If you're new here, you may want to check out how this site is set up. If you like what you read, you can subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
This may seem like a strange article, not in the least because of its length. But people who have ever queued the line at the Atatürk airport passport control for half an hour or more, only to find out that they had to buy their visa somewhere else first and were therefore sent back to the end of the line, will understand why you better read this small post before you take off.
Finding your way to the passport or border control is easy. Just follow the respective signs, even the ones reading Baggage Claim will take you there. It’s only once you arrived there that it gets tricky.
Buy Your Visa First
If you don’t already have a valid visa, and you are a national of the countries that are allowed to buy their visas upon arrival, you need to buy your visa first. Don’t be tempted to queue for the border control without it because it will only result in a huge loss of time, not to mention the humiliation of being refused to enter the country in front of others.
You can find the visa sales point at the left-hand side of the border control gates. Where this used to be an obscure ticket window in the past, it has been modernised in recent years, clearly showing what fees apply.
Don’t forget to bring the exact amount of money in Euros, Dollars or Pound Sterling, and a valid passport of course. Once set, proceed to the border control.
Border Control
As in most airports, there are two separate sections for the passport inspection: one for the Turkish citizens, and one for the rest of the world.
So unless you are holding a Turkish passport, make sure you follow the arrows Other Nationalities. The airport authorities have reduced the chance of confusion by improving signalisation, so these days it’s hard to miss the correct entrance.
Entering the country can be time-consuming. Only after the police officer has put in your name, passport or identity card number, birth year, date of entry and nationality into his computer, will he stamp your visa. You should carry your visa on you at all times while exploring the city.
Make also sure you don’t lose it, because you’ll have to present it again upon departure. When overstaying or losing your visa, you will be liable to pay a substantial fine, depending on the duration you have overstayed. From the moment you have overstayed your visa, the minimum fine is YTL 98, rising incrementally each day to YTL 193 for one month. If you overstay even longer than one month, the fine increases exponentially.
Related posts:
Comment 
Subscribe 
Digg
Stumble 
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
hi dear
I have a uk travel document , my nationality is iranian,i am e resident of uk(indefinit leave to rimain in uk)i want travel to turkey for holliday. can you tell me i need a visa to come to turkey or not?if i need i have to come in turkish embassy consulate or i can come to turky and get visas obtainable at passport control at my entrance desk.please give a advice to me .
thank you
Dear Hassan,
if I understand correctly, you are currently living in the UK, but as an Iranian national you have an Iranian travel Passport. If this is the case and you still have a valid Iranian passport, then according to the information I have now,
Ordinary and official passport holders are exempt from visa for their travels up to 90 days
In which case you don’t need a visa for a tourist visit up to 90 days. But to make sure, I suggest you contact the Turkish Embassy or Consulate in the UK to double-check.
Hi,
I am Indian national and currently is in Greece working for Eurobank. In January I am going back to India via Turkey(transit). I want to visit Turkey. So could you please let me know if I can get Turkey visa at airport along with processing time and fee? Your quick response will be highly appreciated.
With best regards,
Pankaj
Dear Pankaj,
As you could read in my post about who needs a visa to enter Turkey, as an Indian national you are indeed obliged to obtain one. That is if you want to enter Turkish soil, not if you stay in the airport’s transit zone.
A lot of foreign nationals can buy their visa at the Turkish borders. However, since I couldn’t find India in the list of Turkish visa fees for foreigners, I think you better contact the Turkish Embassy or Consulate in Greece to find out how you can obtain a Turkish visa.
We will be trying to get out of the Istanbul airport as quickly as possible.
Will it do any good to purchase the Visa ahead of time here in the US? Or will they just make us go into the “Visa Purchase” line anyway, thereby negating the time and money spent on buying one in advance..
Thanks for your reply. Lou
Hi Lou,
Personally I prefer buying my visa at the airport, since it saves me one or more trips to a Turkish Embassy or Consulate prior to heading for Istanbul, let alone dealing with the bureaucracy. As I said in the post, it’s a quick and straight-forward money transaction, which takes about 15 seconds per person if you have a valid passport.
The most time-consuming part of the whole entry process, is the border control. They register all your personal data in a computer before they stamp your visa and allow you into the country. And you can’t circumvent this part by buying a visa in your country of origin.
I hope this answers your question.
Have a nice trip!
Leave a Comment