Visas and entry
Turkey entry rules and the e-visa
Turkey is one of the busiest leisure destinations in the world, and its entry system is genuinely one of the simpler ones — provided you work out which of the three categories you fall into before you book.
Three categories, and you are in one of them
Travellers to Turkey fall into one of three groups: visa-exempt, eligible for an electronic visa, or required to apply at a consulate. Which one applies to you is a function of your passport first.
Many nationalities — GCC nationals, including UAE and Saudi citizens, among them — travel to Turkey without a visa for tourism. Many others are eligible for the e-visa, which is completed entirely online in a few minutes. A smaller set must apply through a Turkish consulate in the ordinary way.
The practical step is to check your own nationality against the official system before booking anything, because the three routes have very different lead times — minutes for one, weeks for another.
How where you live can change the answer
Turkey is one of the countries where residence genuinely does affect eligibility, which makes it an exception to the usual rule that only the passport counts.
Several nationalities that would otherwise need a consular visa become eligible for the electronic visa when they hold a valid visa or residence permit from certain other countries, alongside conditions on passport validity. The official system lists which ones apply to which passport. This is why two colleagues of different nationalities living in the same city can face completely different processes for the same trip.
Because it is conditional, it is worth checking your specific combination of passport and residence in the official system rather than relying on what a friend did last year.
One official site, and a lot of imitations
The Turkish e-visa is issued through a single government system at evisa.gov.tr. Searching for it surfaces a large number of intermediary sites that look official, charge a substantial markup over the government fee, and are simply filling in the same form on your behalf.
They are not scams in the criminal sense and they do generally deliver a real visa, but you are paying a premium for a form that takes a few minutes. Type the government address directly rather than arriving through a search result or an advertisement.
Print or save the approved e-visa. Airlines check it at the departure gate, not on arrival, and an approval you cannot produce is functionally an approval you do not have.
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Common questions
- How quickly is an e-visa approved?
- Straightforward applications are often approved within minutes and arrive by email. Leave a buffer of a few days anyway — some applications are referred for additional checks, and there is no way to tell in advance which ones.
- Does an e-visa let me work or study?
- No. It covers tourism and, depending on the category, some business travel. Work and study require the appropriate permit obtained before arrival, and entering on a tourist basis with the intention of doing either is a problem at the border rather than a shortcut.
- How much passport validity do I need?
- Turkey requires validity extending meaningfully beyond your stay, and the exact requirement differs between the visa-exempt and e-visa routes. Check the figure that applies to you rather than assuming the common six-month rule covers it.
Where this applies
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