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Istanbul travel guide and advice by locals.

How to Get Your Turkish e-Visa Online and Avoid the Queue

The Turkish e-Visa (or Electronic Visa) replaced the famous ‘sticker visa’ starting 2014. Is this a bad thing? No, not at all. The Turkish online visa procedure is quick, smooth and actually saves you time since you no longer have to stand in line to get your ‘sticker visa’. Let me explain what an e-Visa is, who can get one, and how the procedure works.

How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online..
How to get a Turkish Visa online. – © Photo by Erlend Geerts

What Is a Turkish Electronic Visa or e-Visa

Let’s make this clear right from the start: this is only for tourist or trade visas! For other purposes such as work or study, you must apply through Turkish Embassies or Consulates in your country.

Up until now, citizens of certain nationalities were able to travel to Turkey with just their valid passport or identity card, and buy their tourist visa at the border crossing. A sticker was either pasted in their passport or on a piece of paper, hence the name ‘sticker visa’. As of 2014, the government decided to reduce the waiting and queuing times at the different border crossings by introducing the Electronic Visa or e-Visa. Some countries can still get the sticker visa but fees are higher, and really, why bother. The e-Visa is quick and easy.

An e-Visa is nothing more or less than applying for (and receiving) your Turkish tourist visa online from the comforts of your home. You go through a series of steps wherein you provide them with the required information, use your credit card to pay for it (instead of cash money upon arrival), and finally print out your visa.

Who Can Get a Turkish Electronic Visa or e-Visa

Who can get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online.
Who can get one? © Erlend Geerts

Currently, citizens of just under 100 countries are eligible to get an Electronic Visa. Since countries are added and removed over time, please check to see whether citizens of your country are currently eligible for an e-Visa.

If the rules for your country do not include the words ‘e-Visa’, then you are either exempt from visa or you need to visit the nearest Turkish Embassy/Consulate General for visa application. If you do try to use the electronic visa application, you’ll get the screenshot on the right.

How Can I Get My Turkish Electronic Visa or e-Visa

First of all, let’s assume you either carry an ordinary passport or an identity card. If you’re not sure about your passport type, here you can read the difference between an official and an ordinary passport.

There are nine simple steps to complete. Please make sure to have the necessary documents and a valid credit card handy.

Step 1 – Open up your preferred browser and go to www.evisa.gov.tr. The website is available in many languages.

Step 2 – Click at the upper left on ‘Apply now’. Select the country and the passport or identity card (of the chosen country) you will be using. Also prove you’re human by typing the displayed letters and/or numbers. Then click on ‘Save and Continue’

How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online - Step 2
How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online – Step 2

Step 3 – Enter your arrival date. At this point, you will get quite a bit of important information: how long your visa will be valid, where you can enter the country once or multiple times during this period, how much it will cost you, and how you will pay for it (see arrows). Press ‘Save and Continue’ to proceed or simply close your browser if you don’t like what you see.

How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online - Step 3
How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online – Step 3 © Erlend Geerts

Step 4 – Enter your personal data. All fields are obligatory, but for some countries mother’s and father’s name fields are optional. I strongly urge you to use the date pickers to enter the respective dates. This way you’re sure you use the correct format (if not you need to redo it). Also, disregard white spaces or special characters (like – ) if they are used in your passport or identity card number. Press the button at the bottom to continue.

How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online - Step 4
How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online – Step 4 © Erlend Geerts

Step 5 – Once you see this screen, all data has been accepted and you are good to go. You have one last chance to review the information you provided. Take your time to check it all. A small mistake may cause big problems at the border! Click ‘Edit’ if you need to change something, ‘Verify’ to submit and continue.

How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online - Step 5
How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online – Step 5 © Erlend Geerts

Step 6 – At this point, your application has been submitted, and an email has been sent to you to verify whether it is really you who applied. Check your email immediately. If you didn’t receive anything within a minute, check your spam folder because that’s where mine ended up. If that’s the case, make sure to tell your email service that mails sent from this sender are not spam, because you will get one more down the road.

How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online - Step 6
How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online – Step 6 © Erlend Geerts

Click on the approve button to verify your email address. If you can’t see the button, make sure you tell your email service to show all images for this email.

How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online - Step 6b
How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online – Step 6b © Erlend Geerts

Step 7 – After clicking the verify email button, you’ll be taken to the payment page. Enter the necessary information, and proceed by clicking ‘Make Payment’.

How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online - Step 7
How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online – Step 7 © Erlend Geerts

Step 8 – Once your payment has been approved, you’ll get a notification that your e-Visa has been sent to you. This is not true. You just received an email with a button to download it. Don’t bother waiting for it, and download the visa (in pdf format) right from the current page. Make sure you know where you save it because you will need to print it out. In case you fail to download it, no worries, you can always download it again via the link provided to you by email.

How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online - Step 8
How to get a Turkish Visa or e-Visa online – Step 8 © Erlend Geerts

If this is a business trip and you need an invoice, first download the actual visa, then press the invoice button.

Step 9 – The final step: open the saved/downloaded pdf document and print it. In my experience, it doesn’t matter whether it’s in color or just black and white. But make very sure you take it with you, and keep it on you together with your passport or identity card (whatever you chose while applying) during your stay.

Can I Make Bulk Applications?

Yes, you can. They call it a Family Application. These can be created for minimum two and maximum 10 people. However, all members must originate from the same country, must carry the same travel document type (e.g. normal passport, identity card), and their arrival dates must be the same.

To apply, after you select ‘Country/Region’ of travel document and ‘Date of Arrival’, fill up ‘Personal Information’ form for the first member of the family. Then click ‘Add a New Person’ button. At this point you have a last time to verify the first person’s data. After you approve, you can add the details for the second member, and so on.

Upon completing the application of the last member of the family by clicking the ‘Continue’ button. You’ll receive an email to confirm your email address. A lump sum payment can be made after this stage. Upon receiving the payment, you will be able to download the e-Visas a payment receipt (under the name of the first applicant).

Further Recommended Reading

  1. Istanbul Money Strategy: Cash Or Credit Card?
  2. Top 15 Things to Do in Istanbul
  3. Turkish Customs and Etiquette

Filed Under: Plan Your Trip, Visa, Visa, Safety, Money & Health Tagged With: e-Visa, Electronic Visa, Visa

Comments

  1. Imran Arif says

    March 6, 2019 at 8:16 pm

    Me and my family are travelling to Turkey next month. Myself and my 2 children have British passport, however my wife has a Bangladeshi passport with a UK Residence Card. When applying for visa for my wife should I use her original passport or UK Residence card on the application, or should she go to the consulate in London

    • Erlend says

      March 6, 2019 at 10:51 pm

      When you go to the website of Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs there is a list of countries with information for each of them.
      Here is what it says for Bangladesh:
      Bangladeshi nationals holding diplomatic and official/service passport are exempted from visa for their travels up to 90 days. Ordinary passport holders are required to have visa. These passport holders with a valid Schengen members or USA, UK, Ireland visa or residence permit may get their single entry e-Visas valid for one month e-Visas via the website http://www.evisa.gov.tr, provided that they meet certain conditions.

      Please check from e-Visa website which is very clear and simple if your wife meets certain conditions.

  2. Guillermo C Landicho says

    February 9, 2019 at 9:39 am

    I have a Schengen Visa valid until July 2019, I am eligible to apply e-visa to turkey as Business Visa, My work is a Field service engineer engage in machine installation and setup.
    Since I am a frequent traveler, I can apply online and no need to return back to my country for Visa application?

    • Erlend says

      February 9, 2019 at 4:28 pm

      Just follow the steps for the e-visa application and answer the questions truthfully. The website will tell you whether you’re eligible and how much it will cost you.

  3. mohamed hassan says

    February 9, 2019 at 9:22 am

    how much the e-visa cost if I have a valid Schengen visa from Egypt/

    regards

    • Erlend says

      February 9, 2019 at 4:26 pm

      Hi Mohammed,

      Just pretend to apply for an electronic visa, and before actually paying it will tell you the amount.

  4. Hassan says

    February 2, 2019 at 4:20 pm

    What if i don’t have a Schengen visa or other type of visa that required, or what happens when i received the visa and come turkey, did they ask me the airport or did they turn me back into my country.

    • Erlend Geerts says

      February 3, 2019 at 1:48 pm

      Hi Hassan,

      If you don’t meet the requirements they list to apply for the e-visa, you’re asking for problems. The border checkpoint is very strict.

      Good luck.

  5. Jenni says

    January 23, 2019 at 12:36 pm

    Are there any disadvantages to a family application? In practice, are there problems entering Turkey if only one member of the family travels, or they travel at different times (all within the visa period)?

    • Erlend Geerts says

      January 27, 2019 at 2:13 pm

      That’s a good question Jenni. I haven’t tried that myself, so I can’t give you advice on that.

      You can ask them, I’m sure they’ll reply.

      Best of luck.

  6. Karen says

    December 16, 2018 at 4:59 pm

    The evisa for UK citizens cost only $20. Please make your viewers aware of websites charging up $109 for the visa. I was duped this way. Travellers make sure you apply at .gov website as post on this page. Thank you

    • Erlend Geerts says

      December 17, 2018 at 11:33 pm

      Thanks for sharing.

  7. Rabiya says

    December 15, 2018 at 9:37 pm

    In family application process ?? Is it necesary for every member to have their schengen visa ?? Our head member will be enough ??

    • Erlend says

      December 18, 2018 at 3:56 pm

      There is a note in the official website for both family and group applications saying:

      “all prerequisites (if any) for e-Visa application must be met by all in the family”.

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