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My case: I am an Egyptian national and my age is between 20 and 45 years. I have a Schengen visa valid from 6 July till 1 Jan.

Question: Can I use it to obtain an e-visa to enter Turkey on 2 July? Is my Schengen visa considered "valid" when entering Turkey?

Details: According to the website of the Turkish ministry for Foreign Affairs for Egyptian nationals:

Egypt: Official passport holders are exempted from visa for their travels up to 90 days. Ordinary passport holders are required to have visa to enter Turkey. Ordinary passport holders may obtain their 30-day single-entry e-Visas via www.evisa.gov.tr, provided that they have a valid Schengen or USA, UK, Ireland visa or residence permit and that they travel to Turkey with Turkish Airlines or Egypt Air.

Besides, those ordinary passport holders who are under 20 or over 45 years old may get their 30-day single-entry e-Visas via the website www.evisa.gov.tr.

So I need to apply for an e-visa at https://www.evisa.gov.tr. When I go through the questions there, under the prerequisites listed for ordinary passport holders it says:

I am below 20 or over 45 years old; or I have a valid Supporting Document (Valid visa OR valid residence permit from one of the Schengen Countries, USA, UK or Ireland). E-visas are not accepted as supporting documents.

Which is unclear to me regarding whether my Schengen visa is considered "valid" when travelling before the dates on the Schengen visa. I tried to contact the Turkish authorities via their contact form to get a reliable answer. They answered promptly but with a non-helping standard answer and a broken link.

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4 Answers 4

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I entered Turkey with a Schengen visa earlier than the later travel period indicated visa. I was also in doubt about that, so I contacted the Embassy of Turkey here and they told me that, if there was anything wrong with my entries, the visa generator will detect it. I tried it and I was allowed to enter.

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+100

A visa is "valid" only for the period stated on the visa itself. It is not valid before the specified start date, nor valid after the specified end date.

If you could use a Schengen visa outside it's valid period, then anyone with an expired Schengen visa in their passport could also apply for an eVisa and enter the country.

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  • +1 and the bounty (unless another answer comes around, then I'd have to consider). Simple answer and I guess that's what it is. OP and I seemed to have been too hopeful but would you agree that before valid is different from after expiry (without questioning your conclusion)? Any chance you had an official source as to how the Turkish authorities read their rule?
    – mts
    Commented May 18, 2016 at 16:51
  • @mts - Before or after validity are no different, they are both outside the period in which it is valid. And the Turkish rules, as quoted by the OP say valid visa, I doubt you will find any official sources that say, 'we were just kidding about the valid part, as long as you have any Schengen stamp come on in'.
    – user13044
    Commented May 19, 2016 at 1:00
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Edit: Confirming the answer of @Tom:

KLMs Timatic query tool is more precise:

Turkish Airlines (TK), Egyptair (MS), Onur Air (8Q) or Pegasus Airlines (PC) can obtain a visa or an e-visa on arrival, for a max. stay of 30 days. They must hold a passport valid for a minimum of 6 months from the arrival date, return ticket on TK/MS/8Q/PC, hotel reservation and at least USD 50.- per day of stay. The e-visa can also be obtained online prior to departure at www.evisa.gov.tr.
- for those aged under 20 years;
- for those aged over 45 years;
- for holders of a visa valid on arrival, issued by Ireland (Rep.), USA or United Kingdom or a Schengen Member State

So it says clearly you need a visa valid on arrival, i.e. in your case you can not travel on 2 July.

So you have two options:

  • travel on or after 6 July
  • alternatively apply for a regular visa at the embassy instead of an e-visa

As I understand the process for an e-Visa is that upon arrival the immigration officer in Turkey checks whether you really fulfill the requirements, but likely your carrier will not let you board the flight if you don't.

Also note the requirements on hotel reservation, onward ticket on selected airlines and money.

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    Much of this is background to the question; perhaps it would be best to edit the question to add this information.
    – phoog
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 11:06
  • @mts Thanks for your time. I updated my question.
    – user43282
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 12:31
  • It's unlikely the airilne check-in agent will read that far into Timatic for anyone who actually presents an e-visa at check-in. They'll only get to that point if someone tries to fly and get a visa on arrival. So while this is correct, people who actually get an e-visa in advance are unlikely to be denied boarding.
    – Michael Hampton
    Commented Nov 6, 2018 at 16:15
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You can not enter in Turkey on 2 July as validity of your schengen visa starts from 06 July.

As per rule, you Schengen visas should be valid from entry in Turkey to exit from Turkey.

Your Schengen visas is valid from 06 July so that you should enter in Turkey after 06 July. otherwise you will be deported from airport.your Schengen visa is not consider as a VALID if you enter in Turkey on 02 July.

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