thundercracker76

I was under the impression that I need to book the flights before I even start the LOI process since one of the details I need to fill, is my flight reservation code and itinerary. That's a huge gamble for me since I don't even know if I'll get approved or not. That is for the Canadian passport and I believe it applies to the other one as well ( except with less paperwork). I need a Plan B for the what ifs scenario. For the Phils passport, I can nominate either an embassy or an airport to pick up my visa.
But so just to confirm my assumption, did you had to provide your flight details to get the Grant Notice/LOI number? According to the agency's website, there's a 5% rejection rate for VOA's, that's why i'm running this thru them. The Cdn passport will allow me to go somewhere else if push comes to shove.

OccasionalFlyerPerson

I hadn't booked my flights before I applied for the visa. I gave the flight numbers of the planes that I planned to use. There was nothing on my visa saying what flights I was using - only the dates the visa was valid. I did end up travelling to Iran on a different day from my original dates, and there was no problem.

thundercracker76

How long ago did you visit Iran if you don't mind me asking? Looks like specific rules are all over the place and regulation changes happens a lot. One question about the Visa, did it specify there the Passport# and the nationality? .. There's a line in the application form where I need to provide my 'previous' nationality, where obviously I don't have since i'm an active on two.

Akiestar

Surprised it hasn't been mentioned here yet: Philippine passport holders can get Iranian visas on arrival, so you shouldn't need to go to a diplomatic mission to get one. You'll need to apply online though at least two days before you arrive. I'd think that would be easier for you than having to go through the motions of getting a visa as a Canadian (or, in my case, as an American), where there's much more paperwork involved.

(I was actually looking at this option as well, hence why I figured I should let people here know despite me ultimately choosing to go to Dubai instead. )

OccasionalFlyerPerson

I went there late December last year. I didn't even mention my UK nationality on the form. As I had both from birth so neither was 'previous'. I'm not aware of any major changes in policy since then. My visa doesn't mention my nationality, but it is stuck inside my passport, and does have my passport number. There is a fair amount of Farsi writing which I cannot read, however.

It's said that their concern on asking for previous nationality is that they wish to know who is an Iranian dual-citizen. Iran doesn't recognise dual citizenship and people who are dual Iranian and some other nationality citizenship are expected to enter as Iranian citizens. That's also said to be the reason why they ask for your father's citizenship. In my case, I entered UK for that. No problem.

@Akiestar - VOA is mentioned several times in this thread. There is a risk, which appears to be small, of being rejected on arrival if relying on VOA. A risk that some people wish to reduce by getting a visa ahead of time. Having said that, if I was in the OP's situation, visiting Iran for the first time, I would just go there and rely on VOA. When I've heard of rejections, there have been reasons - such as people who visit multiple times. Iranian immigration are said to look more carefully at people who visit frequently as they are concerned that they may be engaged in illicit business. For a first time visitor on a Philippine passport, I'd think that the chance of being rejected is much smaller than 5%. However, because of what we hear about in the Western media, some people are still a bit nervous about visiting Iran - as I was - and having a visa helped me with that.