ANNOUNCEMENT ON THE MINISTERIAL CIRCULAR ON “TOURISM SEASON PRACTICES AND MEASURES TO BE TAKEN AT BORDER GATES”

Dear Members,

With the Ministerial Circular dated 02.05.2025 and numbered 2025/3 on “Tourism Season Practices and Measures to be Taken at Border Gates” prepared by the Department of Combating Immigrant Smuggling and Border Gates under the General Directorate of Security, within the framework of increasing passenger density, developing technology and changing needs at our border gates; It has been decided to implement the necessary measures in order to increase security during the tourism season and periods of increased passenger density, to minimize human errors and to ensure that passengers pass through passport control faster and to carry out transactions more effectively and efficiently.

The decisions in the Ministerial Circular that may be of interest to our Members are summarized below and the full version of the Ministerial Circular is attached in the Annex to this letter.

THE MEASURES TO BE TAKEN IN PASSENGER CONTROL PROCEDURES ARE AS FOLLOWS

• Sufficient number of passport control counters to be put into service according to the passenger density;
• Showing interest, courtesy and friendliness to the passengers by the officials working at the border crossing;
• To use the counters primarily for the designated passengers, and to complete the transactions of all passengers in the fastest way with full capacity after the transactions of these passengers;
• Taking administrative and physical measures to ensure that passengers arriving at border gates can easily reach the passport control points and prevent them from leaving the border gates without completing the passport control procedures;
• Placing direction signs in Turkish and English, and at land border gates in the language of the neighboring country for easy access of passengers to the processing points

EFFECTIVE USE OF PHYSICAL AND TECHNICAL CAPACITY WILL BE MONITORED AS FOLLOWS

• Continuing efforts to expand the use of the Automated Pass System (OGS), placing signboards and visual promotional materials in appropriate areas to guide passengers in order to promote and facilitate the use of OGS by Turkish citizens,
• Establishing a passport control booth in the area closest to the OGS devices in order to protect the travel integrity of those traveling as a family since OGS is not open for use by those under 12 years of age
• Ensuring the installation and integration of IP camera systems at border gates where they have not yet been installed
• Immediate completion of the installation and integration of the Turnstile Access System (TGS) at all sea border gates where cruise passenger ships dock
• Comparison of fingerprints of individuals by means of “fingerprint verification” devices provided by the Department in order to identify risky groups determined within the scope of combating irregular migration
• Before the tourism season, the infrastructure elements at the border gates are checked by the technical units and necessary measures are taken for the smooth operation of the elements that will affect the passenger data entry system.

ASSISTANCE AND FACILITIES

• Providing the necessary convenience within the framework of the legislation during the entry and exit of our citizens who go to Hajj and Umrah to fulfill their religious obligations
• Carrying out the controls of those who come as tourists within the organization of travel agencies with all their expenses covered in advance for the purpose of vacation in the fastest way, meeting the requests of travel agencies to reach the areas where the passengers are located and to meet face-to-face with the passengers regarding the problems encountered by the passengers within the framework of the legislation by the Local Administrative Authorities and making the necessary arrangements to facilitate the travel agencies in these matters
• Following the procedures of sports clubs coming for sports camps within the framework of the Instruction dated 07.02.2003 and numbered 5413-28 and providing the necessary convenience within the framework of the legislation in order to strengthen alternative tourism (health, sports camp, hunting tourism, etc.) options
• Taking the necessary measures to prevent victimization of passengers during the provision of services, informing the passengers about the legal basis of the transactions, making the information forms in English or, if possible, in the foreigner's own language in addition to Turkish, ensuring that the information of those who supervise the transactions is recorded by signing the documents to the relevant airline, travel agency officials or translators during these transactions, paying attention not to disrupt the travel of the passengers during the issuance and delivery of the said forms.                                                                                                                                   

VISA AND EXIT FEE CONTROLS

• The necessary sensitivity is shown in the controls of the citizens of the countries that can enter by taking advantage of the e-visa facility, and these transactions are completed by trained personnel at the designated passport counters
• Circulars, instructions, information letters and announcements regarding visa exemption agreements signed by our country and issues related to the implementation of these agreements, foreign country visa regimes, passports, travel documents and visa general provisions are published on the Polnet “Visa Regime and Passport Promotion Portal” page (http://10.155.0.193) of the Department of Combating Migrant Smuggling and Border Gates, and ensuring the active use of this page in business and transactions
• Ensuring the controls of the departure fee of Turkish citizens departing from our country within the framework of the provisions of the “General Communiqué on the Implementation of the Departure Fee for Exit Abroad”, conducting controls within the framework of the instructions sent by the Department of Fight Against Immigrant Smuggling and Border Gates with the opinions of the relevant institutions regarding exemptions
• Ensuring that the necessary measures are taken by the relevant units to ensure uninterrupted electronic control of the payments of departure fees paid from digital media and from the Treasury cashiers
• Placing Finance cashiers in suitable areas before the passport control points and assigning sufficient personnel for the collection of exit fees, bandrol visa supply, penalized residence fees and other fees.        

JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS

• It is understood from the statistical data that there is a significant increase in passenger density at the land border gates especially during the tourism season and the number of judicial arrests increases in proportion to this increase, and in order to carry out the border gate works and operations effectively; Ensuring that the persons with a judicial arrest record are transferred by the relevant law enforcement unit for the continuation of judicial proceedings
• Ensuring that the transactions related to the persons who are requested by various units to be processed at the border gates for different reasons (arrest, not allowing entry or exit, taking information/statements, etc.) are followed up sensitively through electronic projects (UYAP, Tahdit, Göçnet, etc.), since it is not possible to follow up individually the persons who are not registered in the said projects, transferring the requests to electronic systems without sending any letter to the border gates on these issues is done by the relevant units and implemented meticulously

DOCUMENT CHECKS

• Maintaining the transactions regarding cruise ship passengers in line with the issues in the instruction dated 23.06.2006 and numbered 109773 and the Circular dated 20.02.2017 and numbered 01, ensuring that the passenger profile examination is carried out sensitively by focusing on risk analysis group studies during passenger transactions
• In the event that foreigners who can enter our country with their identity cards lose the entry-exit form given upon entry to our country, the exit procedures are completed after the entry records are checked

OTHER MATTERS

• Officers at all levels should adopt a solution-oriented approach in the face of difficulties or problems encountered by passengers, the issues that cannot be resolved should be evaluated by the line supervisors, and if necessary, the relevant units should be asked for advice.
• Avoiding behaviors that may be misunderstood, especially during the transactions of citizens of countries with which our country has cultural and economic cooperation, and avoiding attitudes and behaviors that will be the subject of any negative news about our country in domestic and foreign media organs

Sincerely for your information.

Association of Turkish Travel Agencies
TÜRSAB

Annex - 1: Ministry Circular on “Tourism Season Practices and Measures to be Taken at Border Gates”