When you initially enter Turkey you will have purchased a 3 month tourist visa. This visa is intended for short visits and covers you for up to 90 days. please remember its 90 days. Not 3 months,?

The financial penalties for overstaying a visa have recently been reviewed and now charged cumulatively ie. the longer the breach of visa the higher the penalty.

If you intend to stay longer you have 2 options to remain legal....
1. Leave the country and re-enter and buy another tourist visa, or
2. Get a residence permit.

The first option is used by many people to renew their visas.

Some take a day trip to Samos by ferry and buy a new visa when they arrive back in Turkey. However they are getting wise to this and some have been refused re entry,

The residence permit is the preferred method of making a longer term stay legal - and of course this is reflected in the prices charged! However, having residence does allow you to place your child in the Turkish state education system, be buried in Turkey and get discounted medical treatment in some private hospitals.

Getting the residence permit is easier if you know how. Some people use their estate agent or pay someone else to do it for them. However, you can do the whole process in a day if you start at the right place and have transport - a basic grasp of Turkish is required so maybe take a Turkish friend with you!

16 passport size photos

3 complete copies of your passport - you must make sure you have enough time left on your passport for the number of years of residence you are applying for otherwise you will be limited to the period left till expiry on your passport.

Bank statements to prove that you have enough money to live in Turkey. (For anyone who is ever planning to move to Turkey in the future, it is best to open a Turkish bank account,

If you have your own or rent a house here, a copy of the Tapu or rental contract.

Your passport and old residence permit if you are renewing.

Enough Turkish money to pay the fees etc.

The current Resident Permit fees are: or was,

1 Year 456YTL
2 Year 888YTL
3 Year 1320YTL
5 Year 2184YTL
Your resident permit, please carry this with you and when leaving or arriving in Turkey produce both the book and your british passport. you will not have to pay £10 for re entrance if you have a Your resident permit,

Getting a resident permit, is far easier now, than when i first came to turkey,


Please don't go to the embassy in the UK .. your wasting your time.

You will have to do it all again, when you arrive in turkey,