سفير تركيا
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Residence-permit applications and the associated appointment arrangements in Türkiye begin through the official online system. Incorrect details or missed steps can cause delays or problems with the application.
This guide takes you from opening the system to printing the form and preparing for the appointment.
Editorial clarification — 8 October 2026: This English edition retains the original guide’s 2025 context. Passport validity, permit categories, requested duration, photographs and accommodation evidence have been clarified against official guidance. Appointment screens and category-specific procedures can vary: follow the actual instructions, rather than assuming that every applicant can choose any date or office. A work permit is generally a separate work-authorisation process and is not an e-İkamet residence category.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1. Before you begin
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Prepare:
✔ Passport:
- it must normally remain valid for at least 60 days beyond the requested residence-permit period;
- have the exact name, number, issue date and expiry date ready.
✔ Accommodation details in Türkiye:
- hotel or other temporary accommodation, with the required supporting evidence;
- a rented home, with the required notarised rental documents;
- or a qualifying owned home for a property-based application.
✔ An active telephone number and email address:
- you may receive confirmation messages or updates through them.
✔ Electronic copies:
- passport;
- entry stamp, where applicable;
- biometric photograph;
- rental or ownership documents, where relevant.
Some documents may be uploaded, while others are submitted under the instructions for your category. Prepare both the required originals and copies.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2. Open the official residence system
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Use e-İkamet, the official residence application system.
The general process is:
1) Select the application route:
- first application;
- extension;
- transfer to another residence category or basis, as appropriate.
2) Complete the online form.
3) Follow the instructions for:
- the appointment date, time and directorate, where an appointment is required;
- the application PDF and documents to submit.
The appointment itself is free; applicable residence and document fees are separate.
Advice:
> Use a reliable connection and a device on which you can read and check the form comfortably.
> Save the Application Number as soon as it is issued.
Official guidance: application procedures and official application channels.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3. Choose the appropriate application and residence category
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Common examples include:
- Short-term residence, kısa dönem ikamet, for a qualifying tourism purpose.
- Student residence.
- Short-term residence based on qualifying residential property ownership.
- Family residence for eligible family relationships.
Work authorisation is handled under the work-permit procedure. A valid work permit generally also provides residence permission; do not look for a general “work residence permit” category in e-İkamet.
Choose the route that matches your circumstances and supporting documents. An unsupported category can lead to refusal.
Official guidance: residence permit types and work permits.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4. Enter your personal details accurately
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
You will be asked for information such as:
1) Passport details:
- name exactly as required from your passport;
- passport number;
- issue and expiry dates;
- issuing country.
2) Entry to Türkiye:
- entry date, as recorded in your travel document or entry record;
- port of entry, such as an airport or land crossing;
- visa number, where applicable.
3) Marital status:
- single, married, divorced, widowed or the relevant option;
- each family member normally needs a separate application. Follow the system’s instructions for related applications.
⚠ Check every field before continuing.
Differences between the form and supporting documents can require correction or cause problems.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5. Enter your address in Türkiye
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The address matters because:
- it is used in residence and address-registration procedures;
- the card and official correspondence may be sent there.
You will be asked for:
- province, such as Istanbul, Ankara or Antalya;
- district or relevant locality, such as Kadıköy, Fatih or Konya Merkez;
- full address, including street, building and flat numbers.
If renting:
- enter the address accurately as shown in the genuine accommodation documents;
- provide the required notarised rental-agreement copy including the lessor’s details.
If staying at a hotel:
- enter the correct hotel address;
- provide the required evidence of the stay, rather than relying on an address alone;
- if you move before the appointment, contact the directorate about updating the application and comply with the applicable address procedures. Do not assume that mentioning the change at the interview is always sufficient.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6. Choose the requested residence period
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The original tourism example is one year, or less depending on the applicable arrangements.
Request a period supported by your real purpose, financial evidence, accommodation and required health cover. A one-year request is not automatically acceptable simply because you are a tourist, and a lack of clear financial means is not excused.
Ordinary short-term residence permits have a maximum of two years per issue, but that maximum is not a promise of a two-year tourism permit. Do not assume that a two- or three-year request is available or justified for your circumstances.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7. Upload documents if the system requests them
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Depending on the application, this may include:
- passport copy;
- biometric photograph;
- health-cover documents;
- title deed or rental agreement.
Follow the displayed requirements:
- use the file format requested, such as PDF or JPG;
- keep within the stated size limit;
- ensure images are clear and do not crop out important information.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8. Confirm the application and follow the appointment arrangements
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
After entering the required details:
1) Save the Application Number:
- keep it in a safe note and a screenshot.
2) Follow the instructions for the appointment:
- check the assigned or available directorate;
- record the confirmed date and time.
Some locations may offer a choice of available slots; others use the system’s allocation or notifications. Do not assume that the original guide’s date-and-office selection applies everywhere.
In a large city such as Istanbul, the appointment may be weeks later or at an office outside the centre. Apply before your lawful stay expires rather than waiting until the last moment.
If you are in a category with a different submission procedure, such as an applicable university process for students, follow those instructions.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
9. Download and print the application form
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The PDF generally records:
- your details;
- application category;
- appointment information, where applicable;
- the required document list.
✔ Download the file instead of relying on continued access through the website.
✔ Print all required pages and sign where indicated.
✔ Keep an electronic copy.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
10. Prepare the appointment file
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The application form alone is not a complete file.
For a tourism-based short-term application, the checklist may include:
- the printed and signed form;
- original passport and the required copies of identity, entry and visa pages;
- recent ICAO-compliant biometric photographs. The official 2026 sample lists two photographs taken within the last 6 months; use your current checklist instead of the original guide’s four-photo instruction;
- accepted health cover for the requested period, where required;
- notarised rental documentation or the required evidence for the applicable accommodation/property basis;
- financial and travel-plan evidence required for tourism;
- payment evidence for the applicable residence, document and other fees.
Use the current official payment instructions.
Advice:
> Make a separate checklist of the documents you have.
> Compare it with the list in your own official application form.
Official checklist: short-term application requirements.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
What happens on the appointment day?
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
At Göç İdaresi (Migration Management), follow the local entrance and waiting arrangements.
1) Obtain a waiting number if instructed.
2) Submit the file when called.
3) You may be asked about:
- your reason for residence;
- your plans in Türkiye;
- where you are living.
4) If documents are missing:
- you may be given a deadline to supply them;
- follow the official instructions rather than assuming a note in the system resolves the omission.
A complete file is assessed. If approved, the residence card is sent to the registered delivery address. Submission and an appointment do not themselves guarantee approval.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Using this guide
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The main difficulties are:
- inaccurate form details;
- choosing a category that does not match your circumstances;
- arriving without the required documents.
A suitable forum discussion title is:
> “Booking Your First Residence Permit Appointment in Türkiye Online: A Step-by-Step Guide”
Members can add:
- screenshots of the system with personal details removed;
- new official notices;
- verified changes to links or requirements.
Revise the guide when the official process or application categories change.
Related Threads
Türkiye Visas and Residence Permits 2025: Types, Requirements and Application Steps
Applying for a Türkiye e-Visa Online in 2025: A Step-by-step Guide
Türkiye Visas for Saudi and Gulf Citizens 2025: Requirements, Fees, Processing and Applications
Renewing a Tourist Residence Permit in Türkiye 2025: Requirements, Documents and Avoiding Refusal
Residence Permit Refusals in Türkiye 2025: Reasons and What to Check Before Reapplying
Changing Residence Permit Types in Türkiye: Tourism, Family, Student and Work
This guide takes you from opening the system to printing the form and preparing for the appointment.
Editorial clarification — 8 October 2026: This English edition retains the original guide’s 2025 context. Passport validity, permit categories, requested duration, photographs and accommodation evidence have been clarified against official guidance. Appointment screens and category-specific procedures can vary: follow the actual instructions, rather than assuming that every applicant can choose any date or office. A work permit is generally a separate work-authorisation process and is not an e-İkamet residence category.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1. Before you begin━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Prepare:
✔ Passport:
- it must normally remain valid for at least 60 days beyond the requested residence-permit period;
- have the exact name, number, issue date and expiry date ready.
✔ Accommodation details in Türkiye:
- hotel or other temporary accommodation, with the required supporting evidence;
- a rented home, with the required notarised rental documents;
- or a qualifying owned home for a property-based application.
✔ An active telephone number and email address:
- you may receive confirmation messages or updates through them.
✔ Electronic copies:
- passport;
- entry stamp, where applicable;
- biometric photograph;
- rental or ownership documents, where relevant.
Some documents may be uploaded, while others are submitted under the instructions for your category. Prepare both the required originals and copies.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2. Open the official residence system━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Use e-İkamet, the official residence application system.
The general process is:
1) Select the application route:
- first application;
- extension;
- transfer to another residence category or basis, as appropriate.
2) Complete the online form.
3) Follow the instructions for:
- the appointment date, time and directorate, where an appointment is required;
- the application PDF and documents to submit.
The appointment itself is free; applicable residence and document fees are separate.
Advice:
> Use a reliable connection and a device on which you can read and check the form comfortably.
> Save the Application Number as soon as it is issued.
Official guidance: application procedures and official application channels.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3. Choose the appropriate application and residence category━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Common examples include:
- Short-term residence, kısa dönem ikamet, for a qualifying tourism purpose.
- Student residence.
- Short-term residence based on qualifying residential property ownership.
- Family residence for eligible family relationships.
Work authorisation is handled under the work-permit procedure. A valid work permit generally also provides residence permission; do not look for a general “work residence permit” category in e-İkamet.
Choose the route that matches your circumstances and supporting documents. An unsupported category can lead to refusal.
Official guidance: residence permit types and work permits.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4. Enter your personal details accurately━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
You will be asked for information such as:
1) Passport details:
- name exactly as required from your passport;
- passport number;
- issue and expiry dates;
- issuing country.
2) Entry to Türkiye:
- entry date, as recorded in your travel document or entry record;
- port of entry, such as an airport or land crossing;
- visa number, where applicable.
3) Marital status:
- single, married, divorced, widowed or the relevant option;
- each family member normally needs a separate application. Follow the system’s instructions for related applications.
⚠ Check every field before continuing.
Differences between the form and supporting documents can require correction or cause problems.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5. Enter your address in Türkiye━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The address matters because:
- it is used in residence and address-registration procedures;
- the card and official correspondence may be sent there.
You will be asked for:
- province, such as Istanbul, Ankara or Antalya;
- district or relevant locality, such as Kadıköy, Fatih or Konya Merkez;
- full address, including street, building and flat numbers.
If renting:- enter the address accurately as shown in the genuine accommodation documents;
- provide the required notarised rental-agreement copy including the lessor’s details.
If staying at a hotel:- enter the correct hotel address;
- provide the required evidence of the stay, rather than relying on an address alone;
- if you move before the appointment, contact the directorate about updating the application and comply with the applicable address procedures. Do not assume that mentioning the change at the interview is always sufficient.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6. Choose the requested residence period━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The original tourism example is one year, or less depending on the applicable arrangements.
Request a period supported by your real purpose, financial evidence, accommodation and required health cover. A one-year request is not automatically acceptable simply because you are a tourist, and a lack of clear financial means is not excused.
Ordinary short-term residence permits have a maximum of two years per issue, but that maximum is not a promise of a two-year tourism permit. Do not assume that a two- or three-year request is available or justified for your circumstances.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7. Upload documents if the system requests them━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Depending on the application, this may include:
- passport copy;
- biometric photograph;
- health-cover documents;
- title deed or rental agreement.
Follow the displayed requirements:
- use the file format requested, such as PDF or JPG;
- keep within the stated size limit;
- ensure images are clear and do not crop out important information.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8. Confirm the application and follow the appointment arrangements━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
After entering the required details:
1) Save the Application Number:
- keep it in a safe note and a screenshot.
2) Follow the instructions for the appointment:
- check the assigned or available directorate;
- record the confirmed date and time.
Some locations may offer a choice of available slots; others use the system’s allocation or notifications. Do not assume that the original guide’s date-and-office selection applies everywhere.
In a large city such as Istanbul, the appointment may be weeks later or at an office outside the centre. Apply before your lawful stay expires rather than waiting until the last moment.
If you are in a category with a different submission procedure, such as an applicable university process for students, follow those instructions.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
9. Download and print the application form━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The PDF generally records:
- your details;
- application category;
- appointment information, where applicable;
- the required document list.
✔ Download the file instead of relying on continued access through the website.
✔ Print all required pages and sign where indicated.
✔ Keep an electronic copy.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
10. Prepare the appointment file━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The application form alone is not a complete file.
For a tourism-based short-term application, the checklist may include:
- the printed and signed form;
- original passport and the required copies of identity, entry and visa pages;
- recent ICAO-compliant biometric photographs. The official 2026 sample lists two photographs taken within the last 6 months; use your current checklist instead of the original guide’s four-photo instruction;
- accepted health cover for the requested period, where required;
- notarised rental documentation or the required evidence for the applicable accommodation/property basis;
- financial and travel-plan evidence required for tourism;
- payment evidence for the applicable residence, document and other fees.
Use the current official payment instructions.
Advice:
> Make a separate checklist of the documents you have.
> Compare it with the list in your own official application form.
Official checklist: short-term application requirements.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
What happens on the appointment day?━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
At Göç İdaresi (Migration Management), follow the local entrance and waiting arrangements.
1) Obtain a waiting number if instructed.
2) Submit the file when called.
3) You may be asked about:
- your reason for residence;
- your plans in Türkiye;
- where you are living.
4) If documents are missing:
- you may be given a deadline to supply them;
- follow the official instructions rather than assuming a note in the system resolves the omission.
A complete file is assessed. If approved, the residence card is sent to the registered delivery address. Submission and an appointment do not themselves guarantee approval.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Using this guide━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The main difficulties are:
- inaccurate form details;
- choosing a category that does not match your circumstances;
- arriving without the required documents.
A suitable forum discussion title is:
> “Booking Your First Residence Permit Appointment in Türkiye Online: A Step-by-Step Guide”
Members can add:
- screenshots of the system with personal details removed;
- new official notices;
- verified changes to links or requirements.
Revise the guide when the official process or application categories change.
Related Threads Türkiye Visas and Residence Permits 2025: Types, Requirements and Application Steps Applying for a Türkiye e-Visa Online in 2025: A Step-by-step Guide Türkiye Visas for Saudi and Gulf Citizens 2025: Requirements, Fees, Processing and Applications Renewing a Tourist Residence Permit in Türkiye 2025: Requirements, Documents and Avoiding Refusal Residence Permit Refusals in Türkiye 2025: Reasons and What to Check Before Reapplying Changing Residence Permit Types in Türkiye: Tourism, Family, Student and Work