Tough New Penalties for Overstaying Your Tourist Visa
April 4, 2008 by Victoria Ice
Filed under News
A warning before you decide to overstay your tourist visa;
The Turkish immigration authorities are getting tough on people who over stay their tourist visa.
The new rules are as follows:
Over staying your tourist visa by between 1 and 15 days – There is no restriction on re-entering Turkey but you will have to pay the appropriate visa fines and you will need to obtain your new visa from a Turkish Consulate.
Over staying your tourist visa by 16 days or more – Not only will you have to pay the fines for over staying but you would also need to leave Turkey and would not be allowed entry for 3 months
Over staying your tourist visa by 3 months – In addition to the fines the person would have to leave Turkey and would not be allowed entry for 6 months.
For greater periods as above with fines but double the refusal of entry times – 6 months over staying, would not be allowed entry to Turkey for 12 months etc.
We think the penalties are very tough as those people who just make a minor date error and inadvertently stay an extra few days will now have to take a special trip to renew their visa outside of Turkey.
So it pays to renew your visa a little bit earlier to allow for any errors.
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hello, my name is Helen and last yr I visited Turkey 2 times within 3 months. I stayed for a month the 2nd time, but on entering the 2nd time I was told by passport control I didn’t need another visa as I had been there within the 90 days. However on leaving I was stopped as my visa had gone over by 6 days. I was offered to pay a 480 lira fine for myself and my 2 children but I didn’t have this fine, so instead they let me fly but banned me and my children for 60 months! We also on return had to apply for 3 new visas at £66 each. So beware, even if they do tell you you don’t need your visa take one as the hassle at the other end is ridiculous. I personally had to pay the policeman a back hander to leave the country. I have complained to every possible place however not one of the Turkish embassies is interested. It is all about the money! I am due to go back to see my friends there soon in 1 week and if anyone knows of any problems I may come across please send me an email. Thanks
I thought that you could obtain an new period of tourist residency by simply leaving the country for a few hours or a day and then returning. Unless you are living a long way from a border, that seems like the easiest thing to do.
I went to Ankara to stay with my friend for a while, and took a touristic visa on entry on 31st July 2009. I stayed for a while, and then on 16th September, came back to UK to visit my family, and I returned on 20th September, within my 90 day visa allowance…therefore, my visa was still running. I knew that I wanted to stay for longer, so knowing full well that my touristic visa would run out on October 31st, I spoke to two police officers in the local police department and explained that I wanted to stay for longer, and that I would like to extend my visa. They assured me that because my current visa had been stamped on my return to the country in September, my visa would automatically be extended for another 90 days. I questioned it, but they were sure and off I went. I decided to come back to UK on 22nd of December to visit my family. When I got to the border, they told me that I had overstayed my visa, and they fined me £160, and banned me from entering Turkey for 90 days. I was absolutely livid. I explained everything that the police officers in the police department had told me, and that I was honest with them, and I had absolutely no problems in purchasing another visa for another price if it meant that I was able to return when I liked. But they were insistent that it was government policy. I can’t believe that I’ve been banned from entering a country because of the mistake of two men who gave me the wrong information. Lesson learnt!!! ALWAYS TAKE A VISA!!!
I was deported from Turkey January 2009 and was told at the airport i was deported from that if i wanted to return to Turkey i would have to apply for a Visa from the Turkish Registry and have a fine to return back to Turkey. I applied to the Turkish Registry and was granted a visa but was not told how much i would have to pay.I was initially deported for an overstay in Turkey for 6 months,i was told at the airport i was deported from that i would have to pay 800 Turkish lira which is £300 for myself and my son.Are you able to verify this fine amount.I would appreciate if you could get back to me. Thanks