Good Day,

My name is Rahul, Indian, just recently got married to my Turkish Fiancee. I am in Turkey on
Tourist visa which eventually shall be expiring on the 22nd of October. We plan to
reside in Istanbul where she has already a job and my singapore based firm shall be
opening a branch as well in due course.

Now that we both are married, shall be glad if you can guide, how and wht steps are
to be taken inorder to get a permanent/temporary residence permit inorder for my stay
in Turkey. Also please advise viewing at the closing Tourist Visa expiration date
(i.e. 22nd October as said above) whether i would have to go back to india or can i stay
in Turkey since i have a Turkish Wife.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Hi Rahul,

Congratulations on your marriage! I'm an American woman who moved here just under 2 years ago to marry my Turkish husband. I'll try to help you regarding residency. However, you are REALLY cutting it close. You're supposed to apply several weeks before your tourist visa expires...

Here is an article showing which documents and photos you need: www (dot) mymerhaba (dot) com/Residence-Permit-in-Turkey-199 (dot) html.

Are you in Istanbul? If so, you have to go to the police station in Aksaray, which is on the Eminonu side midway to the airport. It's on a major road (Vatan Cd., I think), easily reachable by bus or metro.

Before you go, you have to get a Tax Number from the local Tax Office. You also need to open a bank account and deposit $300 for each month of residency that you are requesting. For 6 months, you'll need to show you have $1800 in a Turkish bank. Get a copy of your bank statement. (NOTE: The bank requirement may not be necessary if you're married to a Turk. But the English teachers at my school all had to do it, so I did too). Also, make sure to have a bunch of Turkish-style passport photos of yourself--at least 5, and preferably 10.

Then go to the police station in Aksaray, where you'll wait in endless lines, being shuffled from one window to another... everybody acting like they've never done paperwork for a residence permit in their lives. (I took a Turkish friend, so it wasn't a language problem). Eventually, you'll be sent to a cash window, where you have to pay cash, in Turkish liras, for your permit. I got a 3-year permit, which was almost 1600 TL (in 2008). I think 6 months is something like 350 TL. When you see the lines, etc., you're going to want to get a 3-year permit and get it over with.

Then you show that you've paid, and they tell you to return in a week. At that point, you have to hand over another 80 TL at the cash window and get a receipt for that, for the actual residency booklet. Then you can pick it up.

Good luck!

These days in order to open a bank account you need a residence permit and a tax number. However the procedure re 300 a month you mention does not apply in the circumstances described i.e. married to a Turkish citizen. You will need to show your red marriage book to prove this though.

Aksaray has changed a bit though and they now have an appointments system which seems to work as well as anything in Turkey but with 4 days to go you would be better off leaving Turkey, coming back on a tourist visa and then starting again, as there are no appointments available for the next few weeks.

The site "http://yabancilar.iem.gov (dot) tr/ikametingilizce (dot) html" : Shows all of the paperwork required as laid out by the Emniyet and is available in English / German / Turkish. There is quite often though, more information shown in the Turkish side.

I realize this is a little late but it may be helpful to mention that there is a 15 day grace period after the visa expires.

The 15 day grace period relates to the ikamet or residence permit, it does not relate to the tourist visa; anyone thinking that they have 15 days after the tourist visa expires is likely to regret heeding this advice.

I think that the described problem of going to Aksaray and being shuffled around and waiting in lines might be solved if there is a smaller regional office that foreigners can go to. I am not familiar with Turkey, but I've gone on quite a few visa renewal runs in Japan and eventually found a very nice friendly little office that took care of everything for my wife and I... and they even got to know us.