Travellers from certain countries need a visa for Turkey. Those of certain nationalities that comply with the conditions can use online available online available e-visa for Turkey. This digital variant of the Turkey visa can be used under different conditions, but always within the total validity period of 180 days.

Please Note: Do you want to stay in Turkey for less than 90 days on a holiday or business trip? If you are a national of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, or any other country in the European Union, as of 2020, you no longer need a visa for these purposes.

Setting sun in Istanbul

Validity period of 180 days

The validity period of the visa for Turkey is 180 days. This 180-day period begins from your preferred starting date, as indicated in the Turkey visa application form. Is it going to be a while before you go on your holiday, and don’t want the validity period to expire because you applied for the visa early? Then you can fill in the expected arrival date in the application form. You don’t need to have booked a flight ticket or arranged a place to stay to be able to apply for the Turkey visa.

If you don’t know exactly when you will arrive in Turkey, then it can be wise to fill in the earliest date on which you can possibly arrive. If you arrive later than the filled-in arrival date it won’t be a problem. If you arrive earlier, your Turkey visa will not be valid yet, and you will not be allowed to enter the country. For this reason, it is smart to maintain a margin of one or more days. For instance, if you booked your arrival ticket for 10 September, fill in 8 September or 9 September as your expected date of arrival in the visa application form. Should your flight be expedited for whatever reason, you will still have a valid visa for Turkey.

Maximum 90 days in Turkey

Despite the lengthy validity period of 180 days, you can only stay in Turkey for 90 days, or a maximum of 30 days with a Turkish visa. Whether a traveller is eligible for the 30 day visa or the 90 day visa depends on their nationality. The validity period can be one consecutive period, but it can also be split into various trips if a traveller obtained a multipl-entry visa (for either 90 or 30 days). That is because the multiple-entry visa allows you to travel into Turkey an unlimited number of times with your Turkey visa.

You can thus stay in Turkey for a single 90-day stay, or 90 single day stays, and everything in between. The same principle applies when you qualify for the 30 day multiple-entry, with which you can stay 30 consecutive days or 30 single days, and everything in between. However, all these trips must be made within the overall validity period of 180 days. This validity term holds for the entire trip, meaning that not only must each arrival date fall within this period, but the final departure date must as well.
Apply for Turkey visa

Early expiration of the validity

Keep in mind that the validity period of the Turkey visa could always expire before the 180 days have passed, but it will in all cases expire after this period. This is because you also have to adhere to the requirements set for your passport (or, for certain countries, their identity card). It can occur that the visa is still valid according to the indicated expiration date, but that your passport is valid for less than six months. In that case, you are no longer allowed to travel into Turkey with your visa. You will have to file for a new passport, and then use that passport to apply for a new visa before you can travel to Turkey again.

Is your e-visa valid for up to 90 days, either for a single entry or multiple trips? Then your passport needs to be valid for at least another 150 days (90+60 days) on every possible arrival date. Is you e-visa only valid for 30 days? In that case your passport needs to be valid for another 90 days (30+60 days) upon each arrival. In any case, the Turkish government recommends that travellers with a visa only travel with a passport that has a remaining validity of at least 6 months upon arrival. However, this is not mandatory.

What if your Turkey visa has expired?

If the 180-day validity period of your visa has run out, then the validity expires immediately. Likewise, if you stayed in Turkey for more than 90 days, the validity expires as well. Still want to travel to Turkey again or stay in Turkey for a longer period? Read the page on the expiration and extension of the Turkish visa.

Check for yourself if your visa is still valid

Before you travel to Turkey, it is wise to check if your e-visa is still valid. This can be easily seen on the visa itself; look for the box marked red in the example below.

Check the validity of the visa for yourself (The image shows an example of a visa from before 2020. The e-visa for Turkey is no longer required for British or Irish travellers since 2020)