Living and working in Turkey

Residence visa application procedure

You will need to travel to the province capital, Aydin. The first applications are made here. Renewals are being process in Kusadasi passport office.
Take your passport to Aydin, who will advise on how long you can have residence visa for. This is dependant on when your passport expires. (Up to a maximum of 5 years)
Payment is made to tax office for the length of residency required.

6 months 216.50 YTL
1 year 416.30 YTL
2 years 815.90 YTL
3 years 1215.50 YTL
4 years 1615.10 YTL
5 years 2014.70 YTL

Prices are valid for 2005.
Complete application form and take to the official of district who will sign the completed forms.

Documentation you will need:

Receipt of payment from tax office
Passport
Copy of title deed of property or rental agreement
8 photographs
Retirement papers if applicable
Copy of bank details
For children under 18 notarised copy of birth certificate. Full birth certificate showing names of both parents.

Payment to passport office 66.00 YTL

Your passport is kept by the passport office in Aydin, but they will give you an authorised copy.
The application will take 6-8 weeks to process.
When your residency has expired you have up to 15 days after the date of expiry to renew it.
If you lose your residency visa you have to notify the authorities as soon as possible.
If you have a change of address you must inform the authorities within 48 hours. If you can not go yourself you can send someone on your behalf or send a letter to the authorities.
Any changes in marital status or job must be notified within 15 days.
Types of residency visa:
Family visa
Individual visa
If you are working you will need to take an individual visa.

Rejection to living permission will be given for any of the following reasons:-
If the foreigner is against the laws, customs and politics of Turkey.
If they can not support themselves financially and legally.
If person has been forbidden from living in Turkey before.
If you are charged with disturbing the peace or breaking the law whilst living in Turkey.
Undesirable characters.

Working in Turkey:

Foreigners can not work in a job that Turkish people can do, until they have lived here for 8 years or have worked in another occupation legally for 6 years.
E.g. if you are a qualified dentist you would not be able initially to work at this job.
However once you have lived here for 8 years, or worked in a different occupation for 6 years, you could then work as a dentist.

There are 3 types of work permissions:

Time limited: apply for one year, then if with same employer and doing same job you can apply for 3 years, then if still same job (but can be different company) you can apply for 6 years.
Forever: If you have lived in Turkey legally for 8 years then you can apply for a work permit, or if you have worked legally for 6 years.
Independent work permit: After living in Turkey for 5 years you can apply.
Restricted occupations: Health service, legal services, stockbroker.