Obtaining a student visa before departing your home country is a requirement for formal
registration as a student at a Turkish university. Therefore, students who come to Turkey
without a student visa will neither be allowed to register as a student at the university nor
receive a residency permit once in the country. Student candidates must keep in mind that
policies may be subject to change.
Based on the following program criteria can a student visa be obtained.
- Internship Visa
- Internship ERASMUS
- Internship AISEC
- Turkish Language Course
- Purpose
- Course Purpose
- Education Purpose
- Education in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Student visas must be obtained from a Turkish consulate, generally the one nearest your place of residence in the country of your nationality. Student visas CANNOT be issued from within Turkey. You must take or mail a copy of your “Letter of Acceptance” from a Turkish university and a completed visa application form to the appropriate Turkish Consulate. Consulate staff can provide you with an application form upon request. Please note that it generally takes around eight weeks from the time you submit your application until you receive your visa. The student visa will be stamped in your passport.
Tourist Visa
*Before all travel, always check the latest requirements regarding COVID-19 prevention and travel guidelines.
Most temporary visitors may enter Turkey either without needing a visa at all or by easily purchasing a “sticker visa” at the point of entry (airport, maritime port, or land border-crossing).
The procedure is simple and straightforward. You hand the clerk your passport and the visa fee in cash, the clerk applies a sticker visa on a page of your passport and you’re already on your way to immigration. The clerk does not look you up in a database, scan your passport or even take your name. The whole process takes less than a minute.
The sticker visa is just a tax levied on tourists.
Please make sure your passport is valid for at least 90 days from the expiration date of your visa period. Otherwise, you may not be allowed to enter Turkey. This means that if you are entitled to a 90-day visa, please be sure that your passport is valid for at least 180 days beyond the date you are planning to arrive in Turkey.
It is also possible to obtain a tourist visa from any Turkish consulate in advance, but this entails considerable time, trouble and extra expenses, in the form of visa processing fees. It is much simpler to simply buy your visa sticker at the border if your nationality does not require you to obtain a formal visa beforehand.
Note that rules seem to change regularly, so see www.e-konsolosluk.net or http://www.mfa.gov.tr/visa-information-for-foreigners.en.mfa and the Turkish Embassy or Consulate in your home country for the latest information about visa requirements.
