Living in Turkey

You have the right to live and travel in Turkey if;

You hold a legal passport, the country you live in has a reciprocal agreement and you are not forbidden to enter Turkey by law.

You can enter Turkey with any of the following visas:

• Single entry
• Multiple visa
• Transit visa
• Tourist visa

Residence visa application procedure

• Take your passport to passport office who will advise on how long you can have residence visa for. This is dependant on when your passport expires. (up to a maximum of 5 years)
• Payment is made to tax office for the length of residency required.
  

  6 months 216.50 YTL

  1 year 416.30 YTL

  2 years 815.90 YTL

  3 years 1215.50 YTL

  4 years 1615.10 YTL

  5 years 2014.70 YTL

  Prices are valid for 2005.
• Complete application form and take to the official of district who will sign the completed forms.
  documentation you will need:
  
  1. Receipt of payment from tax office
  2. Passport
  3. Copy of title deed of property or rental agreement
  4. 8 photographs
  5. Retirement papers if applicable
  6. Copy of bank details
  7. For children under 18 notorised copy of birth certificate. Full birth certificate showing names of both parents.

  Payment to passport office 66.00 YTL

  Your passport is kept by the passport office but they will give you an authorised copy.

• The application is sent to Mugla government. The application will take 6-8 weeks to process.
• The residence visa will be returned to the local passport office where you applied.

When your residency has expired you have up to 15 days after the date of expiry to renew it.

If you lose your residency visa you have to notify the authorities as soon as possible.

If you have a change of address you must inform the authorities within 48 hours. If you can not go yourself you can send someone on your behalf or send a letter to the authorities.

Any changes in marital status or job must be notified within 15 days.

Types of residency visa:

• Family visa
• Individual visa

If you are working you will need to take an individual visa.

Rejection to living permission will be given for any of the following reasons:-

1. If the foreigner is against the laws, customs and politics of Turkey.
2. If they can not support themselves financially and legally.
3. If person has been forbidden from living in Turkey before.
4. If you are charged with disturbing the peace or breaking the law whilst living in Turkey.
5. Undesirable characters.

Work permits:

3 types.

1. Time limited: apply for one year, then if with same employer and doing same job you can apply for 3 years, then if still same job (but can be different company) you can apply for 6 years.
2. Forever. If you have lived in Turkey legally for 8 years then you can apply for a work permit, or if you have worked legally for 6 years.
3. Independent work permit. After living in Turkey for 5 years you can apply.

Restricted occupations :

healthservice, legal services, stockbroker.

Work :

Eg. If you are a qualified dentist you would not beable initially to work at this job.

However once you have lived here for 8 years, or worked in a different occupation for 6 years, you could then work as a dentist.