MaxVO

If anyone recently visited Turkey, would you please confirm that the Entrance Form is one of the requirements. It simply restates the passport info and adds contact info. One must pay $75 (USD) for the pleasure of filling it out. That seems to be in addition to the new rip-off eVisa fees ($105 for US citizens). Is that correct, or I hopefully misunderstood something?
Thanks!

Edit: I'm beginning to think that some private scammers are jumping in on the bonanza. The language is too vague to be official, e.g. "You may need the Entrance Form to enter Turkey". They are also collecting an optional $35 fee to share info with the US State Dept, which is normally a free service requiring no intermediaries.

Graciecatt

We are heading to Turkey in June. This site seems official and the e-visa is only $50 USD. Someone please correct me if it's not an official site.

https://www.evisa.gov.tr/en/apply/

TOMFORD

Is this and the health form the only two things needed?
https://register.health.gov.tr

Graciecatt

yes

MaxVO

Yes, this is the official government website, and their fee quote. But when I got to the payment step, the total included more mandatory charges. I recall my total fees for the Visa came to $105.

Immediately after getting approved for the eVisa, I got a TR gov't notification that covid health insurance is mandatory for the entry. There was a gov't approved option costing $67 for my 1-week stay, or take a chance with a free market policy.

I went through the TR border yesterday, and and that was the only health form they checked. They also asked for a printed visa -- prior to covid it was linked to the passport # and not necessary to have in a printed form.
As I suspected all bogus non-gov't health forms can be ignored.

Graciecatt

That's all good to know. I asked awhile back about health insurance for Turkey HERE and ended up getting a regular Allianz policy for our whole trip that includes covid.

So you have to print out the e-visa? that's too bad about all the extra fees. Obviously I haven't applied yet (we are going in June) but will be doing that probably at the end of this month.

WilcoRoger

FWIW - EU passports don't require any e-visas, etc, only the health form, which in turn is checked only at checkin and not at IST or AYT (I entered via these two airports lately)

Of course, US or other passports might have different requirements.

BuildingMyBento

That's very suspicious.

Though I don't know where you're passport is from, with my US passport, the total cost was 50$ for the e-visa (and maybe around two bucks for a service fee). Certainly no fee for the pandemic entry form.

In short, https://www.evisa.gov.tr/en/ for visas, and https://register.health.gov.tr/ for the entry form.

When the border control agent asked about the visa, I simply showed him the screenshot.

MaxVO

In my case it was US passport in early March'22. Yes I recall a $2 service fee and $50+ processing charge for a total of $105.50. I thought it was a direct purchase from a gov't eVisa site. May I ask when your visa was ordered? I certainly feel cheated by undisclosed surcharges, but canceling the trip would've cost more.
Is it possible that I fell prey to a copycat visa website? I now recall that the website offered several processing speeds, with $50 being the slowest (and I chose it). But my visa was delivered instantly anyways.

Graciecatt

How did your $50 visa + $2 service fee = $105? Did you apply for 2 visas?

BuildingMyBento

I bought the e-visa in mid-February of this year, at this site: https://www.evisa.gov.tr/en/. It was e-mailed almost instantly.

Have you already tried entering Turkey? I'm curious what your visa looks like; mine, which allowed me to enter last month, is like this: https://vbstatic.ie/pdf/en/visa-turkey-example.pdf.

Graciecatt

Is there an app for that so you can keep it electronically on your phone or do you have to print it out?

BuildingMyBento

No app needed; a visa pdf is sent to your email, which can be downloaded to the phone/taken as a screenshot.

MaxVO

You forgot "processing charge" costing more than the visa.

Yes I'm in Turkey now. My visa has all the same features, and scanned correctly at the border. There's no question that the visa was real -- only if I accidentally applied through a middleman instead of directly.

Graciecatt

MaxVO how is it in Turkey with respect to the war in Ukraine? Turkey is pretty close to Ukraine and we are trying to keep our eyes on the situation for our upcoming trip. We're not going until June, so I know a lot can change, but I am curious if there is any effect in Turkey.