visas

[fidimax]

Do any of you know if the turkish still lasts for 90 days or has it changed,any info please.   .Neil. 

Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=1670.0

[doug46b]

Hi, Still 90 days   

[fidimax]

Thanks for that doug46B,I think Im still ok for july. Neil.

[doug46b]

Hi Neil, My BH takes the mick out of me as I try and get 2 trips for each visa!! Well thats my excuse.
 Doug. 

[fidimax]

Hiya Doug,1 is good 2 is great,but,if can get three !        Neil .

[doug46b]

Neil,  Im working on that one  Doug

[Pauline]

Hi Doug
Just to let you know that Jane was marched away on Friday at Dalaman to the visa office - it was not funny - 12 midnight me with the girls and Jane taken off- she was sure that she had renewed her visa and her trip was covered but not so.   She thinks that maybe they did not put the stamp on her last visa check.   Anyway it was not a good experience - and she was also told  that she could be banned from turkey for five years.      She was fined 200 lire.  Her treatment in the office was not a pleasant one. Also she was marched away and you can imagine the girls - they were not happy to see their mum being taken off.  All this for a 10 pound visa!!!!  We will certainly be checking our visas very well in future. We are not having a great time at the moment!!!   Hope you both enjoying your week. pauline

[bryher]

If you own a villa or apartment in K and travel this often then you should not be using a visitors 90 day visa but have a 3 or 5 year Residents permit.

[Hoca]

There is no law says you must have residency it is perfectly leagal to purchase a 90 day visa at a vastly less cost than residency. Yes there are a few gains for having one but not many. I have no sympathy for people that leave there visa to late or do not check the stamp at the time of issue, i always go 1 week early. If it were possible to obtain a residency from Kas as people living in Fetiye can apply in Fetiye then maybe more people would apply, please don''t rebuff people for working a system i left England because people work the system but i blame only the people that created the system in the first place.
May i also add that local buisness people both sides of the border proffer well from this too.

[Lantana]

Whilst I appreciate that it is very unpleasant to be ''marched away'' for not having the correct visa, it is a criminal offence in all countries to have an invalid visa.  There is no way that the customs authorities would fail to stamp a passport on entry or exit, so it would not be the case that the mistake was on the part of the authorities.

 If  a Turkish national arrived in the UK without a visa or with an expired visa, their treatment would be far worse than this. There would be no opportunity to pay an on the spot fine, if they were arriving without a visa, they would simply not be allowed into the UK. British visas must be applied for from outside the country, the documentation required is extensive and the visa issuing process although fair is very onerous.   A British visa costs a Turk  approx ten times more than the Turkish equivalent costs Brits.

It is up to the traveller to check the validity of their visas. There is a fine for each day that you overstay your visa. Even if you overstay by one day, you will be fined. If you discover mid-holiday that your visa is going to expire before you leave you can renew your visa by travelling to Meis. This costs between 30 and 35 ytl for the boat trip and then £10 for the visa.

 Unless you are here for more than three months continuously, at least a couple of times a year, it is not worth applying for a residency permit. The 90 day visa system is designed to allow people to make several trips a year without applying for residency. If you are  not a permanent or semi-permanent resident you have no need for residency.

You will in any case not be issued with a 3 or 5 year residency permit on first application. The first residency permit is one year and you must travel to Kemer, twice, almost 200 km from Kalkan to obtain it.

Lantana

[Buster]

Hi Lantana

Back in November of last year I applied at the police station in Kemer and was given a 4 year residence permit.

I think the 12 month rule for the first application has now be abolished as long as you can show sufficient funds in a Turkish bank account, £6,000 will cover you for the full 5 year permit.

Regards Buster

[Enişte]

I have often wondered about the point of the £10 visa on arrival, with no worthwhile information provided to the immigration authorities, apart perhaps from a scan of the passport at the desk, out of sight of the punter.  I am equally amazed that the Turkish authorities seem to accept the trip to Meis as a legitimate way of renewing a 90-day visa.  But I guess it is still better than having to apply for a visa in London prior to travel.  What entry clearance you have should depend on how long you intend to stay for, not on whether or not you own property.

I know of many that have entered Britain and then tried to visit Paris, Dusseldorf and other European cities to renew their entry clearance, to be told, quite rightly, that their priorities lie with those resident in those countries.

Airlines travelling to the UK are bound by the Carriers Liability Act, so that they will be charged circa £2k for bringing anyone to the UK without the appropriate entry clearance.  It may be worth letting your carrier know of the problems you had, to see if they should have advised you that the validity of your visa was less than your intended stay in Turkey.  Also, it might be worth checking whether the 90 day period covers the date on which you can arrive or the period for which you can stay.  The standard UK visit visa allows the bearer to arrive on the last day of validity and then stay for a period of 6 months, but doing so regularly and making Meis-like trips to renew would indicate to a visa officer thaty something more than just regular visits were taking place!

My experience of various nationalities of immigration official is similar to many other walks of life - if you get one in a good mood, they will be flexible with their rules, but get one on a bad day at the end of a shift, they can throw all sort of obstacles in your way.  Sorry to hear of your plight and here''''s hoping you will be back in Turkey in no time, without any little crossed out stamps in your passport!

[Pauline]

This was a GENUINE mistake on my daughter''s part and she was really extremely embarrassed about the whole episode - she has been travelling to and from Turkey for the last 8/9 years (we all have and her daughters too)  In fact her 4year old daughters had valid visas so hers was a genuine oversight - so I feel that the comments above - are a little harsh.   She was NOT trying to get into Turkey but trying to get out.   I realise that there are laws etc. in a country and we must abide them but don''t like the tone from some of your comments that she deliberately tried to avoid paying athe visa fee.   She was in tears in the office because she was mortified that this had happened.   So try and not judge someone so hastily.  We did not know about the residents permit so thank you for letting us know about this and we will look into it.   One mistake in 8/9 years I think can happen.   Pauline

[Enişte]

It must really have been awful, which is why you don''t need posters telling you the rules - I hope my earlier post didn''t do that.  I have been (indirectly) in similar situations, with British families arriving at their destination, not realising that their passports/visas were not valid for long enough and then having to decide whether one or all would return home.  Some immigration officers would give them a limited duration stay and a warning to sort out passport/visa before their next trip, others would bounce them all home without even a second glance.

The suggestion above that no mistake could have been made is ridiculous.  It''s just like saying that government officials would never leave classified documents on public transport.  We''d hope it is true but know that sometimes mistakes happen.  I would hope that a previosuly spotless immigration record would act in your daughter''s favour

[Hoca]

The law states you may reside here for 90 days after which you must leave the country to purchase a new entry visa, this visa entitles you to stay regardless of whether you own or rent a property. It does not allow you to work or be involved in a business in any way paid or unpaid and also has purchasing restrictions and import of property restrictions. So long as you don''t want to work or import all your furniture you are fine under the current laws.

[Enişte]

Glad to get that partially cleared up.  I will check my own previous visas, bought both at arrivals and granted at Turkish Embassies, to confirm whether they are multiple entry and whether the holder must enter or leave by the end of the original 90 days.  The latter seems more likely. 

Whatever the rulesI just think that Pauline and her daughter would rather not have had them so forcefully quoted back at them after such an unfortunate incident at immigration.  It should only have taken a quick flick through the passport to see immigration patterns and a clean immigration history.  That would have been the REASONABLE path to take.....

[Pauline]

Hi this is Paulines Daughter here, defending herself , as i am pretty upset to have seen that some people feel this way about me and about my missfortunate visa incident. 

Just to say that i have two 4 year daughters, been travelling to turkey for 8 year and now have a partnership there for villa and apt rentals company , so why an earth would i want to jeapordise my visa situation.  I am sure that i paid for one on 19th May as i bought my daughters the time before, being aware that i had only one month left on mine,so really for me to do something like this for £10 is ridiculous.  I

If anyone is really worried about paying that amount of money to the visa authorities and can even say that i am avoiding that, is stupid themselves, as £10 to us is really minimal, but to the Turkish probably more. 

I would never do something like this, as in my life i have never even stolen a penny sweet, i am straight down the line and very honest, so whether it was my mistake or theirs, it was something that i hope nobody has to go through alone, as at one point i was actually alone with 5 men in a glass room, and one of them being pretty aggressive towards me , I would say is pretty scary, so if the person trying to wind this forum up really knows what they are talking about then they would not comment and would stay quite, as i would hate this to have happened to your daughter .

[itstime]

Hi Paulines daughter. Sorry to hear about your experience it must have indeed been very frightening. Getting caught up in something like that in a foreign country where presumably you''re not fluent in the language is a  worrying thought. We all make mistakes and I''m sure you''re not the first and won''t be the last to make a genuine error. For people like me who only travel to Turkey a couple of times a year, the visa issue is not a problem as I invariably need a new one each time I visit but it must be more difficult to keep track if you''re back and forward on a regular basis and you''re travelling with small children.
Suppose the only positive you can take out of it is that you will be so vigilante in the future that it''s unlikely to happen again and you''ve probably made us all aware of just how important it is to check before we fly.
Not sure how I''d cope with getting taken away for a chat with immigration in any country. Probably burst into floods of tears and make the whole situation even worse.
Glad you''re OK and got it sorted.

[jayne]

Hi Jane (Pauline''s daughter), so sorry to hear what happened to you, its horrible being treated unkindly, whether its officious passport controllers or rather sharp and intolerant posters on a forum. Just put it down to experience and never let yourself get into that situation again.X

[doug46b]

Sorry guys but who is this BRYHER person. If I choose to come out 3 or 4 times to Kalkan on the same visa within the 90 days.that is my choice. I am not breaking any laws. All i can say to this person is get a life and go on to trip advisor site!!!!