Registration, banking and utilities in Istanbul

The application itself

A residence permit is compulsory for anyone staying longer than ninety days, or longer than their visa or visa exemption allows. The application can only be started online at e-ikamet.goc.gov.tr, and making the application and booking the appointment cost nothing. The Presidency of Migration Management states that it works with no third-party agent or firm: you apply yourself, through a legal representative, or through a lawyer holding a power of attorney. There are six permit types, and the short-term permit most new arrivals hold is issued for a maximum of two years, with the actual length at the administration's discretion.

• The six types are short-term, family, student, long-term, humanitarian, and victim of human trafficking.
• Your passport must be valid for at least 60 days longer than the permit period you ask for.
• A tax number does not wait for the permit: the Revenue Administration runs an online potential tax identification number application for foreigners at ivd.gib.gov.tr.

What you pay, and when

Both the residence permit fee and the card fee must be paid before the appointment date rather than at it. The card fee for 2026 is TRY 964.00. The permit fee itself depends on your nationality under reciprocity rules, and nationals of Czechia, Denmark, Ireland, Kosovo, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkmenistan, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Palestine pay none of it. For nationals of countries in no country group the 2026 rate is TRY 348.10 a day for the first month, with a floor of TRY 653.70 and a ceiling of TRY 3,359.90 per permit, then TRY 2,232.30 for each month after the first.

• Pay by card through e-ikamet's virtual POS, at a tax office, or at one of the banks e-ikamet names on your application.
• Quote your application number and the payment code e-ikamet gives for each fee; the card fee and the residence fee have separate codes.
• The rates are set annually by the Harçlar Kanunu general communiqué, so ask for the current year's figure.

The appointment and the documents

After the online form you are given an appointment date and must appear in person at the İl Göç İdaresi Müdürlüğü with the documents. Valid health insurance covering the whole requested permit period is a condition of the permit, and four different proofs are accepted for it. If something is missing the assessment is postponed until you supply it, and you are told what is missing, so the ninety-day clock never starts on an incomplete file. A refusal is notified to you with the grounds and with how to appeal it, which makes a complete file worth more than a fast one.

• Biometric photographs, recent and on a white background — the count and the age limit are set on the appointment confirmation, so take the number it names rather than the number a forum names.
• Insurance proof: a certificate from the provincial social security unit under a bilateral agreement, an SGK provizyon document, evidence you have applied to SGK for Genel Sağlık Sigortası, or a private policy. Age-based exemptions exist at both ends — confirm yours on the appointment document rather than arriving without a policy.
• Documents issued abroad need an apostille where the issuing country is party to the convention, and in every case a sworn Turkish translation certified by a notary.
• Staying at a friend's home rather than your own tenancy needs a notarised undertaking from them, and from their spouse if they are married.

The wait, and the card

An application is decided no later than ninety days after it is complete, and you are notified if it runs longer. While the file is open, the İkamet İzni Müracaat Belgesi issued at the appointment, together with stamped copies of the fee receipts, is what covers your stay, and there are limits on leaving and re-entering the country on it that the provincial directorate will spell out before you book a trip. An approved permit produces a Foreigner Identity Number beginning with 99, printed on a card that PTT Kargo posts to the address you declared, with a tracking barcode sent by SMS. If nobody is there to take it, PTT holds the card only for a short window before returning it to the migration directorate.

• Keep the müracaat belgesi and the stamped receipts together; one without the other is not proof of anything.
• Ask the İl Göç İdaresi Müdürlüğü what you may do about travel before you buy a ticket while the file is open.
• Make sure someone can take delivery at the declared address, or the card goes back.
• Banks open accounts for holders of a valid residence permit on request, at a branch, with identity documents. Having no job, no income and nothing to deposit does not bar you.

Extending, moving and working

Extension applications open sixty days before the permit expires and must in every case be filed before it expires, so the expiry date is the one to diary. Moving within the same province means notifying that same provincial migration directorate within twenty working days, and your existing card stays valid; moving to an address in a different province means applying there for a new permit within twenty working days. A valid work permit counts as a residence permit for as long as it runs, and an application made from inside Türkiye is filed by the employer rather than by you, subject to a minimum unexpired period on the residence permit you already hold that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security sets.

In order

1. 1Get a potential tax identification number at ivd.gib.gov.tr, which you can do before you have a permit.
2. 2Check your passport has at least 60 days more validity than the permit period you will request.
3. 3Have foreign documents apostilled where the issuing country is party to the convention, then sworn-translated and notarised.
4. 4Take out health insurance covering the whole permit period, or arrange one of the other three accepted proofs.
5. 5Apply at e-ikamet.goc.gov.tr yourself and accept the appointment it gives you.
6. 6Pay the card fee and the residence fee before the appointment date, quoting your application number and the codes.
7. 7Attend in person at the İl Göç İdaresi Müdürlüğü with the biometric photographs and every document the appointment confirmation lists.
8. 8Keep the İkamet İzni Müracaat Belgesi and the stamped fee receipts together while the file is open.
9. 9Be reachable at the declared address for the PTT Kargo delivery of the card.
10. 10Open a bank account once the permit is in hand.