After a lot of stress and a lot of effort I finally received my Turkish Residence Permit last week. It is probably the least fun part of the exchange, but it is a very important part. Turkiye allows many citizens to stay in its borders for 90 days, after which you need a residence permit. Receiving this permit can be quite stressful and difficult. That is why this guide is made, it will prepare you well, so that you don’t have to stress and your process is smoothly.

Disclaimer: I will guide you to the process as I experienced it, this is a process where the university (Bogazici University) helped quite much. My guess is that most universities will guide you through this process as well, but I can not fully assure this. Always check what documents you need to prepare, and whether your university will guide you through this process.

Preparing the Documents

Before you start the online application, it is very wise to gather all the required documents. These are the documents that I had to prepare, and again, this might be different when you go on your exchange in Istanbul so check this on the official website. But this can give you an indication of what to expect more or less:

• 2 Biometric Photos in ICAO Standards
• Passport
• A Photocopy of Your Passport
• A Copy of Visa/ A Copy of the Page With Entry Stamp
• Student Certificate
• Student Confirmation of Study (This is a different document, in my case provided by the university)
• Health Insurance Policy Document
• Adress Document (Rent Contract, in my case I did not have to Notarize it, but before this was the case. Also check this)
• Application Form (This is the Online Application)
• The Residence Card Fee Receipt
• Finger Prints by Turkish Officials

The Online Application

On the official website of the Turkish Government, you can find the online application form. This site works in English so you should have no trouble navigating the site. You fill in your infodetails, and choose a short-term/student residence permit.

Then there are a lot more pages where you have to fill in things like your adress in Istanbul, the adress of your university and a Turkish telephone number. Numbers from other countries do not work. So you can chose to buy a Turkish SIM (recommended) or find another solution (for example, using a phonenumber of a Turkish friend), but you should always be available on this phone number.

At the end you will make an appointment. In my case, again check this, I had to make an appointment but I did not have to go to this appointment because I handed in my papers at the university international office. They have a weekly appointment to hand in all the applications of the students at the same time. So, make sure that you know whether you have to go to this appointment or not.

The Waiting Game

After the application you will get a SMS that the Residence Permit Card is printed and is coming your way. This can take multiple week though, so don’t stress when it takes to long. In the meantime, your proof of application is enough to stay in Turkiye.

The card will be send to your home adress filled in on the application form and you have to sign in order to receive the card. Nobody else can take your card.

In my case, the card came two days after I received the SMS, You get a tracking number which you can use on the site/app of PTT. I was not in my appartment however, and so then the card will be send to the closest collection center, or the central collection center “Posta Dağıtım Toplama Merkezi” of your neighbourhood (you can see this on the PTT app when you filled in your tracking code.) To collect it you have to bring your passport and your tracking number.

The struggle for me was stressfull and required a lot of effort, but even without a guide like this I managed to receive my residence permit card. I hope this guide can give you a better idea of what to expect, what to prepare, and what to do in certain situation.

If you have any questions, leave a comment down below. Or contact me through the contact form.

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