How to Get Permanent Residency in Turkey

Turkey is a country with a pleasant climate and high living standards and is a convenient location to travel to any destination. People from all over the world come here: some of them stay in Turkey for a while or forever. If you live in Turkey for a long time on a residence permit, you can apply for permanent residency. Permanent residents in Turkey enjoy almost the same civil rights as Turkish citizens. Read on to find out if you are eligible for a permanent residence permit in Turkey and how to get it.

• Getting Permanent Residency in Turkey
• Advantages of a Permanent Residency
• Temporary Residence Permit
• Tax Residency and Permanent Residency in Turkey
• Application Criteria for a Permanent Residence Permit in Turkey
• Required Documents
• Can I Lose My Permanent Residency in Turkey?
• Turkish Citizenship Instead of Permanent Residency

Getting Permanent Residency in Turkey

Foreign citizens who have lived continuously and legally in Turkey for eight years can apply for a permanent residence permit. If you are married to a Turkish citizen, the required period of your stay in the country equals only three years. Once you get permanent residency, you will not have to extend it - it is indefinite.

However, you don’t need permanent residency in Turkey to acquire citizenship. In addition, there are faster routes to get a Turkish passport. You only need to live in the country for five years under the naturalisation process or can acquire citizenship immediately in exchange for investments. Usually, applicants for permanent residency in Turkey are foreigners who cannot obtain dual citizenship for some reason (dual citizenship is prohibited in certain countries).

Foreigners who live in Turkey on humanitarian grounds cannot change their status easily to permanent residency. If you are an international student at a Turkish university, remember that only 50% of your stay in the country on a student visa counts as time of residence.

Advantages of a Permanent Residency

The biggest benefit of a Turkish permanent residence permit is that it does not have an expiry date. You can live and work in the country without extending it.

Permanent residents in Turkey enjoy many of the same rights and benefits as Turkish citizens. They can even vote! Like Turkish citizens, permanent residents in Turkey get a kimlik, a Turkish ID.

Temporary Residence Permit

Before you apply for a permanent residence permit, you must stay in the country for eight years on a temporary residence permit called ikamet. There are several reasons why you may need it. For example,

• to travel across the country (ikamet for tourists)
• to study or conduct research
• to get medical care
• to work on the basis of a permit from the Ministry of Labour
• family reunification
• to marry a Turkish citizen
• to invest at least USD 50,000 in a business or real estate in small towns, or at least USD 75,000 in real estate in big cities

As a rule, a temporary residence permit is valid from three months to two years (three years if you are married) and can be extended if the grounds for doing so still exist. In exceptional circumstances investors can obtain a Turkish residence permit for five years. Temporary residents must stay in Turkey for at least 184 days a year and earn sufficient income to provide for themselves and their family. They must not have a criminal record or commit offences during this time and must have medical insurance.

It is hard to get a temporary residence permit in Turkey in 2023. The authorities have introduced quotas. If the proportion of foreigners living in a municipal area (district or block) exceeds 20% of the total, the authorities stop issuing residence permits there. Such districts are considered “closed” to foreigners. In the second half of 2023 there were over 1,200 such areas in Turkey. The exact number has not been disclosed. They are located primarily in Istanbul and coastal cities. If you happen to live in such an area, you will not get a residence permit and may find that the authorities refuse to extend an existing permit. As a rule, this applies to anyone who acquired a tourist residence permit. Nowadays, travellers are finding it much harder to substantiate their need to stay for a long time. So, when you choose where to live in Turkey, make sure that this area is not included in the list of “closed” districts and double-check the information that you have on the area at the town council.

Tax Residency and Permanent Residency in Turkey

If you want to apply for permanent residency in Turkey, you must become a tax resident here. Any foreigner who spends over six months in Turkey on a residence permit automatically becomes a Turkish tax resident. Tax residents pay tax on all their incomes, while non-residents only pay tax on income earned in Turkey.

In Turkey, personal income is taxed at a progressive rate which can reach 35% if personal income exceeds TRY 110,000 (USD 4,000 as of the end of August 2023). Real estate tax is collected at a rate of 0.1% to 0.3%, depending on the type of property. In every real estate transaction both the buyer and the seller must pay 2% tax.

Application Criteria for a Permanent Residence Permit in Turkey

To become a permanent resident, a foreigner must comply with the following requirements:

• Meet the minimum residence period in the country.
• Not receive any state benefits in the three years before the application.
• Earn a stable source of income which is sufficient to support you and your family.
• Not have committed any serious offences (except for foreigners approved by the Migration Policy Board).
• Not have any contagious diseases that could potentially harm society.

If you are married to a Turkish citizen, the minimum residency period is only three years. The key here is to notify the authorities of your intention to become a permanent resident in the future within a month of your wedding.

Required Documents

You can apply for permanent residency no later than six months before your residence permit expires. Otherwise, it is advisable to simultaneously apply for the extension of your temporary resident permit and for the issue of a permanent resident permit. You must submit the following documents to the Migration Department for the permanent residence permit:

• the completed application form
•  your passport and a copy of the passport
• a copy of your residence permit
• two photographs
• a document confirming that you have not received any state benefits in Turkey over the past three years
• a bank statement or other document confirming your stable income
• a police clearance certificate
• a medical certificate
• a valid medical insurance
• a certificate confirming your knowledge of the Turkish language
• a document on your place of residence in Turkey

It usually takes from one to three months to process the application. 

Can I Lose My Permanent Residency in Turkey?

You can lose your permanent residency in Turkey if the authorities consider you as a serious threat to state security and public order. 

Turkish Citizenship Instead of Permanent Residency

Instead of a permanent resident permit, you can apply for Turkish citizenship. Moreover, it is simpler to get citizenship. The key requirement is to live in Turkey for five years and spend no more than six months outside the country. You will have to prove that you have integrated in local society, do not have a criminal record or dangerous disease and are able to provide for yourself and your family. In addition, you must attend an interview with an immigration officer to prove your knowledge of the Turkish language.

You can also become a Turkish citizen by investing at least USD 400,000 in real estate. You must not sell  any such property in the three years after the acquisition of your Turkish passport or you will have it revoked. You can also invest at least USD 500,000 in various funds, state bonds, local business or banks to get Turkish citizenship.

Turkey welcomes dual citizenship. So there is no need to renounce your current passport provided that dual citizenship is also permitted by your home country. 

Some advantages of Turkish citizenship include visa-free entry to 125 countries, access to education and healthcare in Turkey and the right to buy real estate without any restrictions.

In a Nutshell

A Turkish permanent residence permit is a convenient and legal way to enjoy a number of the benefits of living in this country. However, this is not a necessary step to naturalisation. It is much faster and easier to get Turkish citizenship. The shortest route is to invest in the local economy or real estate. To get a permanent residence permit, you must legally stay in the country for eight years (or three if you are married to a Turkish citizen), prove your reliability and integrate in Turkish society.

Cover photo: Mar Cerdeira (Unsplash)