As of 1 April, Turkey has reduced the visa fee for US travellers to $20. This was due to several reasons, which included a huge decrease in US tourists over the last two years. I would also like to think that a remark I made to the tourism minister not too long ago had something to do with it as well

Yeah right

They need to update their website to reflect this... I looked on the weekend and the old fees were still there. So glad I waited to get my visa.

Off topic - does anyone know if suspicions will be raised if I fly from IST to TLV and back (a side trip). The diverstion will solely be for personal reasons but will the stamps / visas in my passport cause huge problems when I come back into Canada or the US?

I've flown into the US with stamps from the following countries in my passport:

Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Libya (admittedly before 9/11), Bahrain, Egypt, UAE, Morrocco, Tunisia, Turkey

and only been questioned once about my travel habits. That took about 5 minutes, other than that no hassle.

You don't even need to get a stamp from the Israelis. As long as you have a valid excuse (I may be travelling to Dubai in the future is a good one) they will just do a slip of paper. Personally I have more than 400 Turkish stamps in my passport as well as those of many other middle eastern countries and have never received even a question anywhere.

For some reason in was all my Saudi stamps in my last passport that always got the questions, and that was way before 9/11.

hfly is correct but one word of caution: Do not lose that piece of paper. You are going to need it when exiting the country.

Awesome news for budget travelers!...looks like I'll be going to Turkey this summer....yeehaa...

$100 might not be a lot for many business travelers, but $100 is like a week+ of lodging in some places for budget travelers.

If the Turkish state dept is listening, you just gained yourself one more tourist.

Matt

This is excellent. Connecting through Istanbul or long-weekend/side trips to Turkey is now a more attractive option -- especially for families.

Great news indeed-- I hadn't seen this thread and was just told this by my friend in IST by e-mail this morning of the change. Heading to IST at then end of the month.

When Turket finally joins the EU it will be $0 (I hope). But $100 is alot to charge and their reponse is that the US embassy charges $100 for Turkish visitors into the USA.

Great! Now if only Brazil would do the same ...

SID,

Sorry but I do not know where you get your info from. Currently there are 15 EU members, 7 of these have to pay for visas to Turkey these visas range between roughly $12-25 (depending on Euros, Pounds, Kroners, whatever). That means that half of the EU countries pay for visas. When the EU expands in a few months, 80% of the EU will need to pay for visas to Turkey. There is no such thing as a blanket "block" exemption (for example most EU countries are VWP for the US, however for example Greece is not).

The $100 was NOT in anyway reciprocal. Besides the fact that any visa was in violation of a 1955 agreement signed between Turkey in the US, Turkey started this tit for tat idiocy in 1985, and was responsible for the two increases before the $100 level.

It should also be mentioned that the minimum visa issues to Turkish tourists to the United States is for 1 year, and until recently 10 years was the noem. Currently the average is 5 years. The maximum for a US citizen is three months. Hence for a year a us citizen is still now paying $80, while a Turk pays $100. If the Turk gets a 10 year visa it is $100, the US citizen was paying $40000 and now would/will pay $800.

A recent article in a Turkish newspaper (I would have linked it last week, but it was in Turkish) claims that even excluding the estimated tousist losses due to 9/11, etc. That Turkey lost in excess of $80 million in US tourist revenue attributable SOLELY to the higher visa fees (Several cruise companies pulled out partially due to this) while the $80 difference in visa fees raised for the government an estimated WHOPPING $12 million.

Also remember that Turkey actually taxes its own citizens with a practical exit visa of appx $50 EACH TIME THEY EXIT!!!! This is also in violation of Turkey's 1997 Customs treaty with the EU. The rescinded it for a few years but brought it back a couple of years ago.

hfly, thanks for the info. My wife (turkish and US citizen), one year old daughter and I are going to visit this July for our first visit in over 2 years. Have never come across or heard of the "practical exit visa" you mention. Do you have any particulars on when/how it is assessed?

This fee/visa/tax/fund has been around for at least 15 years. If you are not aware of it personally it is because your wife by having a US passport does not have to pay it (Turks with any sort of foreign residency/work visa/ dual nationality do not have to deal with this). Pre-1997 it was called the "mass housing fund", since 2001 or so it is called something insipid like the special fund.

Like so much in Turkish society the idea is to soak the rich as they dodge taxes at every turn, i.e. if you have enough money to travel, the thinking goes, you have another $50 or so to pay the government (this is on top of all other travel fees/taxes/facility charges).