Visa-free stay in Turkey: the 90 days in 180 rule

The 90 days in 180 rule

Article 11(1) of Law No. 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection (YUKK) sets the limit. The stay that a visa or a visa exemption gives you "cannot exceed ninety days in every one hundred and eighty days". The same limit applies whether you entered on a visa, an e-visa or no visa at all.

The rule looks at any 180-day period, so you count backwards from each day you are in Turkey. If you spent 60 days in Turkey in the last 180, you have 30 days left. Leaving the country and coming back does not reset the count.

Article 19 of the same law says that anyone who wants to stay longer than the visa, the visa exemption or 90 days must hold a residence permit. A visa-free stay is for visits. It is not a way to live in Turkey.

Who can enter without a visa

Turkey sets visa rules country by country. Some nationalities enter without a visa, and others apply online for an e-visa at evisa.gov.tr. Either way, the 90 days in 180 limit applies.

We have not checked the rule for each nationality. Check your own country on the official e-visa site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before you travel.

Passport validity

Your passport must be valid for at least 60 days beyond the end of your visa, your visa exemption or your residence permit (YUKK Art. 7(1)(b) and Art. 21(2)). If your passport runs out soon after your planned stay, renew it first. The same 60-day rule applies again when you apply for a permit.

What a visa-free stay does not allow

• It does not allow you to work in Turkey. Work needs a work permit or a work permit exemption under Law No. 6735. A residence permit does not allow work either.
• It does not let you stay past 90 days in any 180. For that you need a residence permit.
• It does not count as residence for the long-term permit, which needs eight years of uninterrupted residence on a residence permit (YUKK Art. 42).

Moving from a visa-free stay to a residence permit

Many people enter Turkey without a visa and then apply for their first residence permit from inside the country. The PMM document list (PMM is the Presidency of Migration Management, the agency that issues permits) covers this case. If you entered visa-free and apply for a first permit, you must pay a single-entry visa fee with the application, unless your nationality is exempt from it.

Most people apply for a short-term residence permit, on the ground of owning a home or as a tourism permit backed by regular income. See the short-term residence permit page and the application process.

Visa-free stays and tax residency

Immigration rules and tax rules are separate. Under Article 4 of the Income Tax Law, a person is a Turkish tax resident if their domicile is in Turkey (the place where they live with the intention of settling), or if they stay in Turkey more than six months in one calendar year. Temporary trips abroad do not break the six months.

Article 5 then makes an exception for foreigners. Someone who comes for travel, rest, study or medical treatment is not treated as resident, even after six months. A tourist on visa-free visits is in that group. A person who moves with a residence permit and sets up a home in Turkey is not.

This matters for the 20-year tax exemption. Under Article 20/D, people who become Turkish tax residents on or after 1 January 2026, with no Turkish domicile and no Turkish tax liability in the three calendar years before, pay no Turkish income tax on foreign-source income for 20 years. Visits on a visa-free stay do not start that clock. You must become resident, and then apply to the tax office for the exemption certificate (İstisna Belgesi) by the end of the calendar year in which you became resident. If residence starts in November or December, the deadline is the end of February of the next year.

The exemption does not cover work you do while you are in Turkey, even for a foreign employer or foreign clients. That income is Turkish-source and taxed at 15% to 40%.

When a visa-free stay is enough

A visa-free stay suits a first visit to look at cities, rent for a short time or view property. It does not suit anyone who wants to live in Turkey for most of the year, or who wants the 20-year exemption. For those plans, start with the overview of Turkish residency routes.