Things I Wish I Knew Before Moving to Turkey (2026)

The most common regrets: not learning any Turkish before arriving; renting an apartment before visiting in person; underestimating how long the residence permit would take; not having enough savings buffer for the setup period; and choosing a small coastal town without understanding how quiet it gets in winter.

Most expats describe the first 3 months as exciting but logistically exhausting. Months 3–6 involve bureaucratic fatigue and homesickness peaks. By month 6–12, most people who stay long-term have found their rhythm. The second year is where Turkey really starts to feel like home. Expect 6 months minimum before things feel stable.

In expat-dense areas — Konyaaltı, Kadıköy, Fethiye town, Bodrum peninsula — the community is large and active. Facebook groups, InterNations events, language exchange meetups, and informal expat cafes mean you can meet people within weeks. In smaller or less expat-focused areas, it takes more effort. Learning Turkish dramatically expands social options.

Six months of accessible savings. EUR/GBP/USD accounts that work abroad fee-free (Wise or Revolut). Understanding of what Turkish bank accounts require to open. A realistic monthly budget built with an exchange-rate buffer, since costs quoted in TRY can move 10–15% against you over a year. And a contingency for the lease deposit and agent commission on top of the first month's rent.

It varies significantly by nationality and permit duration, and it changed abruptly in 2026: on 29 April, the government fee (harç) rose by as much as 930% for many nationalities, then was reversed within 24 hours after public backlash. The restored, lower fee schedule is explicitly only guaranteed until 1 January 2027 — the first time an expiry date has been attached to the fee table, which strongly suggests another change is coming. Check the current figure on our Residence Permit Cost Calculator before budgeting, rather than relying on any fixed number from a blog post.

You need a tax number (vergi numarası) for almost every practical step in Turkey — bank account, lease, utilities, SIM card, and the residence permit itself. It is free and can be done online in about five minutes at ivd.gib.gov.tr, the Revenue Administration's Interactive Tax Office, using the "Potential Tax Number Application for Foreigners" form and a photo of your passport photo page. You can complete this before you land in Turkey.

Generally, no. Since a 2018 change to Turkey's currency-protection rules (an amendment to Decree No. 32), residential lease contracts between two Turkish residents must be priced in Turkish lira, not a foreign currency. The main exception applies where one party to the lease is a genuine non-resident. In practice, some landlords in expat areas still privately track rent 'in euro terms' and adjust the TRY figure informally at renewal — but the contract itself has to show a lira amount. Security deposits are the one component that can still legally be requested in foreign currency.

Sometimes. Most banks require a residence permit, but Ziraat Bankası (the largest state-owned bank) is the most consistently reported to open accounts for non-residents with just a passport and tax number, and a handful of other banks will do this branch by branch. This has become less predictable, not more, as banks applied stricter KYC/anti-money-laundering checks through 2025–2026 — confirm with the specific branch rather than assuming.

Only policies issued by insurers licensed in Turkey — examples include Anadolu Sigorta, Allianz Turkey, AXA Turkey, and Mapfre Turkey. Well-known international insurers such as Cigna, Aetna, or Allianz Global (as opposed to Allianz's Turkish entity) are routinely rejected by the Presidency of Migration Management, even though many market travel policies specifically to people moving abroad. Buy a policy explicitly built to be ikamet-compliant rather than assuming your existing international cover will work.

In principle, yes. Article 342 of the Turkish Code of Obligations caps a residential deposit at 3 months' rent and requires the landlord to place it in a bank account held jointly with the tenant, or otherwise blocked, so it can't be withdrawn without both parties' consent or a court order. In practice, enforcement is weak on informal, unregistered rentals common with foreign tenants — the deposit protection only really applies if you insist on the joint/blocked account being set up and keep documentation of the apartment's condition and all receipts.

It depends on how many days you spend in Turkey. Anyone physically present in Turkey for 183 days or more in a calendar year, continuously or cumulatively, is treated as a Turkish tax resident and taxed on worldwide income, regardless of what residence permit or visa they hold. Stay under 183 days and you are generally only taxed on Turkish-source income. Check any double-taxation treaty between Turkey and your home country before you cross the threshold, since treatment of pensions, investment income, and remote employment income varies.

The legal maximum is one month's rent plus 20% VAT, and by default it's meant to be split between landlord and tenant. In practice, agents dealing with foreign tenants often charge the tenant the full amount, sometimes framed as a flat percentage (commonly quoted around 10–12% of the annual rent) that has no legal basis. Ask upfront who is paying before you commit to viewing apartments through an agent.

For a first move, often yes — a bilingual, locally connected person who can navigate ikamet appointments, translate lease terms, and vet landlords typically pays for themselves in saved time and avoided mistakes, especially in your first 3–6 months. Vet them the same way you'd vet any service provider: ask for references from other expats, confirm they're not simply an unlicensed real estate agent charging inflated commission, and never pay large sums upfront for guaranteed appointment slots — that is a common scam pattern.