Visa policy of Turkey

The  visa policy of Turkey deals with the requirements that a foreign national wishing to enter Turkey must meet to be permitted to travel to, enter and remain in the country.

Visitors to Turkey must obtain a visa from one of the Turkish diplomatic missions unless they come from one of the 95 visa-exempt countries and territories or one of the 22 countries and territories whose citizens are eligible to apply for an electronic visa. Turkish visas are documents issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its subsequent diplomatic missions abroad with the stated goal of regulating and facilitating migratory flows.

Visitors of most nationalities must hold a passport valid for no less than 150 days from the date of arrival. The passport validity requirement does not apply to citizens of Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland who can enter with a passport expired for less than five years, citizens of Germany who can enter with a passport or an ID card expired for less than one year, citizens of Bulgaria who are only required to have a passport valid for their period of stay. An identity card is accepted instead of a passport for citizens of Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Northern Cyprus, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, and Ukraine.

The validity period requirement also does not apply to nationals of countries whose identity cards are accepted.

Even though Turkey is a candidate country for membership of the European Union, it has a more complex visa policy than the visa policy of the Schengen Area. Turkey requires visas from citizens of one EU member state (the Republic of Cyprus), as well as Schengen Annex II countries and territories – Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, East Timor, Grenada, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Palau, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Taiwan, Tonga and Tuvalu. However, citizens of most of these countries can obtain electronic visas. On the other hand, Turkey grants visa-free access to citizens of other countries and territories – Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belize, Bolivia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, Lebanon, Mongolia, Morocco, Qatar, Russia, Thailand, Tunisia and Uzbekistan.

Visa exemption
Citizens of the following countries and territories who hold ordinary passports do not require a visa to visit Turkey for the durations described below for tourism or business purposes (unless otherwise stated). For visits of up to 90 days within 180 days, an identity card is accepted instead of a passport for citizens of some countries. ID - May enter with an ID card for a stay of up to 90 days per 180-day period. T - Visa free for tourism purposes only. 1 - Entry with an ID card instead of a passport is allowed for citizens of Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain. 2 - British citizens only. 3 - Excluding journalists that are on duty. T - Only for touristic visits. 1 - Provided being under the age of 15 or above the age of 65. 2 - Provided residing in North Cyprus and directly arriving from Ercan International Airport; or seaports of Famagusta, Gemikonağı, or Kyrenia. 3 - Provided being under the age of 16 or above the age of 45.
 * Conditional visa free access
 * A visa exemption agreement for holders of ordinary passports was signed with the Maldives on 28 January 2022, but it has not yet entered into force

Non-ordinary passport holders
Under reciprocal agreements, holders of diplomatic or service passports or laissez-passers issued by the following jurisdictions are allowed to enter and remain in Turkey for up to 90 days in 180 days, unless otherwise noted: D - Diplomatic passports S - Service passports S* - For holders of service passports, 60 days within any 180-day period. T - Only for touristic visits. 1 - Visa-exempt in general. 2 - 30 days within any 180-day period. 3 - 30 days per visit, 90 days within any 1-year period. 4 - British citizens only.

laissez-passer holders who have blue UN travel documents shall be exempted from entry visa requirement for their official visits to Turkey for up to 90 days in 180 days if they can certify their official assignment. Otherwise, general visa provisions shall apply.

Red UN Travel Document holders, shall be exempted from entry visa and may stay in Turkey for 90 days within the preceding 180 days regardless of their purpose of visit.

Electronic Visa (eVisa)
Holders of passports from the following countries and territories can apply and obtain an electronic visa (eVisa) for a fee before arrival. The duration of stay for these nationalities is up to 90 days (or 30 days per applications) within 180 days. 1 - May only apply for a single entry e-Visa on which they can stay for up to 30 days per 180-day period. 2 - e-Visas shall be issued free of charge.

Conditional e-Visa
Citizens of these countries and territories are eligible to apply for a single entry e-Visa on which they can stay for up to 30 days only if meeting the conditions listed below: 1 - e-Visas are issued free of charge.

Physical visa required in advance
Citizens of the following countries and territories are not eligible for any of the “Visa Free Access” or “Electronic Visa” schemes. Therefore they have to obtain the appropriate type of visa for their intended visits in advance at a Turkish diplomatic mission unless they qualify for any of the “Conditional Visa Free Access” or “Conditional Electronic Visa” schemes:

Transit visa required
As of 15 April 2024, citizens of the 10 countries travelling to Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela via Istanbul Airport will be required to obtain an electronic airport transit visa.

Visitor statistics
Turkey issued 16,199,968 electronic visas between April 2013 and January 1, 2017. The acceptance rate was 87.79% as 18,452,733 applications were filed in this period. Most visas were issued to nationals of the United Kingdom (4.6 million), Iraq (2 million) and the Netherlands (1.8 million).