They are looking for a visa in the passport in front of them, and if there isn’t one you may not board. Several dual nationals we have seen report on this describe carrying belt and braces: the Iraqi passport if they have a current one, plus either an Iraqi entry visa in the US passport or documentary proof of Iraqi origin.
If you were born in Iraq and hold only a US passport, the cleanest route is to contact the Iraqi embassy or consulate covering your state before booking and get the position in writing for your specific case. The Washington consular section covers a defined list of eastern and southern states; other states are handled by other posts. It is a phone call, and it is worth it.
What dual nationality costs you in a crisis
Here is the part that matters most and is discussed least. If you are detained in Iraq as an Iraqi national, Iraq is not obliged to grant US consular access to you, and in practice may not. The State Department’s standard guidance on dual nationality is explicit that a second nationality can limit the ability of the US government to assist. Wrongful detention is a listed risk indicator on the Iraq advisory. For an Iraqi-American, the theoretical protection of the US passport is thinner than for a traveller with only one citizenship, and that is precisely the scenario in which people expect it to be thickest.
None of that is an argument against the trip. Many Iraqi-Americans go back every year to see family, and their read on which neighbourhoods and which routes are fine is usually better than any guidebook’s. It is an argument for knowing which set of rules you are travelling under before you need them.
What an Iraqi stamp does to your onward travel
An Iraqi entry stamp is not a general problem. It will not stop you entering Europe, the Gulf, Turkey, most of Asia or the Americas, and border officers who notice it usually ask what you were doing there and move on. Israel is the exception that runs the other way: Israeli nationals are banned from entering or transiting Iraq, including without leaving the aircraft, and an Israeli stamp in your own passport can complicate an Iraqi application.
The consequence that actually bites Americans is domestic, and it is worth spelling out because it is permanent and it surprises people years later.
The Visa Waiver Program rule
Under legislation passed in late 2015, anyone who is a national of a Visa Waiver Program country and has travelled to Iraq at any time since 1 March 2011 is no longer eligible to enter the United States on an ESTA. They must apply for a B-1/B-2 visitor visa at a US embassy or consulate instead — an appointment, an interview, a fee and a wait that can run to weeks or months in busy posts. Dual nationals of Iraq are ineligible regardless of which passport they present. Narrow exemptions exist for US military members, for people who travelled on official duty for a NATO or designated government, for diplomatic and military purposes, and for regularly employed journalists on assignment; case-by-case waivers have been granted for humanitarian and legitimate business travel.
If you are a US citizen only, this does not apply to you — you come home on your US passport and nothing changes. It applies to the people you may be travelling with, and to you if you also hold, say, British, French, German, Japanese or Australian nationality and normally use an ESTA. A week in Iraq costs that person their visa-free access to the United States for good. Tell your travelling companions before the trip rather than after; it is the single most common piece of collateral damage from an Iraqi stamp, and no visa agency’s marketing page mentions it.
Getting there, and the airspace problem
There are no direct flights between the United States and Iraq. Every route connects — most commonly through Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, Doha on Qatar Airways, Dubai on flydubai, or Amman on Royal Jordanian, with Erbil additionally served from several European cities. Any commercial page telling you that direct flights operate from major US hubs to Iraq’s airports is simply wrong, and at least one of the top-ranking pages for this search does say exactly that.
The airspace itself is the live variable. EASA’s Iraq-specific conflict zone bulletin CZIB-2026-05 was issued on 8 July 2026 and runs to 31 August 2026 unless reviewed earlier, advising operators not to use the Baghdad flight information region. The FAA maintains both a NOTAM and a Special Federal Aviation Regulation for Iraqi airspace. Iraqi airspace has closed at short notice more than once in 2026, including a full closure after strikes on 28 February that reopened in April, and eight explosive-laden drones were downed over Erbil on the evening of 15 July.
Translate that into planning terms rather than drama: expect cancellations, never book a same-day onward connection out of Baghdad or Erbil, keep a spare 24 to 48 hours at the end of the trip, and choose refundable or changeable tickets even where they cost more. The visa is the cheap part of this itinerary; the flight is where the risk of loss sits.
One more line from the advisory deserves its own sentence, because it is quoted constantly and rarely explained. US government personnel in Baghdad are prohibited from using Baghdad International Airport. That is an internal security rule binding on official Americans, who move by helicopter between the embassy and the airbase instead. It is not a closure, not a prohibition on private travellers, and not a statement that the airport is unsafe for civilians. It does tell you how the US mission assesses the road between the International Zone and the airport, which is a different and more interesting fact.
Where Americans get this wrong
A pattern emerges from the questions that arrive about this. Six recurring mistakes, in rough order of how expensive they are.
Assuming the advisory is the whole answer, in either direction. Reading Level 4 as “illegal” and reading it as “media hype” both skip the work. The useful question is which of the five risk indicators applies to your specific route and week, and what your fallback is if it materialises. The British advice is regionalised and, read alongside the American, gives you a much finer-grained map — the FCDO’s 22 July 2026 update advises against all travel to Kirkuk and Ninawa provinces, Salah al-Din, most of Anbar and Diyala, and against all but essential travel to Baghdad province, Karbala, Najaf, Basra and the whole Kurdistan Region. We break the bands down province by province in our assessment of how safe Iraq actually is right now.
Buying a Kurdistan visa for a federal Iraq itinerary. Covered above. It is the most common outright wasted purchase.
Booking non-refundable flights before the visa is approved. Approval timelines have been unpredictable since the spring.
Assuming standard travel insurance covers it. Read the exclusions. If the word Iraq, or “Level 4”, or “war and terrorism” appears, you are not covered.
Applying as a tourist while intending to work, report or volunteer. Journalists and NGO staff are excluded from the e-visa by design and must go through an embassy.
Planning as though the country runs on one set of rules. Two visa regimes, two administrations, two police forces and an internal boundary you cross with documents. If you have not built the itinerary around that yet, our suggested Iraq itineraries show how the federal and Kurdish halves usually get stitched together, and the general Iraq travel guide covers the ground rules.
Frequently asked questions
Is it illegal for a US citizen to travel to Iraq?
No. A Level 4 advisory is guidance, not law, and the State Department has not restricted US passports for travel to Iraq as it has for North Korea. You can lawfully buy a visa, board a flight and enter. The consequences of ignoring the advice are contractual and practical rather than criminal.
Can Americans get an Iraq visa on arrival?
Not in federal Iraq. Visa on arrival was suspended for US citizens and 36 other nationalities on 1 March 2025, and you must hold an e-visa before you fly. The Kurdistan Region is different and still issues visas on arrival at Erbil and Sulaymaniyah for US passport holders.
How much does an Iraq visa cost for a US citizen?
The government tiers are 151,000 IQD (about US$114) for a visit visa and 206,000 IQD (about US$160) for an ordinary visa, with mandatory health insurance bundled in. Agencies typically charge US$160–250 all-in. The Iraqi Embassy in Washington charges US$50 for a single-entry visa and US$150 for a one-year multiple-entry tourist visa available to US passport holders only.
Does the Iraqi e-visa cover the Kurdistan Region?
Yes. A federal e-visa is valid across all of Iraq including Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Duhok. The reverse is not true: a Kurdistan-only visa does not admit you to federal Iraq, and travellers have been turned back at the internal boundary.
Will an Iraq stamp stop me getting into other countries?
Generally no, with two exceptions. Israel bars Israeli nationals from Iraq entirely, and an Israeli stamp can complicate an Iraqi application. More relevantly for Americans travelling with others, anyone from a Visa Waiver Program country who has visited Iraq since 1 March 2011 permanently loses ESTA eligibility and needs a US visitor visa instead.
I am an Iraqi-American. Which passport should I use?
Iraq expects its nationals to enter on an Iraqi passport, and the Iraqi Embassy in Washington states that people born in Iraq holding foreign passports do not need a visa. Airlines may still demand a visa in the US passport when you connect through a third country, so carry proof of Iraqi origin and confirm your specific case with the Iraqi consulate covering your state before you book.
Why does the advisory tell me to leave DNA samples?
It is standard wording applied to every Level 4 destination with a conflict or kidnapping indicator, alongside instructions to draft a will and arrange power of attorney. The purpose is to make identification faster for your family in a worst-case scenario. It is a template item, not a prediction about your particular trip.
Can I get travel insurance for Iraq as an American?
Not on a standard retail policy in any meaningful sense. Specialist high-risk insurers do write cover for Iraq, usually for journalists, aid workers and contractors, at considerably higher premiums and often with itinerary approval attached. Get the exclusion list in writing and check specifically for evacuation and repatriation.
How long does the e-visa take to come through?
Officially anywhere from 24 hours to five working days. Since approvals were paused in spring 2026 the realistic assumption is one to two weeks with limited status visibility. Apply at least a month out and keep your flights changeable.
Do I need vaccinations or a yellow fever certificate?
There is no yellow fever risk in Iraq and a certificate is only required if you are arriving from or have transited a yellow-fever-risk country for more than twelve hours. Hepatitis A and typhoid are standard recommendations and a polio booster is commonly advised; the detail is in our guide to vaccinations for Iraq.
Final thoughts
The paperwork will take you an evening. The decision underneath it is the real work, and the two get conflated because the visa form is the thing in front of you. What we would hold onto is that the American advisory and the Iraqi visa system are answering different questions. The advisory is a statement about capability — what the US government can do for you if something goes badly wrong in a country where its own staff are on ordered departure and its personnel are not permitted to drive to the airport. The visa is a statement about eligibility. Neither one tells you whether the specific week you are planning, on the specific route you have chosen, with or without a licensed operator, is a reasonable thing to do.
What you can do is make the inputs concrete. Know which provinces your itinerary crosses and which advisory band each sits in. Know what your insurance excludes, in writing. Know that the Kittleson case involved a highly experienced journalist and that journalists are the group the e-visa deliberately excludes. Know that a Level 4 does not close the border but does close most of your safety net. And know that the country beyond that paperwork is one where the great majority of visitors have an uneventful trip and the people who live there are getting on with their lives.
If you decide to go, start with the Iraq visa pillar guide for the full picture across every route and nationality, read the security assessment in our piece on Baghdad and its counterpart on safety in the Kurdistan Region, and if you would rather not do the logistics alone, our overview of operators running trips to Iraq explains what a fixer and a licensed company actually change. Travellers going alone should also read the practical notes in our guide to solo travel in Iraq and the rundown of the laws visitors most often trip over.
Photo credits
Baghdad International Airport terminal by Safa Daneshvar (CC BY-SA 4.0). United States passport by Robert Rexach (public domain). Central Baghdad across the Tigris by Marduksumer (public domain). Erbil International Airport entrance by Hardscarf (CC BY-SA 4.0). Erbil Citadel gateway by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin (CC BY-SA 4.0). Aerial view of the Tigris through Baghdad by US Department of Defense / Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Dominique A. Pineiro (public domain). All images sourced from Wikimedia Commons.
