Visa & Residence Permit

It is your responsibility to determine whether or not you need a Turkish education/study visa. If you are eligible for a touristic e-visa, you must enter Turkey with an e-visa. If you are exempt from visas to TR, you can travel with only a valid passport. However, if none of these apply to you, you must apply for a visa at a consulate. Please check this link http://www.mfa.gov.tr/visa-information-for-foreigners.en.mfa for visa information for foreign nationals. To find out whether you need to apply for a study visa, you must contact the nearest Turkish Embassy/Consulate.

All foreign nationals must obtain a Residence Permit, an official document indicating registration at the Directorate General of Migration Management (Immigration Office), within one month of entering Turkey. The International Programs Office will assist you with the necessary procedures. Please note that due to the high number of first-time applications, you may not get an appointment until one month after the day of your arrival. However, you must get an appointment within 30 days of arrival. Appointments may be given for 4-6 weeks after the beginning of each semester due to the high number of applications. To apply for a Residence Permit, you need to schedule an online appointment from the e-Residence website and submit the required documents to our office:

• Residence Permit Application Form
• Receipt of Residence Permit Card Fee Payment
• A copy of your passport ID page along with the TR entry stamp
• Student Certificate
• 4 biometric photos
• Valid Health Insurance
• Proof of Residence in Turkey (Notarised Rent Contract, Title Deed or Letter of Confirmation from dormitory)

If you are under 18, you must submit additional documents:

• Letter of Parental Consent
• Birth Certificate

Click here to access the booklets (available in English, Arabic, Russian and German) for the residence permit application.

Upon checking your documents, the IPO will submit them on your behalf. Please note that any missing document will result in a rejection of your application. Besides collecting the application documents and taking them to the Immigration Office, the university has no authority over the residence permit procedures.

As per the agreement between the Presidency of the Council of Higher Education and our Ministry, effective from 29th November 2023, all students pursuing higher education at the associate, undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate levels are required to submit the necessary documents alongside the student residence permit registration form to the relevant unit (Student Affairs Office or International Student Office) at their university. This should be done without delay, and students should not wait for an appointment date after applying for a student residence permit.

If you are applying for an extension of the duration of your residence permit you need to schedule an online appointment from the e-Residence website and submit a copy of your expired Residence Permit Card along with the required documents mentioned in the menu above.

Click here to access the booklets (available in English, Arabic, Russian and German) for the residence permit application.

Upon checking your documents, the IPO will submit them on your behalf. Please note that any missing document will result in a rejection of your application. Besides collecting the application documents and taking them to the Immigration Office, the university has no authority over the residence permit procedures.

As per the agreement between the Presidency of the Council of Higher Education and our Ministry, effective from 29th November 2023, all students pursuing higher education at the associate, undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate levels are required to submit the necessary documents alongside the student residence permit registration form to the relevant unit (Student Affairs Office or International Student Office) at their university. This should be done without delay, and students should not wait for an appointment date after applying for a student residence permit.

1. Legal action is taken against students who do not follow the procedures.
2. You do not need to obtain a visa to enter Turkey during the period your residence permit is valid. To illustrate, upon returning to Turkey from a visit to your country during a semester break, you may present your residence permit. However, if the expiry date of your residence permit is close, you are recommended to contact the authorities not to face a last-minute problem at the airport.
3. The Directorate takes into consideration the online application date. In any circumstances, you need to make an appointment before your residence permit or visa expires.
4. The address you give while you are applying for a residence permit should be correct and complete.
5. In case of any change in name/surname, marital status, address, passport department/program, etc. the Provincial Directorate of Migration Management should be notified immediately.
6. There should be no erasures or scrapes on the residence permit. In case of loss, the Provincial Directorate of Migration Management should immediately be notified.
7. The list of students who are in statuses: registered, not registered, non-registration, on leave and disciplinary punishment is sent to the Immigration Office every semester. Information about those who have graduated, have left with their own will or have withdrawn their registration is sent to the related unit in about one week. Therefore, those must follow their residence procedure carefully.
8. Please do not forget that your student residence permit is only valid as long as you have an active studentship, regardless of the expiry date written on your residence permit card. If you (i) cancel your registration from your program, (ii) do not register for the semester courses, (iii) get a semester leave, this means that your permit will be cancelled by the Immigration Office, even if your card says that your permit is still valid until a certain date.
9. The student residence permits of the students whose semester status is "on leave" or "not registered" for any reason (except exchange programs, international joint degree programs, and TÖMER courses) are cancelled by the Immigration Office. Please pay attention to this point while you are freezing your studies or getting leave for one or more semesters. Therefore, those who will stay in Turkey for any reason without registering for the semester need to apply for a short-term residence permit. Do not wait to see your leave request be defined to the Student Information System, but make your online application for a transfer to a short-term residence permit as soon as you submit your leave request to your department (Note: Those students who entered Turkey initially with a student visa cannot transfer to a short-term/touristic residence permit and they need to leave the country and re-enter with a new visa).
10. If you are planning to stay in Turkey while you are not registered in any program (for the graduation ceremony, for graduate program application, etc.) you need to apply for a short-term residence permit before your residence expires.
11. According to the information received from the Immigration Office (as of January 2023), when you graduate from your program and if your card’s expiry date is after the graduation (For undergraduate students, the graduation date is the date of the grade announcement. For graduate students, the date of the submission of the printed thesis to the Graduate School), you can stay in Turkey roughly until the beginning of the next academic semester. Those who will stay longer must apply for a short-term residence permit before their residence expires, as stated above. For example, if you graduate in June 2023 and your student residence permit’s expiry date is February 2024, then you can still reside in Turkey until September 2023 with your current permit. However, if your student residence permit’s expiry date is July 2023, then you can only reside in Turkey until July 2023 with your current permit. Although this is the current general rule, students are highly recommended to contact the Immigration Office (Call Center 157 and ankara@goc.gov.tr) for their cases and to get the most up-to-date and appropriate information. The rules and regulations could change and/or your unique case could bring an exception to the general rule. Therefore, the information written here is intended to inform the students about the general rules and regulations received from the Immigration Office.
12. The student residence permit does not make the parents and other relatives of the student eligible for a residence permit automatically. 
13. Regarding working and work permits, you may see the menu below.
14. If you want to leave Turkey while your residence permit application is under evaluation by the Immigration Office, you need to get an official letter from the Immigration Office letting you leave the country for a maximum period of 15 days. If you leave without this permission document, your ongoing residence permit application could be affected negatively and you could need to re-apply for the residence permit.

Students

Your residence permit does not automatically give you the right to work in Turkey.  You need an official work permit to work in Turkey. The work permit is not something individuals can apply for individually. The company that wants to hire you should apply for your work permit. In other words, in Turkey, you first need to find a job, and then the company should apply for a work permit for you. 

• Students at the undergraduate level can only get a work permit after they complete their first year at the university.
• Students at the undergraduate level can only get a work permit for part-time jobs.
• Students at the undergraduate level can only get a work permit for jobs outside of the university/campus.
• Students at the graduate level can get a work permit starting from their first year at the university.
• Students at the graduate level can get a work permit for both full-time and part-time jobs.
• Students at the graduate level can only get a work permit for jobs outside of the university/campus.

Once you get a work permit in Turkey, that permit is counted as a residence permit, and you do not need to apply for a residence permit until the expiry date of your work permit.

If it is found out that you work in Turkey without an official work permit, your residence permit could be cancelled by the Immigration Office. 

After Graduation

Turkish laws allow students who graduate from Turkish higher education institutions to get a one-year-long residence permit, which could be used as an opportunity to seek a job in Turkey. To get this type of residence permit, you need to apply for a short-term residence permit within six months after your graduation under the "those who graduated from a Turkish university" category.

For your questions regarding work permits, you need to contact the General Directorate For the International Labour Force, operating under the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

https://www.csgb.gov.tr/uigm/

eizindestek@csgb.gov.tr

+90 312 296 60 00

Barbaros Mah. Binnaz Sk. No.2, Çankaya/Ankara

https://en.goc.gov.tr/

ankara@goc.gov.tr 

+90 312 439 40 40

YIMER 157 (which stands for Yabancılar İletişim Merkezi and means "Foreigners Communication Centre" in English) was put into service as a line belonging to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2005 and was taken over by the Presidency of Migration Management in December 2014, based on the authority given to Presidency of Migration Management by the Law on Foreigners and International Protection No. 6458.

YIMER 157, where foreigners can find answers to all questions they ask about issues such as visa, residence permit, international protection and temporary protection, provides life-saving services for foreigners for 7/24. Line 157 can be accessed within the country and abroad for accurate, fast and reliable information, and is the first address for foreigners' questions and problems.

Çamlıca Mah. 122. Sk. No:4, Yenimahalle/Ankara
http://yimer.gov.tr
yimer@goc.gov.tr