After You Arrive

Your First Weeks in Türkiye

A simple plan for your first weeks in Türkiye (Turkey). It covers your university, a tax number, your student residence permit (ikamet, the card that lets you live in Türkiye as a student), health insurance and your phone.

Turkey Arrival Timeline

Go to your housing: Keep your dorm letter or rental contract. You need it for your permit.
Keep your papers safe: Passport, visa and acceptance letter.

Priority
First 24 hours

Rest, go to your housing and keep your papers safe.

Essential Tasks

Go to your housing: Ask your dorm for a signed and stamped letter. You need it for your permit.
Note your entry date: Your visa lets you stay up to 90 days. Your phone works for 120 days without registration.

Quick Tips

Emergency contacts to save

Emergency (police, ambulance, fire): 112
Foreigners Communication Centre (migration questions): 157

First day

Keep your passport, visa and acceptance letter together.
Keep copies of every paper you brought from home.

First 3 days: your university

First, finish your university paperwork.

Campus & Administration

Visit the international office: Ask how and when they collect residence permit papers.
Get a student certificate: A student certificate is a paper from your university that shows you study there. You need it for your permit and for health insurance.
Get a tax number: Fill in the form online with your passport details, or go to a tax office.

First weeks: your official papers

Start your residence permit early. Some steps take time.

Official Registration

Apply on e-ikamet: Choose "Student Residence Permit". Then download the PDF of your form at once.
Hand in your papers: Most universities collect them and take them to the migration office (the government office for foreigners).
Register your address: Tell the government where you live, at the migration office, within 20 days after you receive your residence permit card.

Social & Practical

Open a bank account: You need a tax number or a foreign ID number (the ID number on your residence permit card) for it.
Get your phone ready: Register a phone from abroad within 120 days of your last entry to Türkiye, or buy one in Türkiye.
Join health insurance: Apply for General Health Insurance (GSS) within 3 months of the start of the academic year, or buy a private policy.