Long-Term Residence Status Check
Have you been living in Turkey with a valid permit for exactly 8 years?
Half of the student residences are counted, while the rest are counted in full.
SHORT ANSWER
To qualify for a long-term residence permit, you must have resided in the country continuously for at least eight years. This quick test checks the duration requirement and other basic criteria in six questions; for a detailed assessment, you can proceed to the pre-eligibility tool.
Requirements
Duration alone is not sufficient. In addition to eight consecutive years of proper residence, applicants must not have received social assistance in the past three years, must have a sufficient and regular income, must have valid health insurance, and must not pose a threat to public order.
- Valid residence permits are fully recognized.
- The time spent on a student residence permit counts as half the total duration.
- Periods spent with a work permit that serves as a substitute for a residence permit may be taken into account.
- Periods during which a work permit exemption was in effect are not included in the calculation.
- There is no right to transition from humanitarian residence and international protection statuses to long-term residency.
Interruption Rules
The eight-year period must be continuous. Long periods spent abroad and gaps between leaves of absence may interrupt this continuity.
Staying outside Turkey for more than one year without interruption, except in cases of force majeure, may even result in the revocation of a long-term leave of absence that has already been granted.
The most common misconception
Saying "I've been in Turkey for eight years" isn't enough. Four years on a student visa and five years on a work permit may seem like a total of nine years, but it actually comes out to seven years: only half of the time spent as a student is counted.
Similarly, periods spent under a humanitarian residence permit or international protection status do not confer the right to transition to long-term residency, even if they are long in duration.
Meeting the time requirement does not guarantee that a permit will be granted. Income, health insurance, social assistance status, and public order assessments are evaluated separately.
This content was compiled from the FAQ text that passed official source verification on August 25, 2026. Since regulations are subject to change, you should check the relevant agency’s most recent announcement before submitting your application.