Turkish residence permit (ikamet) guide for 2026

What an ikamet is, and when you need one

An ikamet izni is permission to stay in Türkiye for a stated period and place. Law No. 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection defines it, and the Directorate General of Migration Management explains it on goc.gov.tr. People also say oturma izni.

You need one if you will stay longer than your visa or visa exemption allows, or longer than ninety days. Check that clock for your nationality before it runs out.

The permit is not a work permit. e-İkamet’s notes say a residence permit does not give the right to work. Work is Law No. 6735. The other way around, a work permit counts as a residence permit while it is valid. If work is the plan, start with work permit consultancy.

The six types in Law No. 6458

Article 30 of Law No. 6458 lists six residence permits. First applications, extensions and changes of type are filed on e-İkamet. The types page says who each one is for. File the type that matches why you are here. The document lists say an application that does not justify the purpose of stay is evaluated negatively.

Each person files separately. The Directorate says dependants are no longer covered on someone else’s card.

• Short-term residence permit, for purposes such as tourism, owning a home, study of Turkish, or the other grounds in Articles 31 to 33.
• Family residence permit, for a spouse and for minor or dependent children, under Articles 34 to 37.
• Student residence permit, for study from primary school through higher education, under Articles 38 to 41.
• Long-term residence permit, indefinite, after the conditions in Articles 42 to 45 are met.
• Humanitarian residence permit, for the specific situations in Articles 46 and 47. It is not a general visitor category.
• Residence permit for victims of human trafficking, under Articles 48 and 49. It is issued where there is a strong indication that the person is or may be a victim.

Short-term permits: purpose, length and a home

Except for investment and citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a short-term permit lasts at most two years at a time. Those two grounds can run to five. Article 32, as the types page summarizes it, asks for documents that support the purpose, safe accommodation, your address, and a criminal-record certificate if one is requested. You must not fall under the entry-ban grounds in Article 7. The short-term document list names the extra page for each ground.

A property file is a home you live in, including a share held by a family member. The current list states a value of at least the Turkish-lira equivalent of 200,000 US dollars on the acquisition date, and says the home cannot be used for rent or similar income. Re-open that list before you rely on the figure. Inherited or donated homes need a current valuation. A Turkish course must be at a school the Ministry of National Education authorized. The permit can be given at most twice and cannot outlast a shorter course. Graduates who apply within six months of graduation can receive one short-term permit of at most one year. That is not a student permit and not a work permit.

• Scientific research, commercial connections or setting up a business, and on-the-job training.
• Programmes under agreements or exchanges such as Erasmus, Mevlana or Farabi.
• Tourism, and medical treatment that is not a public-health threat.
• A move from a family permit after divorce, the sponsor’s death, or turning eighteen.
• Investment within the scope the competent decision sets, and citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Family, student and long-term permits

A family permit under Articles 34 to 37 can be issued to the foreign spouse, minor foreign child, or dependent foreign child of a Turkish citizen, of a person covered by Article 28 of the Citizenship Law, of a foreigner who already holds a residence permit, or of a refugee or subsidiary-protection holder. Only one spouse receives it; all the children can. A child abroad needs the consent of a parent who shares custody. It is at most three years at a time and cannot outlast the sponsor’s permit. Until eighteen, that child can attend primary and secondary school without a separate student permit.

Article 35, as the types page summarizes it, expects family-wide health insurance, monthly income of at least one third of the minimum wage per person, no offence against the family order in the last five years, address registration, and residence in Türkiye. Read Article 35 itself. The web summary is compressed. A spouse must be at least eighteen, the marriage must not have been contracted to obtain the permit, and you must show that you will live together.

The student permit covers primary and secondary students without a family permit, and higher education from associate level through doctorate, including medical and dental specialty training. It cannot outlast a programme shorter than a year. The student can sponsor only a spouse and children. Associate and bachelor’s students may work only after the first year, and only with a work permit from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Apply for general health insurance within three months of first registration, or hold private insurance. A same-province change of school can continue if you report it. A new province means a new e-İkamet filing within ten days. Admissions are in the international-student guide.

The long-term permit is indefinite. It needs eight uninterrupted years on a residence permit, or other conditions the Ministry sets, plus the Ministry’s approval. Student years count as half. Refugees, conditional refugees, subsidiary protection, humanitarian permits and temporary protection cannot transfer into it. Article 43 also expects no social assistance in the last three years, sufficient regular income, valid health insurance, and no threat to public order. More than one continuous year abroad can cancel it, except for health, education, or compulsory public service in Türkiye.

How an e-İkamet application moves

The general information page describes the path. You file on e-İkamet and receive an appointment. On that date you attend the provincial directorate of migration management where you will live, with the documents the list asks for. A district directorate may also receive you. If you do not attend, and you have no valid excuse, you are treated as never having applied. An excuse may have to be proved. An extension uses the same route. It can be filed from sixty days before the permit ends, and it must be filed before the permit ends.

Article 21 allows ninety days from the day the complete documents reach the authority, not from the day you open the website. If it takes longer, you are told. Bring the original passport. Appointments are free. Do not pay a third party for one. The Directorate says it does not work with intermediaries, and that fake residence documents have been found. Residence permit consultancy can help you read the list. It does not issue the appointment and it does not decide the file. For an official answer, YİMER is 157 inside Türkiye and +90 312 157 11 22 from abroad.

Documents the short-term list actually names

Lists differ by permit type. Use the short-term list only for a short-term file, and expect extra pages for the ground you chose. These are the common items that list names.

• The residence application form, signed by you, your legal representative, or your lawyer with a power of attorney.
• A photocopy of the passport or travel document, including the identity page and any visa page. Bring the original to the appointment.
• Two biometric photographs taken in the last six months, on a white background, meeting ICAO standards.
• Receipts for the residence-permit fee and the card fee. Some nationalities are exempt from the permit fee and still pay the card fee. The payment step shows which applies. This guide does not quote a lira amount.
• Where the list requires it, a receipt for the single-entry visa fee, including some visa-free entries and some overstays.
• Valid health insurance that covers the whole period you are requesting.
• A statement or documents on sufficient and regular means for the stay.
• Address evidence: an e-Devlet residence record (turkiye.gov.tr) plus a bill for an extension or transfer; and, for the place itself, a title deed and numbering document, a notarized lease, hotel proof, a dormitory letter, or a host’s notarized undertaking. A married host also needs the spouse’s notarized undertaking.
• For extensions and transfers, a national electronic notification address (UETS) from a PTT central branch. The list says people under eighteen do not submit UETS.

Insurance, income and the address you will actually use

The policy must cover the whole period you request. One of four documents is enough: a bilateral social-security certificate, an SGK provision document, proof you applied for general health insurance, or a private policy. In a family file the SGK provision must cover the sponsor and the family.

On the tourism ground only, sufficient income means at least one and a half times the net minimum wage for one person, and at least one net minimum wage per person when a family applies together, shown for the last three months. Do not copy that test onto another ground, and do not copy an old wage figure.

The address must be a home, a rental, or licensed accommodation. The card is sent there, so it has to stay current. Report a change within twenty working days to both the migration directorate and the population directorate. On a first permit, register the address within twenty working days after approval. An extension needs that registration already. Ask the provincial directorate whether the address can be registered before you sign a lease.

Foreign documents, translation and apostille

Foreign civil documents are where many files stall. If Turkish authorities issued the record, an e-signature or a signature and a stamp can be enough. If it comes from an Apostille Convention country, the short-term list asks for a notarized Turkish translation and an apostille. If the country is not a party, or the document has no apostille, the list asks for approval by that country’s authorities and by the authorized Turkish authorities, including the consulate or embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs route the note describes, plus a notarized Turkish translation.

Iran and Afghanistan are not parties. Pakistan is. Translate only after you know which version the list wants, because a missing apostille or consular approval often means translating twice. The Persian, Dari and Pashto guide and translation services cover the pair and the notarization. The migration directorate still decides.

Renewal, the fifteen-day trip, and fees without numbers

Renew before the card expires. The window opens sixty days before the end date, and the application has to be in before that date. If you stay on without extending, the residence fee for the uncovered time is collected with an extra fold under Article 83 of Fees Law No. 492. This article does not quote a lira amount. The dates, the waiting document and an overstay are in the 2026 renewal guide.

After the appointment, the directorate issues a residence-permit application document. For an extension, the system issues it when the online application is completed. With that document and the fee receipt, you may leave Türkiye and return within fifteen days. Stay abroad longer and visa rules apply when you try to re-enter. The paper proves that an application was lodged. It is not a temporary residence card.

Study in Türkiye’s visa page says students are exempt from the residence application fee and pay the card fee. Confirm the payment screen.

Mistakes that waste the appointment

These are the reverse of the instructions already quoted, and the usual reasons a folder is handed back.

• Paying a third party for an appointment, or uploading a document the issuing authority did not give you.
• Insurance that ends before the period you requested, or a tourism income figure copied from an old wage.
• A lease that is not the notarized copy the list asks for, or a host undertaking signed by only one spouse.
• An address that does not match the lease, the bill, or the province of the appointment.
• Missing the appointment, or arriving without the original passport.
• A foreign marriage or birth record with no apostille and no legalisation, or an English translation where the list asked for notarized Turkish.

What to do with this, and what we cannot do

Open the types page, the general information page and the document list for your permit type on the day you file. The pages cited here were read in October 2026, and the administration can change them. Where a web summary is compressed, read the article of Law No. 6458 that it names.

TürkiyeRota can help you match your situation to the published category and prepare the appointment. The provincial directorate decides. A careful file is not an approval. To talk through your own dates, start with the residence permit service, and keep passport numbers out of the first message.