News report | | 10-09-2018 | ±3 minutes reading time

The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has resumed talks with the European Union regarding visa-free travel. He wants to speed up talks, so that Turkish nationals can travel without a visa within the European Union. It is a sign of improvements in the relationship between Ankara and Brussels, after previous economic difficulties.

Visa liberalization

“We will be working more closely with the European Union to make visa liberalization a reality”, says the Turkish minister in a statement. That statement was sent to the Turkish embassy, which held their yearly conference on 15 August.

It is not surprising that the minister has started talking about visa-free travelling now. Relations between Ankara and Brussels are slowly being repaired, after Turkey found themselves in an economic conflict with the United States. It is a great moment to tighten relations, says a European diplomate: “Erdogan is learning who the real enemies are - and it’s not Europe.”

The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, also points at the importance of good relations between the EU and Turkey: “Turkey does not need to fear her European neighbours. We only want to see a democratic, stable and prosperous Turkey.”

Talks with Timmermans

Çavuşoğlu has said he will be meeting with Eurocommissioner Frans Timmermans in the near future. They will mainly be talking about Turkey’s effort to meet the last six criteria of the Schengen Agreement. Turks can then enter and leave European countries much faster.

Challenges

On 7 February the government in Ankara handed a document to Timmermans explaining their plan on how to meet the criteria. Turkey is mainly struggling with the rules surrounding terrorism, and how to bring them in line with the European standards.

The biggest challenge for Turkey is to change the law regarding counterterrorism. Until now, the country has stopped each attempt to change the law, with the claim that it is being attacked by the Fethullahlist Terror Organization (FETO), the Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK) and Islamic State (IS).

Visit Erdogan

If Turkey will have a change to push through visa-free travel will be known in the future. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will bring a visit to Germany on 28 and 29 September.

In 2018 and 2019: a visa application for Turkey

Apply for the visa on time

Apply for the visa on time!
Those who wants to travel to Turkey in 2018 or 2019 require a visa. That applies both to tourist as well as business travellers. The rule also applies to underage children; they are only allowed in if they possess their own visa. Those who do not possess a valid visa are stopped at the passport check after arrival in Turkey.
Turkey visa application


A Turkey visa can be applied for online. An e-visa is a digital travel permit from the Turkish government to visit the country. The digital visa is sent by e-mail.

To visit Turkey with an e-visa, a number of rules apply. For instance, the traveller needs to bring a passport (or, for some countries, an ID card) along, and the trip needs to have a tourist or business purpose, and the traveller cannot enter into service with a Turkish employer or study at a Turkish educational institution. The passport needs to be valid for at least 150 more days after entering Turkey.

A visa is valid for 180 days. Staying in Turkey is allowed for a maximum of 90 days. It is important to follow the rules to avoid fines, deporting or an entry ban

Those leaving for Turkey today or tomorrow can submit an urgent application. These applications are processed with urgency and can be approved within 14 minutes. It is important to print the e-visa and bring it along on the trip.

Please note: this news article about the visa for Turkey is more than one year old. It might contain outdated information and advice, and no rights can therefore be derived from this article. Are you going on a trip soon and do you wish to do know what rules currently apply? Read all about the up-to-date information about the visa for Turkey.

e-Visa.ie is a commercial and professional visa agency, and supports travellers in obtaining, among others, the Turkey visa. e-Visa.ie is an official partner of the International Air Transport Association, IATA, with membership number 57231226, acts as an intermediary, is no law firm, nor does it employ lawyers, does not provide legal advice, and is in no way part of any government. You can also apply for a visa directly with the immigration service (36,05 USD per visa, via www.evisa.gov.tr). However, not with our level of support. If you submit your application via e-Visa.ie, our support centre is available to you 24/7. We also check your application before submitting it to the immigration authorities on your behalf. If we suspect any errors or omissions while doing so, we will personally contact you to ensure that your application can still be processed quickly and correctly. To use our services, you pay us 36,05 USD in consular fees, which we pay to the immigration service on your behalf, as well as € 20,65 in service fees as compensation for our services, including VAT. Our services have saved many travellers from major problems during their trip. Should an application be rejected despite our support and verification, we will refund the full purchase price (unless an application for a previous Turkey visa was rejected for the same traveller). Read more about our services here.