site.btaTurkiye Triples Departure Fee for Its Citizens

The departure fee Turkish citizens are required to pay for travelling abroad has been hiked to TRY 500 (about EUR 14) as of August 12 from TRY 150 now. The ordinance was gazetted on Friday. All Turkish citizens aged over 7 pay the departure fee.

Inflation in Turkiye stood at 71.6% in June. The departure fee has increased by 233% since 2022, the BirGun daily said. The increase has a particularly serious impact on families travelling abroad with children over 7. 

The government introduced a departure fee of USD 100 in 1963. It was waived in 1996, only to be reinstated in 2001 when it was set at USD 50. The fee was set at TRY 15 in 2007 and at TRY 50 in 2019. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan decreed its increase to TRY 150 in March 2022.

The latest increase was proposed by Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek. According to the media, the proposal was to raise the fee to TRY 3,000 (about USD 90 or EUR 83.50), but it sparked violent protests, including in the ruling Justice and Development Party, and was scrapped.

According to official data, the revenue from departure fees in 2023 totalled TRY 1,311 million. In the first four months of 2024, the fee brought revenues of TRY 427 million.

TRY 15 of each departure fee paid go to TOKI, Turkiye's Housing Development Administration. 

Turks with dual citizenship, including those with Bulgarian passports, are exempt from the fee.