Moving to Turkey

Cheap, well-served and easy to enter — but the permits have been tightening year after year.

Turkey occupies an unusual position. It is not a classical immigration country, and it has no points system or skilled migration programme, yet several million foreigners hold residence permits there. Most of them arrived through one ordinary document: the short-term residence permit, which can be granted on grounds as broad as owning property, renting a home, conducting research, receiving medical treatment, or simply intending to stay.

The second reason people know Turkey is the citizenship-by-investment programme, which since 2017 has granted a passport in exchange for a qualifying property purchase or financial investment. It is one of the fastest such programmes in the world and remains the country's best-known immigration route, although the thresholds have been raised more than once.

What older guides usually get wrong is the direction of travel. Since roughly 2022 the Presidency of Migration Management has closed thousands of neighbourhoods to new foreign registrations, raised the minimum property value that supports a residence permit, and refused or declined to renew a considerable share of short-term applications. Eligibility on paper is no longer the same thing as an approval, and the address you choose can decide the outcome before the file is read.

Region	Western Asia and Southeast Europe
Capital	Ankara
Population	around 85 million
Foreign-born residents	roughly 5% of residents
Official language(s)	Turkish
Currency	Turkish lira (TRY)

Why people move to Turkey

• The short-term residence permit is granted on unusually broad grounds, including property ownership, without any employer sponsorship.
• Costs in foreign-currency terms are among the lowest of any middle-income country with this level of infrastructure.
• Private hospitals are of a high standard and inexpensive, which is the basis of a large medical tourism sector.
• Citizenship by investment is available and, by international standards, decided quickly.
• Dual citizenship is permitted, so an original nationality does not normally have to be surrendered.
• Istanbul hosts the regional offices of many multinationals, which is where most foreign professional hiring happens.

What to know before you commit

• Inflation has been persistently high and lira salaries lose value quickly; currency risk dominates any financial plan made here.
• Thousands of neighbourhoods are closed to new foreign registration, so a residence permit can fail purely because of the address on the lease or title deed.
• The minimum property value supporting a residence permit was raised sharply, and older figures circulating online are out of date.
• Short-term permit renewals are refused more often than they once were, and the discretion involved is wide.
• Work permits are employer-tied and carry quota rules requiring a set number of Turkish employees per foreign worker.
• Several common permit types, including student permits, do not count toward the eight years needed for long-term residence.

The eight guides

Official sources

• Presidency of Migration Management
• Ministry of Labour and Social Security
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs — visa information

Checked against these pages in September 2026. Fees and processing times change without notice — confirm before you act.