Has anyone been to Turkey recently and can you tell me if I can just get a visa upon arrival? All of my friends who have gone in the last 2 years have told me that if we wait and get one in Turkey then you get a cool visa in your passport, otherwise the one online is just a piece of paper. I would prefer to have the cool visa rather than the boring one from online
It looks like the rules may have recently changed, but I'm still not entirely sure if I'm going to be turned away if I don't have a visa in advance.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
In the FAQ, it says a US passport holder that meets certain requirements can still do it on arrival.
However, they asked to see my visa before I boarded the plane so just be aware that they may check it at the airport. If I didn't have it, I wouldn't have been allowed to go. (I flew out of Doha not the US so I'm not sure if they'll check)!
If you really want a sticker and you have an extra page to spare, you could contact the embassy to see if you can apply for it there. According to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you should be able to:
Visa Information for Foreigners ... United States of America: Ordinary and official passport holders are required to have visa to enter Turkey. They can obtain three month-multiple entry visas from Turkish diplomatic representations abroad and also via the website www.evisa.gov.tr.
It looks a bit different from the visa-on-arrival sticker, though:
When we went (years ago), I applied for my visa in advance with no problem. XH wasn't eligible for a visa on arrival, so we just took care of mine at the same time. Honestly, I was so glad that I did, because this was before the e-visa, and the visa-on-arrival queue was insane! Hopefully the e-visa has helped with that!