Just a little annoyed.....

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Earlier this year, I needed to renew my NEXUS card.  I go online to start the process, but the only problem I ran into was that I could not find the official, real US GOV site to work in.  There are all these other sites which are perfectly willing to help you fill in the (very easy) application.....for a price.

This morning, I went online to try to get our visas for Turkey next month through the evisa site.  Once again, there were a ton of 'official' sites I needed to dig through to find the real site.  Those sites that wanted to help me would charge me $65 plus the cost of the visa and I would have my visa in a week.  After I finally found the stupid site that was the real official site, it took me all of 15 min to fill out the application for both TD and myself, pay my $20.55/visa and get a print out of our visas.  Easy peasy.  I spent more time looking for the correct site than actually getting the visa!

It was much easier to go to the travel booth at the Istanbul airport, pay them $20 and them let you into the country.  I guess this is more cost effective.

[Deleted]

And the professional services aren't always that great.  I needed a visa for Nepal and used the service the tour company recommended.  When I arrived in Kathmandu they told me that the visa was missing the stamp of the consulate (although it did bear the signature of the Third General Consul).  A few others in the tour group had the same problem even though one couple had gotten their own in person at the Chicago consulate.  I would have thought that the cost of the "service" would have included making sure that the visa had all the requisite stamps and signatures before they sent it back to me.

They DID let us in.  You can pay for a visa when you enter the country but the tour company had said that this could change and the safe shot was getting one before you left the US.

I know what you mean about having to wade through web sites you don't want before you get to the official sites- the search engine companies must be getting paid a fortune to have the ones with added costs come up first.

[justme]

I think if you go to the US gov site that mentions travel restrictions they link you directly to where to get the Visa from the country, but I haven't needed to get a Visa yet.

I do feel like I have to search for the nexus/global entry site every bloody time since they got rid of the goes site.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jun 9, 2019 11:40:19 GMT -5 justme said:

I think if you go to the US gov site that mentions travel restrictions they link you directly to where to get the Visa from the country, but I haven't needed to get a Visa yet.

I do feel like I have to search for the nexus/global entry site every bloody time since they got rid of the goes site.

I actually did try this.  No link for the official Turkey evisa site.  
Not happy with the state department warnings, but we will be with Turkish friends and no where near trouble.

[justme]

Jun 10, 2019 11:44:33 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Jun 9, 2019 11:40:19 GMT -5 justme said:

I think if you go to the US gov site that mentions travel restrictions they link you directly to where to get the Visa from the country, but I haven't needed to get a Visa yet.

I do feel like I have to search for the nexus/global entry site every bloody time since they got rid of the goes site.

I actually did try this.  No link for the official Turkey evisa site.  
Not happy with the state department warnings, but we will be with Turkish friends and no where near trouble.

Awww, lamesauce. I figured that would be the way to always get to the right place! Must have forgotten it was still the federal government haha

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jun 10, 2019 12:03:45 GMT -5 justme said:

Jun 10, 2019 11:44:33 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I actually did try this.  No link for the official Turkey evisa site.  
Not happy with the state department warnings, but we will be with Turkish friends and no where near trouble.

Awww, lamesauce. I figured that would be the way to always get to the right place! Must have forgotten it was still the federal government haha

I know.....I figured that would be the one place where I could get the right link.  The point is moot now, I finally found the right one after a bunch of false starts.  But am getting frustrated that apparently you can buy your way to the top of a search engine search.