VOICES Newspaper is launching a summer long campaign to highlight the rip-off websites that charge vast amounts for an E-Visa to Turkey.
Readers are constantly contacting us, questioning which websites are official and the cost of the E-Visa.
The official website is www.evisa.gov.tr/en/ and an E-Visa costs between £13 and £14. The cost of the E-Visa is $20 – about £12.50 at today’s exchange rate. There is also a credit card admin charge of about £1.25. This gives you the ability to spend 90 days in Turkey in 180 days.
However, Voices has decided to go one step further and highlight the websites that readers should NOT use due to the high costs they charge to process the E-Visas.
Some of the websites to avoid include:
https://turkey.evisas.org/ConfirmPayment.aspx An E-Visa costs: £69
www.evisa.eu.com/ An E-Visa costs: £55
https://turkey-evisa.com:7098/ An E-Visa costs: £27.99
https://www.estaplus.com/e-visa.html – An E-Visa costs £20.
The campaign is being spurred by the Voices Newspaper wanting to ensure that its readers aren’t being routinely ripped off – and also highlighting their need to use the correct website.
The Highland Council’s Trading Standards Officers are warning sun-lovers bound for Turkey not to be caught out by a new visa system which requires a visa to be applied for before travel.
Britons have always been issued with a visa stamp in their passports on arrival for a £10 fee, but this will begin to come to an end from 11 April, meaning visitors will have to apply online for an electronic visa (e-Visa) before travel.
Recently UK Trading Standards urged holidaymakers to be wary of unauthorised websites which try to charge for providing information about e-Visas and submitting applications.
The call comes after one woman was stung for £55 when she applied for an e-Visa from an unofficial website. These websites are not endorsed by nor affiliated to the Turkish government.
Gordon Robb, Highland Council Trading Standards Manager, said: “The websites look official but somewhere on the homepage there will be information to the effect that they provide a ‘fast track’ or checking services for an extra fee on top of a ‘small service charge’ or ‘application processing fee’. Charges for processing applications vary from website to website.”
Gordon added: “While it isn’t unlawful for a business to charge for a reviewing and forwarding service, tricking consumers into spending on unwanted services is. If a consumer thinks they have been duped into sending off a fee for an e-Visa they should report this matter to us.”
Have you been ripped off by an evisa website, then email us at info@voicesnewspaper.com with your experience.