Sinter

Did not see this posted anywhere else and can't seem to find any news stories on it (though haven't searched Turkish news yet), but when I just went to apply for a new e-visa as a US passport holder, I noticed the fee increased from $20 to $50 for the standard 6 month multiple entry visa for ordinary passport holders.

I did not see it posted anywhere else on FT, but apologies if I missed it and/or the news. Not surprised they raised it, just a bit surprised by how much from a percentage stand point.

PrimeTraveler

I was applying for an evisa 2 weeks ago and i was shocked at this big increase of the Turkey E-visa fee. From $20 to $50 (150% increase). I am glad that you brought this up because I didn’t find this information nowhere else online too. Even the State Department and Foreign Affair of Rep of Turkey the new rate is not updated. I will have yo visit Turkey this summer with my family and from $120 that I planned to pay for visa i will have to pay $300

gr8pirate

...bringing this up because I’ve made the mistake and I’m wondering if this is the cause:

after a quick and superficial google for a Turkish e-visa a couple of years back, I ended up on a site (not the official one) that ended up providing me with the visa, but at an extra cost of $€ 10-20.

ankomonkey

Recently bought an e-visa on my UK passport and the price had definitely gone up. I can't remember the exact amount, but it seems it's not just US and could be affecting all passports that need an e-visa.

max_kolesne

The fee to leave Turkey for Turkish citizens residing in Turkey also has gone up from 15 TRY to 50 TRY. The Turkish economy is in crisis, and the government is milking every source that they can find without disturbing their voter base very much.

Sinter

Totally fair question, this will be my ninth visit coming up in May and I just applied through the same official Turkish government website this past fall for $20 (although in fairness I almost made that mistake recently for the New Zealand ETA before catching myself).

Max, I saw that announcement regarding fee increase for Turkish citizens, but could not find anything about the fee increase for visas for US passport holders. I fully expected them to raise it at some point due to that exact reason, just a bit surprising it was by more than double the previous cost.

vincewy

If you have more than 1 passport check the fee using your second/third passport.

My second passport still has no fee required.

TPJ

Pardon my ignorance, but Turkish nationals pay a fee to travel abroad? This cannot be right.

On a separate note - how much is the US visa fee for TR nationals - USD 200? And I guess it is still non-refundable if the application is rejected...

BobFF68

I was checking for my next family trip for my wife, the single entry evisa fee for Indonesian passport holders also increased from 25 to 35 USD since last year. Thus fees have been increased for all I guess and without discrimination

mesuttoker

Yes, we have to pay tax while we are leaving the country. But thank God, They let us in whitout a charge.

And you are right again about US visa fee for Turkish national. Also consider we have to pay 200 USD while avarage income around 8.000.-USD.

Sinter

While it is certainly more expensive up front, and a more involved process for sure, my friends generally wind up getting their visas for 10 years with up to 5 years of validity during that 10 year period. At the new $50 rate for Americans visiting Turkey, in the long run you now come out ahead.

gr8pirate

That made me laugh!
”How bad to you want to go home?”

Airframe

If my memory is correct the fee for UK passports went from the previous $20 to $35. I noticed it back in December when I needed to renew my evisa and had to double check I was using the official site like normal and had not mistakenly gone through one of the many online “agencies” !

hfly

Oh please, not this garbage again..............

Most Turks that I know get 10 year visas, so their nominal cost per year is $20 per year, but more importantly, they only have to deal with it once a decade. US citizens now pay a nominal $100 per year, So it is 5 times more expensive.

But let's look at history and facts. I have posted this on FT before, and quite frankly am too lazy to go back and find exact dates, but to put the history of this in a nutshell.

From about 1954-1995 Turkey had a unique visa treaty with the US. US citizens did not require visas to visit Turkey (For everything here I am talking about Tourist or regular visit visas, not residency, or whatever), and in return while Turks required visas to the United States, there were no charges.

In 1995 a short term lame duck Foreign Minister named Mumtaz Soysal, a former journalist that had no policy ideas whatsoever, dicided that this was the most unfair thing ever, and imposed a $20 visa charge on US citizens (Despite the fact that the Turkish overstay rate on US visas at the time was over 7% and practically none in the opposite direction).This was of course a VOA, and was nothing but an entry tax, but was of no practical value to Turkish citizens as the US immediately instituted a $20 fee in reciprocity of Turkish citizens wanting US visas. Incidentally Turks back then could even get INDEFINATE VISAS (In 1997 or so the US stopped doing indefinate visas everywhere, and those who had them then had them reissued for free for 10 years) for free and then $20, while US citizens only got 3 months (later on this became 90 days). Maybe a year later Turkey raised the fee to $40, the US matched it. Maybe a year or two later Turkey raised it to $65, and the US matched it. A year later they raised it to $100, and the US matched it. This was DISASTROUS for Turkish Tourism, The cruise operators (which were significant at the time) announced that they would curtail business to Turkey for example and US tourism started to tumble. The Turks immediately folded and brought the fee back down accepting that while Turks were paying $100 for up to ten year visas, US citizens were in essence paying $4000 for the same validity/duration. So it was back to $20. Much if this idiocy back then was due to a series of financial crisis in Turkey. Again, the average Turk who actually was traveling to the US was worse off as they were now paying for something that had been for free, and Turkey was in violation of a treaty that they had previously been happy with for over 40 years.............

(Incidentally the departure fee mentioned above for Turks started in 1989 or so as a "mass housing development fund" to fund emergency housing for Bulgarian Turks who fled to Turkey starting in 1988, and then has been redone and reconfigured many times over the years, and is in essence just a cash pot that the Turkish government collects because they can. The attitude is that if you can afford to travel, you can afford to pay it. One thing that I have always found funny about this is that there is an exemption for attending sporting events where there is a Turkish team in a sports event abroad, and back when the fee was $100 at one point in the late 90's, people would try and find the most esoteric sporting event near the time and place they were going to show evidence that they were going to these events to avoid paying the fee................no one bothered anymore once they starting charging for it in TL and lowered it to 15 TL )

Since then however you had 9/11 and its aftermath, whereby the US added all sorts of checks and fees, which went from something like $100 to $120 to $160 to now $200. While on the other hand US citizens would pay $20 for 3 months. That was the status quo.

I'm not going to go into the whole 3 month visa issuance moratorium 2.5 years ago between Turkey and the US right now.

I cannot believe that they are going down this road again, and it would seem to me that it may be an excuse to make some sort of excuse to make some sort of issue in the future as under the current US administration it is only a matter of time that the Trump administration will retaliate, just look at what happened recently with Nigerians thought that they would be cute and raise fees significantly for US citizens wishing Nigerian visas, the US not only reciprocated, but in essence has hit Nigeria hard by adding Nigeria to the travel ban list (essentially) the Nigerians tried to backtrack at the last minute on everything, but it was too late.

As for comments about "But Turks only make $8000" that is really a moot comparison. Generally speaking a Turk who makes $8000 is not getting a US visa, or many visas for that matter. Everyone knows that. I would posit that the average income of theaverage Turk who applies for a US visa is generally higher than the average income of the average American.

OTOH, maybe this will go the other way, and they will start issuing 10 year visas for US citizens at the end of this as many other countries have done in such reciprocity spats in recent years (such as China, India, Brazil, Argentina all did in similar situations, although Brazil has since scrapped the visa).

g289t

Your post is very interesting! I am an American who has visited Turkey a few times. I think I paid a different price for the visa each time. I remember paying $100 one time. This would have been in 2003 I think.

I read other places too where people say that equality in visa costs are fair. I do not agree. First world countries need strict visa requirements to regulate immigration. Developing countries do not. I read where a citizen of Brazil explained why US visas for Brazilians should cost more than what Americans are charged for visas to Brazil. He wrote, "How many Americans want to move to Brazil? None. How many Brazilians want to move to the US? All of them!" While this is of course exaggerated, it makes a point. If all immigration restrictions were removed, it would be a one way street from developing countries to developed countries.

I currently live in Africa. One of my colleagues here tried 3 times to get a visa to the US before he got it. Each time he of course paid the nonrefundable visa fee. I told him that maybe the fee should be refunded if the visa is denied. He said that it should not be refundable, otherwise everyone would just keep trying to get a visa. If they're denied, it's no loss.