If their visa exemption period or duration of the visa is sufficient, foreign visitors can stay in Turkey without residence permit for 90 days in any 180 days period prior to their departure. Foreigners who will enter Turkey for touristic or other purposes with Visa and require to stay over 90 days in every 180 day period may file a Turkish residence permit application. This rule binds all the foreigners. For the calculation of the duration of staying in Turkey, the foreigner should look backwards from the day of their departure.

In general it is seen that foreigners who are willing to stay in Turkey for more than 90 days for touristic purposes mostly apply for a short-term residence permit. These permits, which are granted for one year, can be extended up to two years for Istanbul. Apart from this, it is possible to obtain student residence permit, long-term residence permit, family residence permit, residence permit by marriage, victims of human trafficking residence permit and humanitarian residence permit if the foreigner is able to meet the conditions stated under the relevant code.

Residence permit applications are made directly to the Directorate General of Migration Management through the online system, through e-government (e-devlet) portal. After the online application is completed, the foreigner shall make a physical application to the Ministry in person or through e-mail. A residence permit application document is issued by the administration for the foreigner whose application is received. This documents provides the foreigner with the right to legally stay in Turkey for 90 days from the date of application. Applications are finalized by the Ministry at almost 30 days and once the decision is finalized, the Ministry informs the foreigner through e-mail. In the event that this period is extended, the relevant notification is being made by the Ministry. We would like to state that the residence permit applications shall be made by the foreigner himself. These applications can also be made through attorneys on behalf of the client but in any case, the Ministry requires the foreigner to be present during the application. Important point is that the foreigner should clearly state the purpose of the stay in Turkey during the meeting with the Ministry.

In case if there are missing documents during the application, the Ministry may provide the foreigner up to 30 days for the completion of these missing documents in order to ensure the deficiency is made up. If the missing documents are not completed within the granted time, the application will be removed from the process.

Foreigners who have applied for a residence permit and who have been given an application document by the Ministry, can make visits to other countries provided that they return to Turkey within 15 days each time within the 90 day period of stay provided by the Government.

It is important for our clients to know that foreigners that lodged residence permit application through the Turkish Government Online Migration System but didn’t attend to their appointment with the immigration authority or cancel active application will be entitled for visa violation if your visa is expired.

Foreigners can’t make a residence permit application with an invalid passport. In accordance with the Article 7/b of the Law on Foreigners and International Protection numbered 6458, foreigners wishing to enter Turkey should carry a passport with an expiration date of at least 60 days beyond the ‘duration of stay’ of their visa. For example if you have a visa with 30 days duration of stay, you should hold a travel document valid for at least an additional 60 days which makes in total 90 days of validity at the time of entrance so says the Foreign Affairs.

If your visa is expired, you can apply for a residence permit within 10 days from the date your visa expires. In this case, you can apply for a residence permit without leaving Turkey by paying the delay penalty accrued for a delay of 10 days.

Residence permit extension applications shall be submitted online within 60 days prior to the expiry date of the residence permit. Within 5 days following the online extension application required documents must be sent to the Ministry by post and physically. Short term residence permits can be extended each time for 2 years except the TRNC citizens, and there is no limit to the number of extension applications made to the Ministry.

It shall be noted that touristic residence ID card has no time limit to stay in or outside Turkey. Residence permit holders were only entitled to travel outside Turkey for 120 days out of 360 days and if they would exceed 120 days, then their residence permit was being cancelled. However this limit is abolished by the Government. The important point here is that this rule will be applied to residence permits obtained after 13 August 2016.