Turkey Permanent Residency Requirements: the eight-year rule

The legal basis

The long-term residence permit (uzun dönem ikamet izni) is set out in Articles 42 to 45 of Law No. 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection. It is the step after short-term and family permits for people who stay in Turkey for the long run without becoming citizens.

Conditions

The eight years must be "uninterrupted". Renew each permit before it ends, so there is no gap between one permit and the next. A short-term permit lasts up to two years at a time, and a family permit up to three, so most people renew several times before they reach eight years.

Rights of a long-term permit holder

A long-term permit holder has most of the rights of a Turkish citizen. The law lists the exceptions:

• no military service obligation;
• no right to vote or stand for election;
• no right to enter public office;
• no right to import a vehicle duty-free.

The permit does not make you a citizen, and it does not by itself give a Turkish passport. For the investment route to citizenship, see citizenship by investment.

How you lose it

The permit is cancelled if you are outside Turkey for more than one continuous year. Absences for health, education or compulsory service in your own country are exceptions.

This matters for people who split their year between countries. You can travel often, but a single stretch abroad of more than a year ends the permit.

Who this route suits

The long-term permit is a goal for year eight or later, not a way to arrive. Someone moving to Turkey in 2026 starts on a short-term permit, such as the property permit or a tourism permit, or on a family permit, and renews it. The permit to apply for first is on the short-term residence permit page.

For people who want a lasting status sooner, the routes in the law are citizenship by investment and, for qualified workers, the Turquoise Card. The Turquoise Card starts with a three-year transition period and can then become indefinite (Law No. 6735, Article 11). See the work permit page.

Long-term residence and tax

A long-term permit is an immigration status. It does not make you a Turkish tax resident, and tax residency does not give a right to stay. Tax residency comes from Income Tax Law Article 4: a domicile in Turkey, or more than six months of continuous stay in one calendar year. Anyone who has lived in Turkey for eight years will usually have been a tax resident long before they apply for this permit.

That has a timing consequence. The 20-year exemption under Article 20/D is open to people who become Turkish tax residents on or after 1 January 2026, and who had no Turkish domicile and no Turkish tax liability in the three calendar years before. They pay no Turkish income tax on foreign-source income for 20 years, whatever their nationality.

• The certificate is requested at the start, not at year eight. You must get the exemption certificate (İstisna Belgesi) from the tax office by the end of the calendar year in which you become resident, or by the end of February of the next year if residence starts in November or December. For 2026 movers: 31 December 2026, or 28 February 2027. Late applications are refused.
• Someone who already lived in Turkey before 2026 and holds, or is working towards, a long-term permit will usually fail the three-year look-back. Example 4 of Communiqué No. 333 shows that a former resident must stay out of Turkey for three full calendar years before they can qualify.
• The 20 years are counted from the year you become resident. Commentators read this as 20 calendar years (resident in 2026 means 2026 to 2045), but the law does not fix an end date.

The exemption covers foreign-source income only. Pay for work you do while physically in Turkey is Turkish-source and taxed at 15% to 40% (Income Tax Law Article 7). See Turkish-source income.