Visas (feel free to delete!)

[Scunner]

Sad, but true

[stoop]

Yep 2 days over your time limit = fine and trouble.

[Scunner]

It really is a shame that things are still done so heavy handedly when it comes to authority - Turkey rightly claims it was done a great and expensive disservice by the film Midnight Express, yet any minor brush with a uniform ends up in being dragged around here there and everywhere by officials mumbling about police under their breath. Give people a break, they overstayed 2 days they didn't gun down a bus queue. One man on duty in each airport who can explain easily and compassionately what is going on is all that is needed to change these situations from a very scary and daunting one into something much less dark and damaging to the overall arrival/departure feeling of Turkey.

We spend two weeks in the company of numerous charming Turks and depart from a building that seems like something Stalin dreamed up.

[Megsy]

Sorry for not being clear but I got the visa on the 28th May.  I then stayed until the 7th June, before returning from the 2nd August to the 30th.  I was therefore only in Turkey for 39 days over the period.  When it was said that I had overstayed by 2 days, the authorities meant that the visa was being treated as a 90 day visa, not 180 days as it clearly stated.  Had the visa meant what it actually said, then there could have been no question of me overstaying and therefore being fined.  And you're right, I didn't gun down a bus queue - I simply tried to leave the country with a visa which on the face of it was valid.

[bewva]

Megsy, You are correct it does appear very harsh, My wife & kids came home on Friday and had the same type of visa ie 90/180 and had 91 days since first stamp on visa, she was very worried but got through without question. Big sigh of releif all round, especially by me who had miss counted the days and told her not to get a new one on her way into Turkey..

[mikexpat]

Hi Megsy,now we have the full details it seems you were treated harshly.When you look at Bewva's post,it seems to me that situations at Dalaman Airport change depending who is on duty at the time & what mood they are in.I have also witnessed this sort of thing at Marmaris when people have been going over to Rhodes to renew visas,most times the officials are polite but on a couple of occasions when the visa has been very near the expiry date they have tried to intimidate the person by insisting they have gone over the 90 days.It's only when a calender has been produced & the days counted that the officials have begrudgingly backed down.