Turkey Departure Fee 2026: Foreigners Don't Pay the 1,250 TL

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Turkey charges a departure fee (yurt dışı çıkış harcı) only to its own citizens. If you are travelling on a non-Turkish passport, you do not pay it, whether you leave by air or take a ferry to Lesvos, Chios, Kos or Rhodes. For Turkish passport holders the fee is 1,250 TL per departure from 1 January 2026, including same-day trips to the islands. Children under 7 and Turkish citizens with a residence permit abroad are exempt.

Short answer

• Foreign passport holders: Do not pay. You pay only your ferry fare and any port fee.
• Turkish citizens: 1,250 TL each time they leave Turkey (since 1 January 2026).
• Day trips: Each departure counts. A Turkish citizen on a day trip from Bodrum to Kos pays the full fee.
• Exempt: Children who have not yet turned 7, Turkish citizens holding a residence permit abroad on the day of departure, people leaving on a pasavan (border pass), people going to Northern Cyprus with an ID card, and crew on duty.
• Payment: Online via Turkish internet or mobile banking, GİB’s Dijital Vergi Dairesi or the GİB Mobil app; in person at PTT, bank branches or tax offices. Paper fee stamps were abolished on 1 January 2025.
• Checking: Passport police see the payment electronically through the Turkish ID number.

Who pays

The fee is set by Law No. 5597, article 1, as amended in 2024 by Law No. 7524. The current text charges it to citizens of the Republic of Türkiye leaving the country, per departure. Foreign tourists are outside its scope. Dual nationals are a grey area, explained below.

If you are travelling with Turkish friends or family, budget for the fee in their share. A family of four Turkish citizens with children aged 9 and 5 pays 3 × 1,250 TL = 3,750 TL, as the 5-year-old is exempt. Our trip cost calculator adds up fares and fees for a group, and the ferry prices page lists fares by route.

Exemptions for Turkish citizens

The communiqué lists the exemptions one by one; anything not on the list does not qualify.

1. Residence permit abroad on the day of departure. You must be able to prove it. The rules do not define “residence permit” further, and the current text has no “six months abroad” test. Carry the physical card. See Greek islands with a German residence permit.
2. Children who have not yet turned 7. A 7-year-old pays. Age must be documented.
3. Departures on a pasavan or similar border document.
4. Travel to Northern Cyprus with an ID card. Not relevant for Greece.
5. Crew of commercial land, sea, air and rail vehicles, only while actually working on board.

Not exempt: students (unless they hold a residence permit where they study) and holders of green or grey Turkish passports. An older page of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also says officials travelling on official duty are not exempt.

Same-day trips

The law charges the fee per departure, and the exemption list has no exception for day or return trips. No official text addresses day trips specifically; this follows from the wording of the law and the communiqué. The fee is charged when leaving Turkey, not when coming back.

Amount history

The amount rises automatically each 1 January by the revaluation rate set under the Turkish Tax Procedure Law, with amounts under 10 TL dropped. The President can raise it up to three times or cut it to zero, which is how the mid-2025 increase happened. The fee due is the one in force on the day of departure. At the start of 2026, payments made at the old 1,000 TL rate were accepted for departures until the end of 10 January 2026. A 2027 amount has not been announced as of 19 October 2026; under the current system a new communiqué is expected around 31 December 2026. See also Greek islands at New Year.

How Turkish citizens pay

• Online: GİB Dijital Vergi Dairesi (dijital.gib.gov.tr), the GİB Mobil app, and Turkish banks’ internet and mobile banking. GİB’s “Hızlı Ödeme” (quick payment) works from 02:00 to 23:45 through partner banks. Mobile banking also works from abroad.
• In person: Tax offices, mal müdürlüğü offices, customs cashiers, defterdarlık accounting offices, authorised bank branches and PTT.

Guides that tell you to buy a fee stamp (harç pulu) from a machine at the port date from before 1 January 2025. Some ferry guides and operator pages mention payment points at ports, but we could not verify in an official source which ports have them or when they are open. Paying online before you travel is the safe option.

Checking and validity: Payments made by bank, PTT, tax office or online are checked at passport control through the Turkish ID number and marked as used on exit. You can check your own payment on Dijital Vergi Dairesi under “Yurt Dışına Çıkış Harcı Sorgulama”. The law and the communiqué set no expiry date for a payment, and we found no official basis for the “valid for 30 days” claim on some websites. If the amount goes up between payment and departure, the higher amount applies (apart from the New Year transition rule), so you would need to pay the difference. One payment covers one departure.

Refunds: If you paid and did not travel, or paid although you were exempt, you can apply for a refund at the tax office where you paid or online through Dijital Vergi Dairesi. The communiqué sets no deadline; we could not verify how general limitation periods apply.

Dual nationals and Turks living abroad

• Residence permit abroad: A Turkish citizen with a residence permit in Germany, the UK or elsewhere is exempt and should show the card at passport control.
• Dual nationals leaving on a foreign passport: An older Ministry of Foreign Affairs page says dual nationals travelling on a foreign passport do not pay. That rested on the old legal wording, which charged people leaving “with a Turkish passport”. Since Law No. 7524 (2024), the text charges “citizens of the Republic of Türkiye”. We could not verify how this is applied today. Paying the fee or asking GİB is the safe option.
• Mavi Kart holders (Turkey’s card for former Turkish citizens, not the EU Blue Card) are not Turkish citizens and appear to be outside the fee’s scope; we found no official source that confirms this explicitly.

For duty-free limits on the way back, see customs allowances between Greece and Turkey. Visa rules for Turkish passport holders are on Greek islands visa on arrival.

If you are heading to the islands

Once the fee question is settled, the rest is the ticket and your plans on the island. For day trips there are packages that combine the ferry with a hotel transfer:

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Tours and day trips

⏱ 9-11 hoursGetYourGuideBodrum to Kos by ferry, with hotel pickupReturn ferry with optional hotel transfer; free time on Kos without a guide.See price →⏱ 10 hoursGetYourGuideMarmaris to Rhodes same-day return tourHotel pickup, return ferry and about five hours of free time on Rhodes.See price →

Before you go

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Where to stay, island by island

LesvosChiosSamosKosRhodesKastellorizo

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FAQ

Do foreign tourists pay the Turkish departure fee on the ferry?

No. Only Turkish citizens pay it. On a non-Turkish passport you pay your ferry ticket and any port fee only.

Do Turkish citizens pay on a day trip to a Greek island?

Yes. The fee is charged per departure and there is no exception for day trips.

Does a 7-year-old pay?

Yes, if they are a Turkish citizen. The exemption covers children who have not yet turned 7.

Can I pay at the ferry port?

We could not verify payment points at the ports in an official source. Paying online or by Turkish mobile banking before you travel is the safe option.

I paid but did not travel. Can I get the money back?

Yes. Apply for a refund at the tax office where you paid or through Dijital Vergi Dairesi.

Does my Turkish spouse need to pay if they live in Germany with me?

Not if they hold a German residence permit on the day of departure and can show it. If they are also a German citizen without a residence permit, their position is unclear; see the dual nationals section above.

Rules can change; check the current amount with GİB before you travel.

Sources

• GİB announcement: 2026 departure fee 1,250 TL (2 January 2026, TÜRMOB e-library, Turkish) (accessed October 2026)
• Alomaliye: 2026 departure fee communiqué (Official Gazette 31.12.2025, No. 33124, Turkish) (accessed October 2026)
• General Communiqué on the Departure Fee (Official Gazette 28.12.2024, No. 32766, TÜRMOB PDF, Turkish) (accessed October 2026)
• Law No. 5597, consolidated text (Lexpera, Turkish) (accessed October 2026)
• GİB: departure fee guide 2025 (PDF, Turkish) (accessed October 2026)
• KPMG Vergi: Presidential Decision No. 10381 (9 September 2025, Turkish) (accessed October 2026)
• Alomaliye: GİB announcement on the 500 TL fee (9 August 2024, Turkish) (accessed October 2026)
• Medyascope: departure fee raised from 50 TL to 150 TL (18 March 2022, Turkish) (accessed October 2026)
• Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs: departure fee (older page, Turkish) (accessed October 2026)