The British Consulate announced on 26 July that the new visa regulations introduced by the Turkish immigration authorities had been postponed and that all ports of entry had been advised. But how is it working in practice? We need your feedback.

British Citizens had been issued with a visa valid for 90 days when arriving at a port of entry to Turkey at a cost of 10 GBP.

But from early June some ports of entry to Turkey started to issue a new style visa. The wording stated that the holder could now only stay in Turkey for 90 days within any 180 days.

It was then discovered that on the 14th July 2010 the immigration procedures had changed for British Citizens and those of 63 other countries. The new procedures only allowed a person with a new style visa to stay in Turkey for 90 days in 180 days marking the end of the popular ‘visa hop’ (renewing a tourist visa back to back by going out of the country and back again).

The British Consulate on learning about the unannounced changes met with the Minister for the Interior who confirmed soon after that the changes would be postponed.

The British Consulate confirmed the postponement on 26 July 2010 and said that all ports of entry to Turkey had been informed of the news and that the old rules would be applied.

But there is confusion again as it is understood that the new style visas are still being issued at some ports of entry such as Fethiye.

What’s Going On? We Need Your Help

The new style visas that were issued from early June will need to be renewed from the end of August.

We would like to know how the visa procedures will work in practice and if the changes to the rules really have been ‘postponed’.

So we would like to hear from you if you have renewed a 90/180 day new style visa either back-to-back or before the expiry date.

The questions:

Did you renew a new style 90/180 day visa?

How many days were left on that visa?

What port of entry did you arrive at in Turkey e.g. Dalaman, Antalya or Bodrum Airports, sea ports such as Fethiye, Bodrum, Kas etc.

Was the visa renewed without question?

Did the immigration authorities’ question why you were renewing your 90/180 day visa or say that the rules were changing? If so what did they say?

Were you refused a visa?

Any other information.

Please cut and paste the above into an email and add your comments. Please title your email VISA CHANGES SURVEY so we can easily identify them. Then send to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

We will use the information to keep the British Consulate up to date and enable them to make representations if necessary.

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