Passports and Visas
Visa Information for Foreigners http://www.mfa.gov.tr/visa-information-for-foreigners.en.mfa
NATIONALS OF THE FOLLOWING COUNTRIES DO NOT REQUIRE A VISA :
Type of Passport : Ordinary Passport
Period of Visa Exemption : 3 Months
Argentina, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece Grenada, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (only passports of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), Iceland, Iran, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Monaco, Morocco, New Zealand, Oman, Qatar, St. Lucia, St. Marino, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad-Tobago, Tunisia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Vatican
Type of Passport : Ordinary Passport
Period of Visa Exemption : 2 Months
Bosnia- Herzegovina, Croatia, Indonesia, Macedonia, Rumania
Type of Passport : Ordinary Passport
Period of Visa Exemption : 1 Month
Costa Rica, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, South Africa
Type of Passport : Official Passports
Period of Visa Exemption : 3 Months
Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belarus, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Holland, Hong-Kong Special Administrative Region(only passports of Hong-Kong Special Administrative Region), Iceland, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico (only diplomatic passports) Monaco, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal (only diplomatic passports), Qatar, Russia (only diplomatic passports), St. Lucia, St. Marino, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad-Tobago, Tunisia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Uruguay, Vatikan
Type of Passport : Official Passports
Period of Visa Exemption : 2 Months
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Indonesia, Macedonia, Rumania
Type of Passport : Official Passports
Period of Visa Exemption : 1 Month
Bulgaria (only diplomatic passports) Costa Rica, Estonia (only diplomatic passports) , Hungary, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia( only diplomatic passports), Maldives, Moldova, Mongolia, People’s Republic of China, Philippines, South Africa, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Vietnam (only diplomatic passports), Yemen
ORDINARY PASSPORT HOLDERS OF NATIONALS OF THE FOLLOWING COUNTRIES MAY OBTAIN STICKER TYPE VISAS AT THE TURKISH INTERNATIONAL BORDER GATES TO ENTER INTO TURKIYE
Visa Fees at Border Gates for 2010 http://www.mfa.gov.tr/visa-fees-at-border-gates-for-2010.en.mfa
Type of Passport : Ordinary Passport
Duration of Stay : 3 Months
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil,Canada, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, United States of America
Type of Passport : Ordinary Passport
Duration of Stay : 1 Month
Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Jordan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Yugoslavia
Type of Passport : Ordinary Passport
Duration of Stay : 15 Days
Georgia
Currency Regulation
There is no limit on the amount of foreign or Turkish currency that may be brought into Turkiye, but not more than $US 5.000 worth of Turkish currency may be taken out of the country.
The exchange slips for the conversion of foreign currency into Turkish lira should be kept, since you may be required to show these when reconverting your Turkish currency back into foreign currency, and when taking souvenirs out of the country.
Custom Regulations
1)The following items may be brought into country duty free;
Whether used or not, personal effects of non-commercial nature that are brought with travelers or brought in a period of two months before or six months after their entrance, are relief from customs duties.
A. Goods Used for Clothing and Traveling
Goods used for clothing
Goods used for daily life and travel
Fabric for dresses (not exceeding 5 meters)
One fur clothing belonging to the traveler holding the right of residence transfer when transferring his or her residence to Turkiye permanently.
B. Electronic Goods
1 black&white television
1 portable colour television up to 16 inch screen (including 16 inch screen)
1 black-white television-radio-tape recorder set.
1 video camera and 5 blank video tapes
1 Film projector up to 8mm (with 10 blank films)
1 slide projector
Data-bank with a RAM up to 128 Kbyte (including 128 Kbyte )
Compact Discman
1 portable radio and radio-tape recorder (self giving voice) (the features of the radio-tape is determined by the Undersecretariat For Customs)
1 walkman or a small pocket-type tape recorder
Electronic game machines without cassettes and cartridges
Record, tape or compact disc (maximum 5 of each)
GSM-cellular phone (with SIM cards)
C. Musical Instruments
Maximum three instruments (Harmonica, Mandolin,Flageolet, Brass band, Flute, Guitar, Accordion) including only one of each.
D. Sports&Game Instruments
A camping tent with two rooms,
A diving apparatus for underwater sports (quality, spare parts and parts are defined by Undersecretariat),
Gliding wings (a pair),
A plastic boat without an engine,
A wind surf used for water sports,
Mat (a pair),
Each of the other sports equipment and clothing (except sea motorcycle and motorized sea sled) for self-use,
Chess set,
Game of checkers set,
5 deck of playing cards,
E. Necessary medical items
F. Necessary kitchenware
G. Consumers’ Goods
1- Either domestic or foreign;
a) 200 cigarettes (1 box) and 50 cigars.
In addition,
200 gr cut tobacco and 200 cigar papers or 200 gr pipe tobacco or 200 gr tobacco or 200 gr tumbaki or 50 gr snuff,
b) If the goods are bought from the Ex-Customs Line Sales Stores traveler can bring 200 cigarettes (1 box), 100 cigars and 500 gr pipe tobacco,
2- 1.5 kg of coffee, 1.5 kg of nescafe, 500 gr of tea, 1 kg of chocolate, 1 kg of food produced from sugar,
3- a bottle of 100 cl or 2 bottles of 75 or 70 cl of alcoholic drinks
4- 5 bottles of eau de cologne, lavender, perfume, essence and lotion kept in bottles of maximum 120 ml,
H. Animals
one cat or one dog or one bird or ten aquarium fish (They must have veterinary health certificate, origin and vaccine documents and also identification card if any.)
I. Miscellaneous
A portable type-writer
A camera (with 5 films),
A baby carriage
A bicycle of any size for a child traveller,
Toys of a child traveler (max. 10 pieces),
Pocket sized calculator that works with battery,
An iron (steam or steamless),
A praying mat at a size of 1x1.5 m. (woolen, cotton or synthetic),
A small handy binocular (except night vision and sniper binoculars),
A table clock,
A portable gas stove,
2) Giftware
Gifts not exceeding 300 Euro in value and not for trading purposes may be brought into the country duty free.
3) The following items are forbidden to export from Turkiye:
Cultural-Historical Works and Natural Fauna,
Tobacco seeds and plants
Indian hemp
Firewood and charcoal
Angora goats
Wild animals (alive or dead)
Some natural flower bulbs
Datça data palm (phoenix the ophrasti crenter)
Timber of the trees of walnut, mulberry, cherry, pear, plum, common ash, common elm and lime linden
Pterocarya carpicifolia
Liquidambar orientalis
Saplings of olive, fig, hazelnut, pistachio, sultana
Sahlep/Orchis (dust, tablet or any forms)
Exports in the context of Vienna Convention on Protection of Ozone Layer and its protocols
Exports of the chemicals listed in Annex of Chemical Weapons Agreement (List-1) to the third countries
Postal System and Phone Calls
Telephone, telegram and fax services both domestic and international have been integrated into direct dialing system. Regular mail services, parcel post services (Surface/Air), express mail services are available.
Major post offices are open 8.00-24.00 hrs. Public telephones mainly operate on a system of magnetic telephone cards.
Useful Numbers
| Fire | 110 |
| Emergency | 112 |
| International operator | 115 |
| Directory assistance | 11880 |
| Postal code assistance | 119 |
| Repair service | 121 |
| Police | 155 |
| Gendarme | 156 |
| Telecom Service Info | 161 |
| Electricity | 186 |
| Tax Information | 189 |
| Automatic-dialing | (0+city code+number) |
Telephone Area Codes
| Turkiye Country Code: | 90 |
| Major Cities | |
| Adana | 322 | Ankara | 312 |
| Antalya | 242 | Bursa | 224 |
| Çanakkale | 286 | Denizli | 258 |
| Diyarbakir | 412 | Eskişehir | 222 |
| Gaziantep | 342 | Hatay | 326 |
| İstanbul (Thrace) | 212 | İstanbul (Anatolia) | 216 |
| İzmir | 232 | Kocaeli | 262 |
| Konya | 332 | Mersin | 324 |
| Muğla | 252 | Nevşehir | 384 |
| Trabzon | 462 | Zonguldak | 372 |
Business Hours
| Business Offices | 9.00 am to 6.00 pm |
| Government Offices | 8.15/8.30/8.45 am to 4.45/5.00/5.15 pm
(temporarily arranged for energy economy purposes) |
| Lunch Break | 12.30 am to 1.30 pm |
| Shops | 9.00 am to 7.00 pm |
| Banks | 8.30 am to 5.00 pm |
| Banks & government offices | closed on Saturday & Sunday |
Public Holidays
New Year’s Day / January 1
National Sovereignty & Children’s Day/April 23
Atatürk Commemoration and Youth & Sports Day /May 19
Victory Day/August 30
Republic Day (Anniversary of the Declaration of the Turkish Republic) /October 29
Three days for Ramadan and four days for Kurban holidays depending on the Muslim calendar.
Weights and Measures
The metric system is in force.
Local Time
GMT + 3 hours (April-September)
GMT + 2 hours (October-March)
Currency and Money Matters
The Turkish Lira (TL) is official currency of Turkiye. Exchange rates for the Lira are quoted by the Central Bank and adjusted on a daily basis. Turkish Lira is included among the convertible currencies of IMF, from the beginning of April 1990. Turkish Lira is available in the following denominations:
Banknotes: 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 &100 TL Coins: 1, 5, 10, 25 & 50 Kuruş and 1 TL
You can obtain currency before travelling to Turkiye or on arrival. Exchange rates are usually slightly better in Turkiye and all international airports have exchange facilities. Usually, cash can be exchanged without charging commission in exchange offices, banks or hotels. Please note that Scottish notes are not accepted in Turkiye. Travelers’ cheques can be exchanged in banks only. Cash point machines (ATM) are available in most areas, which accept major UK credit and debit cards and give instructions in English. It may be a good idea to inform your bank in advance that you are travelling to Turkiye as some will automatically put a stop on cards after the first usage in an attempt to combat fraud. Exchange rates are published daily in Turkish newspapers. If you are planning to exchange currency back from TL before leaving the country, or are making a major purchase, which may need to be declared to customs, you will need to keep your transaction receipts in order to show that the currency has been legally exchanged.
Electricity
Domestic: 220 volts, 50 cycles
Industrial: 380 volts
Plugs: Central European type wall socket (two-pin plugs)
Lamp Sockets: Screw type
Tipping
Service charge normally is not included in restaurant bills. Tipping at a rate of 10% to 15% of the total is common. However, tipping is not expected by taxi drivers, it is enough to pay the amount recorded by the counter.
Shopping
Shopping is one of the great pleasures of a trip to Turkiye and the rich variety of Turkish crafts makes it impossible to resist buying something. The most popular objects for the holiday maker or business visitor are; carpets, leather and suede goods, copper and bronze wares, silver and gold jewelers, ceramics, handicrafts, embroidery and the famous Turkish meerschaum and onyx.
Health Care
Hospitals render service for 24 hours. There are private clinics almost in every section of the major cities. Turkish law requires that at least one pharmacy be open in a given neighborhood at nights and weekends. You will need to pay for any medical treatment which you receive in Turkiye. For this reason it is advisable to take out medical insurance before travelling. It is not difficult to find English-speaking doctors in all but the most remote areas. There are also foreign run hospitals in many of the larger towns and resorts. There are pharmacies in most places with trained pharmacists who are able to offer advice on minor illnesses. For further information please visit: www.healthinTurkiye.org
