This simple guide has only 3 steps and if you follow them correctly you will إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ get your visa to Turkey. Keep in mind that this guide is focused towards people working in a company, if you are a student or business man, you might need other documents along with these. The application will be submited to Gerry's Visa dropbox office in Lahore.
Step 1: Gathering Documents
This is going to be the most important and tedious step so we will break it down to simple easy steps.
1.1 Gather Documents you already have
Lets start easy and gather all the documents you might already have with you.
Passport
You are going to another country so obviously you have your passport right? Just make sure that it has more than 6 months validity from your arrival in Turkey. Also have a copy of it which you will attach with your documents. Same goes for all the applicants.
Visa Stamps
If you have been to other countries, you have entry and exit stamps on your passport. Just make a copy of these pages and submit along with other documents. Turkish embassy is very particular about this so don't skip it. You also need to fill the travel history form. You can get it from here.
Photos
You need to have atleast 2 recent photographs with white background and 2x2in or 5x5cm in size. These are not the passport size photographs which you might already be familiar with so go to a studio and ask them to make in the above mentioned size.
Important tip here is to ask the studio guy to send you a copy of the photo on your email. You will be uploading it later when filling the form (Yes! you can thank me later).
Employment
You need to submit the employment letter stating the name, position and salary from the company in which you are working. It must be signed and stamped by the company.
If you are travelling with your spouse (which you should), you need to submit 2 additional documents.
- A letter declairing that his spouse is dependant on him. It must be signed by the person whose name is on the employment letter. You can find a sample of this letter here.
- A letter from the spouse declairing that he/she is dependant on his/her spouse. You can find a sample of this letter here.
NADRA Marriage Certificate
You need to submit a copy of NADRA marriage certificate if you are married and travelling with your partner.
Family Registration Certificate (FRC)
You need to submit a copy of family registration certificate if travelling with family. You can easily get this online from NADRA website by clicking here or you can also visit the nearest NADRA center to get this.
1.2 Gather Documents you might not have
Once you have gathered the documents you already have now its time to gather other required documents which might take some days to complete.
Cover Letter
You need to submit a cover letter stating that you want to visit Turkey in the specified dates. You need to describe the activities of each day you will be staying in Turkey. You can get the sample of cover letter from here.
Application Form
Head over to the official Turkey consulate website by clicking here. Fill out the form carefully and download it. You need to submit the application online before visiting the Gerry's Visa Drop Box. Also have a print out of this application form which you will submit alongside your documents.
Travel Insurance
You need to submit travel health Insurance certificate covering minimum of Euros 30,000. No, this does not mean you need to pay that much. If you have a premium credit card of a bank, chances are that you might get this travel insurance free of cost. Check with your bank to get more info on this. This travel insurance costs from 1200-2,000 Rs. You can compare prices at smartchoice. Your bank might also offer travel insurance, so also check with your bank.
Polio Vaccination
You need to submit Polio Vaccination certificate along with your documents. You can get this from any Government hospital. I got mine from Jinnah Hospital Lahore under 30 min after getting the polio drops.
Flight Reservation
You need to submit a copy of your flight reservation of the dates you are planning to travel. You dont need to present the actual booked tickets, just a screenshot of the tickets will work. You can get it from skyscanner.
Hotel Reservation
You need to submit a copy of your hotel bookings of the days you are staying in Turkey. You dont need to present the actual hotel bookings, just some screenshots with hotel name and address will work. One important thing to note here is that, you must submit the hotel bookings of every day. If you are staying in Turkey for 10 days and you submit the hotel bookings for 2 days, trust me they will not accept the application. You can book you hotels from booking.com.
Bank Statement
You need to submit Bank Account Maintenance Certificate. Just ask your branch officer and he will make one for you. You also need to submit your Bank Account Statement for the last 3 months. Your account balance should cover the expenses of your stay in Turkey including Tickets, Accomodation and Food etc. Both of these documents should be signed and stamped by the bank officer and should not be 3-5 days older at the time of application submission.
Consent Letter
You will be applying through Gerry's Visa Drop Box, therefore you need to submit a consent letter for the verification of the documents. They verify all your submitted documents. Even I got a call in my office in which they verified if I was working here or not. You can download a sample of the consent letter from here.
Step 2: Go & Apply
After completing all the documents you need to visit Gerry's Visa Dropbox office in Lahore. The main applicant can go alone so there is no need for the whole family to go there. The location of office is following
https://goo.gl/maps/xtvcGzU2btqXGVhr7
Just open it in Google Maps and it will take you there. After entering the office they will take all your items like bag, keys, mobile etc and give you a token to get those back. You will move forward with only your documents. So if you plan to show some of your documents on phone, it is not going to work. After entering the hall, take a token and wait for your turn. They will call you and check your documents in detail. If anything is missing they will tell you to come back with it.
One helpful tip is that if some of your documents are missing, there are some photocopy shops at the opposite side of the office. You can get a print from their at a much higher price, so beaware.
If your documents are complete they will send you to a counter where you will pay the fees. The fees is around 11,000 Rs per person.
That is it. Now leave the office with high hopes and Best of Luck!
Step 3: Just Collect your VISA
After a week or 10 days, visit the Gerry's Visa dropbox to collect your passports. Just make sure to take a CNIC copy of every applicant because they will keep the CNIC copy and give you the passports.
I hope this guide helped you in getting the Turkey visa.