Moving from Sweden to Turkey
What your passport gets you at the border — and what it takes to actually stay.
SwedenTurkeyShort staySweden passport holders can enter Turkey without a visa and stay up to 90 days.
This is short-stay visitor policy only. It does not let you work, study or settle in Turkey — that needs a residence permit.
How you actually move to Turkey
InvestmentMedium confidenceVerified August 2026Citizenship by investment
Investors who want a second passport rather than a residence permit. One of the few programmes worldwide that grants citizenship directly for a real-estate purchase.
Citizenship by investment
Investors who want a second passport rather than a residence permit. One of the few programmes worldwide that grants citizenship directly for a real-estate purchase.
- Real-estate purchase of at least USD 400,000, held for a minimum of three years with a restriction noted on the title deed
- Alternative routes: a fixed capital investment, a bank deposit, government bonds, or creating employment for a set number of Turkish citizens — each at its own threshold
- A certificate of conformity from the relevant ministry confirming the investment qualifies
- Clean criminal record
- How long it lasts
- Citizenship is permanent, and Turkey permits dual nationality so you keep your existing passport.
- Path to permanent residence
- It skips residence entirely — you receive a residence permit as a programme participant and then citizenship, typically within about 10–12 months of applying.
- Cost
- The USD 400,000 investment, plus around USD 5,000 per person for the investor residence permit and the usual conveyancing, valuation and legal costs.
- Processing time
- Commonly 10–12 months from submission to citizenship.
- The three-year hold is registered against the title deed, so the property genuinely cannot be sold early. Valuation is also done by a licensed appraiser at the ministry's direction — the price you pay and the value that counts are not always the same number.
- The threshold was raised from USD 250,000 to USD 400,000 in June 2022 and has been unchanged since. Treat any figure below USD 400,000 in older guides as obsolete.
- Turkish citizenship does not confer EU rights. Its value is Turkish, plus visa-free access to a specific set of countries — check that set against your own passport before assuming an upgrade.
Digital nomadMedium confidenceVerified August 2026Short-term residence permit (kısa dönem ikamet)
Property owners, long-stay visitors and remote workers. In practice this is the permit most foreigners living in Turkey hold.
Short-term residence permit (kısa dönem ikamet)
Property owners, long-stay visitors and remote workers. In practice this is the permit most foreigners living in Turkey hold.
- A qualifying ground: property ownership, a long-term lease, tourism, study of Turkish, medical treatment, or scientific research
- For the property-based route, the title-deed value must be at least USD 200,000, applied nationwide since 16 October 2023 with no metropolitan/non-metropolitan split. Deeds registered before that date are still assessed on the older USD 75,000 / USD 50,000 figures
- Valid health insurance for the permit period
- Proof of sufficient means and a registered address
- How long it lasts
- Up to 2 years per grant, renewable.
- Path to permanent residence
- Turkey grants a long-term residence permit after 8 years of continuous legal residence, and naturalisation is possible after 5 — but time on some short-term grounds, notably study, does not count fully toward these clocks.
- Cost
- Permit fee plus the residence-card fee and mandatory health insurance.
- Processing time
- Appointment-driven; several weeks to a few months depending on the province.
- The unit of closure is the mahalle (neighbourhood), not the district. Once foreign residents exceed 20% of a mahalle's population it is closed to new foreigner registrations — the threshold was cut from 25% to 20% on 1 July 2022, closing well over a thousand neighbourhoods nationwide. If your lease sits inside a closed mahalle the application is refused outright, whatever your grounds. Check the exact mahalle against Göç İdaresi's list before signing anything; this is the single most consequential constraint on living in Istanbul.
- Bare tourism as a ground is now routinely refused on both first applications and renewals, so 'I'll just keep renewing a tourist permit' is not a plan.
- The property threshold for residence permits is separate from, and much lower than, the citizenship-by-investment figure. Do not conflate the two.
- Turkey has no dedicated digital nomad visa, but the short-term permit is widely used for that purpose. It does not authorise work for Turkish employers.
- Turkish tax residency is not a bare day count. It turns on having a legal residence in Turkey together with continuous presence of more than six months in a calendar year — and there is a statutory exception for people sent to Turkey on a defined temporary assignment, who are not treated as resident even if they exceed the six months.
Work / sponsoredMedium confidenceVerified August 2026Work permit
People employed by a Turkish company, which applies on their behalf.
Work permit
People employed by a Turkish company, which applies on their behalf.
- Application by the Turkish employer to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security
- The employer must generally employ five Turkish citizens for each foreign worker
- Minimum capital or turnover requirements for the employing company
- Salary benchmarked as a multiple of the Turkish minimum wage, varying by occupation
- How long it lasts
- 1 year initially, then up to 2 and 3 years on extensions with the same employer.
- Path to permanent residence
- Counts toward the 8-year long-term residence clock, and an independent (permanent) work permit becomes available after 8 years of legal work.
- Cost
- Employer-borne permit fees and the valuable-paper charge.
- Processing time
- Around 30 days once the employer's file is complete.
- The five-Turkish-employees-per-foreigner rule is the practical barrier and excludes most small companies, with exemptions for certain sectors and for company partners.
- Some professions are reserved for Turkish citizens by law, including several in healthcare and law.
StudentMedium confidenceVerified August 2026Student residence permit
Students at Turkish universities, including the many English-taught and scholarship programmes.
Student residence permit
Students at Turkish universities, including the many English-taught and scholarship programmes.
- Enrolment at a recognised Turkish institution
- Proof of funds and health insurance
- A registered address in Turkey
- How long it lasts
- Course length, renewed annually.
- Path to permanent residence
- Study time is treated less generously than other grounds: it does not count in full toward long-term residence, so a degree alone leaves you further from settlement than the calendar suggests.
- Cost
- Permit fees plus tuition, which is low relative to Western Europe.
- Processing time
- Weeks, once enrolled.
- Undergraduates may work only after their first year and with a work permit; the student permit alone does not authorise employment.
- Türkiye Bursları government scholarships cover tuition, accommodation and a stipend and are the reason many international students choose Turkey — worth checking before paying fees.
Where you'd land in Turkey
Where Europe meets Asia — minarets, bazaars, Bosphorus ferries and a booming nomad scene at lira prices.
- Residence permit (ikamet) & foreigner ID (YKN)
- Driving & getting around Istanbul
- Tax number, a bank account & surviving the lira
Every ministry, every embassy and Türkiye's entire defence industry, 938 metres up on the steppe — and a winter Istanbul never sees.
- Residence permit (ikamet) & foreigner ID (YKN)
- Getting around Ankara & exchanging your licence
- Tax number, a bank account & surviving the lira
Türkiye's most secular city, wrapped around a bay you commute across by ferry — and the one where you ask what year the building went up before you ask about the view.
- Residence permit (ikamet) & foreigner ID (YKN)
- Getting around İzmir & exchanging your licence
- Tax number, a bank account & surviving the lira
Türkiye's car factory under a 2,543-metre ski mountain — the first Ottoman capital, two hours from Istanbul by ferry at a third of its rent.
- Residence permit (ikamet) & foreigner ID (YKN)
- Getting around Bursa, the ferry to Istanbul & exchanging your licence
- Tax number, a bank account & surviving the lira
Türkiye's Mediterranean capital and its second-largest foreign community — a Roman old town on a cliff, the Taurus behind it, and 149,432 people already holding the permit you want.
- Residence permit (ikamet) & foreigner ID (YKN)
- Getting around Antalya, the coast road & exchanging your licence
- Tax number, a bank account & surviving the lira
Türkiye's kebab capital on the Çukurova plain — a Roman bridge, 46°C summers, the cheapest big city in the country, and more closed neighbourhoods than Istanbul.
- Residence permit (ikamet) & foreigner ID (YKN)
- Getting around Adana, the Taurus passes & exchanging your licence
- Tax number, a bank account & surviving the lira
Rumi's city and the Seljuk capital, 1,030 metres up on Türkiye's grain plain — the driest, most observant of the big cities, and under two hours from Ankara by high-speed train.
- Residence permit (ikamet) & foreigner ID (YKN)
- Getting around Konya, the high-speed line & exchanging your licence
- Tax number, a bank account & surviving the lira
Türkiye's furniture capital under a 3,864-metre volcano — an Anatolian Tiger with 112 km of piste half an hour from the tram, and four-thousand-year-old merchants' letters up the road.
- Residence permit (ikamet) & foreigner ID (YKN)
- Getting around Kayseri, the mountain road & exchanging your licence
- Tax number, a bank account & surviving the lira
Turkey at a glance
- Capital
- Ankara
- Population
- 85.9M
- Languages
- Turkish
- Currency
- TRY
