One of the frustrations many travellers have when arriving in Turkey is that you need to obtain a visa on arrival for many nationalities.
Countries who nationals can now apply online for their visa are below:
Antigua and Barbuda Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Barbados Belarus Belgium Canada Croatia Dominica Dominican Republic Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus Grenada Haiti Hong Kong (BN(O)) Hungary Indonesia Ireland Jamaica Kuwait Maldives Malta Mauritius Netherlands Norway Oman Poland Portugal Qatar Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saudi Arabia Slovakia South Africa Spain U.S.A United Arab Emirates United Kingdom
Nationals of the countries listed above (plus a small number of others) can arrive on any airline. Other countries residents must arrive on Turkish Airlines or they obtain their visa on arrival as before.
The new visa is applied for online, and once approved the traveller has to print it off and present it at immigration and customs. It appears that, for some reason, there is no electronic record available at immigration. The visa is paid for online (Visa or Mastercard), and you need a valid form of transportation in to the country to apply. The visa applies from the date that you say you will arrive, for a period until the end of the visa. If you cannot do this you must apply for, and pay for, a new visa. No refunds for unused visas are offered.
The site says that e-visas are emailed within 24 hours of application. You can travel within 24 hours of getting the visa.
A 90 day, multiple entry visa was $20 when I did a dummy application as a UK national.
Full information here
Thanks for that info. We didn’t know this.
We are looking into going away for a week in Sept. and Turkey was one of the places on our “maybe” list but after reading this…going to pass. Think we’ll stick with South of Spain or Greek Islands.
Used this “service” 2 days ago and it worked fine. Received an email Visa for my wife and I each within less than 1 minute. Website a little particulair about commas and decimals and such re date formats and address formats. Must start from the beginning for each traveller. Cannot enter husb/wife at the same time. Visa arrives as a pdf – 1 page – with a bar code. In Turkish.
Pp
I’ve had times where the line to pick up a visa on arrival was 30+ minutes and times where I was the only person in the line. It varies wildly. Getting the visa online works well, too, according to a friend, though the immigration agents did seem a bit confused when he went through. I’m sure that will clear up soon enough.
Bethany, the visa is only $20 for US Citizens and I highly recommend visiting Istanbul if you have not already been.
For U.S. citizens, the visa on arrival isn’t difficult, and the line, if any, moves quickly, so it’s not really clear if this saves anything, since it’s prepaid and expires if not used.