RESIDING IN TURKEY
& BRINGING YOUR ITEMS TO TURKEY
Residence visa
requirements
If
you would like to reside in Turkey longer than the normal period
allowed to tourists, you will need a residence visa.
All
documents for a residence visa must be submitted to the Turkish
Consulate General at least eight weeks before the intended date of
departure (Nationals of European Union countries and nationals of
Australia, Canada, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and USA
may be issued a one year resident visa in a week depending on their
circumstances).
Please
note that applications must be referred to the relevant Turkish
authorities for their approval. Therefore, applicants are advised to
contact the Consulate to find out the outcome in due course.
After
obtaining the residence visa, you are required to register with the
local police within a month following the arrival in Turkey in order to
obtain a residence permit. If you wish to extend your permit for a
further period, you should apply to the same police headquarters before
the permit expires.
Can you bring your
household or office items to Turkey?
Household items can be brought to Turkey
through a system called "temporary import" provided that the validity
of the residence permit is not less than one year. In this case, you
pay a deposit and take it back when you return to your own country or
submit a bank guarantee letter which should be obtained either from a
Turkish bank or a well-known foreign bank ensuring that all customs
duties will be paid if the goods are not taken out of Turkey at the end
of the period of residency during the first five years. You do not need
to extend the guarantee letter for the period starting from the
completion of the first five years following the importation of
goods.
A banderole fee is collected only once by
Customs administrations on behalf of TRT (Turkish Radio and Television
Corporation) for colour television, black-white television, radio,
video, television satellite receivers, combined devices to be brought
from abroad for non-commercial importation purposes and all kinds of
devices for receiving broadcasting signals. The amount of banderole
fees are set by Council of Ministers Decree annually.
Lots of reliable Turkish
carriage/freight/shipping companies are available to move your items to
Turkey from any point in the world. Please visit our web pages to see
the lists of such companies.
On the other hand, you don�t need to bring your
household items to Turkey. You can find thousands of good choices
ranging from local authentic ones to international style furniture and
domestic appliances, produced at the highest standards and at very
reasonable prices in Turkey.
Can you bring your pets
to Turkey?
You can bring your pets to Turkey as long as
you carry the live animals’ health/vaccination certificates
with you. Veterinary health certificate must be issued not more than 10
days before departure. Rabies vaccination must be given the animal not
more than 6 months ago and not less than 15 days before departure. None
of the documents need to be legalised by either Foreign and
Commonwealth Office Legalisation Department or Turkish Consulate
General, provided that you accompany your pets.
However, there is a legal limitation on the
number of pets to be brought to Turkey. A person can bring 1 cat or 1
dog or 1 bird or 10 aquarium fishes at most. If you like to bring more
pets, then you are advised to have somebody to accompany you during
your travel to Turkey.
Please have a look at www.thy.com.tr/en/services/pets.htm
for other relevant information.
Can you bring your car
to Turkey?
If you visit Turkey on a tourist
visa you can bring your car into Turkey and keep it up to six
months in a period of 12 months.
if you were to leave Turkey for some reason during your stay in Turkey
you have to either take your car out of the Turkish Customs Territory
or leave it at the nearest customs depot. If you choose the latter
there is customs depot fee applicable.
In accordance with the Turkish Customs
Regulations you cannot bring your car into Turkey with a resident
permit unless you have a work permit and
a job in Turkey or you are a retired person. If you are in employment,
you need to submit a letter from your employer ensuring that all
customs duties will be paid if the car is not taken out of Turkey once
your employment in Turkey terminates. You have to apply for a special
plate for foreigners who work in Turkey.
If you are a retired
person and have a resident permit, you are allowed to bring your car
into Turkey and keep it as long as you live in Turkey. First, you
should register your car to the Turkish Touring and Automobile Club
and obtain a temporary entry carnet for foreigners from them. You
should submit the following documents to the Turkish Touring and
Automobile Club.
1)
Your passport,
2) Your resident permit,
3) Your official retirement documents (should be translated into
Turkish)
4) Your car’s registration documents
5) Giving a guarantee, either a form of a letter from your bank or cash
ensuring that all customs duties will be paid if the car is not taken
out of Turkey once you leave Turkey.
Once you have obtained your carnet you should
go to the nearest customs office where your residency is and register
with them.
On the other hand, you can buy a car in Turkey and have it registered
in your own name provided that you have a resident permit. In this
case, according to the regulations, you are supposed to have your car
insured. In addition, you are also supposed to hold an appropriate
driving license. You can gather a driving license that will allow you
to drive in Turkey if you register to an authorised Driving Course and
pass all examinations. In order to replace your UK driving licence with
Turkish driving licence, you first need
-to have your UK driving licence
translated into Turkish,
-to have the translated document
notarised in Turkey or have it legalised at
the Consulate General in London (Please
refer to Section 2.5.10),
-to gather an application form/file from
the local Association of Drivers
("Soforler Odasi" in Turkish) and fill
in it.
-to have resident permit,
-blood type certificate,
-3 passport size photo,
-to have a full medical examination
report from a state or private hospital,
Next, you are required to present the relevant documents to officers at
the local Transport Registrar (Trafik Tescil Mudurlugu) which is at
local police headquarters.
Does your social
insurance scheme cover your health expenditures in Turkey?
If you reside in Turkey, your social insurance
scheme (UK) could cover your health insurance expenditures in Turkey.
Please contact the relevant organisation in UK for the details.
Please note that Turkish health insurers
provide very cheap insurance policies and cover diagnosis/treatment of
lots of diseases. They are in connection with very good private
hospitals, scanning centres, and medical laboratories. No waiting lists
and instant diagnosis and treatment are in question.
You can buy private health insurance policies
at reasonable costs.Health insurance products are
usually, yearly renewable. Private companies offer in patient and out
patient health services in private hospitals.
There are travel assistance products, contract
lengths are less than one year. They offer health services during the
tourists' journey in Turkey.
Furthermore, prices of pharmaceutical products
are very cheap in Turkey.
If you work in Turkey, you are covered by the
State health (social) insurance schemes which will let you utilise all
covered health services.
