Hello Board,

Question from newbie re need for Turkish transit visa. I have done extensive research and still can't find definitive answer.

I am a US citizen and will be flying from Budapest, Hungary to Seoul, South Korea. My flight itinerary is as follows: Budapest- Istanbul (on Turkish Airlines), then 3 hour connection/transit time in Istanbul Airport (Ataturk), then continuation Istanbul (Ataturk) to Seoul (on Asiana Airlines). DO I NEED A TURKISH VISA OR NOT??

According to Turkish Dept of Foreign Affairs, I would not need a visa as long as I will be within "transit zone" (whatever it means). According to local consulate (in NYC) I do need visa...

Please help- many thanks in advance!

TIMATIC, the IATA database, is available to you free at a number of locations including the *A website (link below). According to TIMATIC and presuming that you will have been in Hungary for at least six days, you can transit IST without a visa (<24 hours + onward ticket).

Not suggesting that <6 days in Hungary changes things, but you will need to check that on TIMATIC.

Whatever you do, bring a paper printout with you. Arguing with check-in agents is a bad thing.

http://www.staralliance.com/en/servi...sa-and-health/

That is a nice link. I had not seen it before..UA had something similar but never worked well

Transit area in European airports is the area that you reach when getting out of an international (extra-Schengen) flight or, when going to your (extra-Schengen) flight, you reach after passing through immigration. When in there, you are considered to be "outside" the country. Turkey is nor a member of the EU and is not a signatory of the Schengen agreement. In other words, you need no visa for the transit area, as you were correctly informed by the Turkish Dept of Foreign Affairs. My guess is that the consular officer at NYC wrongly thought of the situation in the US. At any rate, you will not pass immigration and they will not ask for your passport, but you'd have to have your BC already, otherwise I take back most of the above...

If they say that you need a visa, , you get one on arrival for 30$, I think.. But being that you are not visiting only staying at the airport, you shouldn't need one. But its Turkey, sometimes rules change.

Not since April 2014. Evisa in advance or physical visa from an embassy only.

Thank you all for your advice and opinions!
Also, thanks for the TIMCATIC link!

I guess to be 100% safe, I will go ahead and pay for e-visa's. As Often1 said, I really do not fancy arguing with gate agent at the embarkation point...

Really? That sucks! You use to be able to go in and out a few years ago. I guess war being so close to Turkey changes things.

The change has been on the cards for several years so nothing to do with war. eVisa application is very simple so it isn't much of a barrier to free movement and less hassle than queuing on arrival.

The E-visa is simple and fast. However, you do not need a visa to transit at Istanbul international airport.

It is absolutely,100 percent certain that you DO NOT need a visa to transit at IST,you need a visa if you clear imigration,for transit you do not do that,clearing imigration to transit is a US "thing".

To transit you turn left BEFORE the imigration lines and go straight to the departure concourse,you DO not enter Turkey.

This is very,very clearly marked,almost imposible to do it wrongly,and,anyway if by devine intervention you did,you would be directed to the transit lines a few meters down.

And BTW,war is neither relevant for Turkish visa practises,nor close to IST !!!

Turkey will never be a part of Europe so please ask here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/middl...ing-egypt-709/

eh? not only dont i this is true, one can still get a visa in person atleast as of 3 months ago.

Oh, c'mon! Istanbul has always been in Europe, and whether Turkey will ever be part of the EU (not Europe) is something that we can't foresee, as much as most of us, thirty years ago, never thought that the Iron Curtain would "open".

At any rate, questions on Turkey are always being discussed in this forum so asking a transit visa question for Turkey (not needed )in the forum on middle-east-including-egypt brings us back to the Ottoman times. Let's not get political!

The traditional divide between Europe and Asia at Istanbul goes along the Bosphorus, so the part of Istanbul to the west of the Bosphorus is certainly in Europe. Istanbul is generally considered a European city at least as much as an Asian one.

Turkey is not, at present, generally considered to be part of the MIddle East, and it's easy to see why - historically, politically and demographically it is quite distinct from the Middle East.