IMPORTANT NOTE: As of Friday 07 October, the Interior Ministry has made the decision to close several districts in Istanbul entirely to any new foreigners applying for permits or protection status while being registered as living within those neighborhoods. More detailed information to come, but we thought the immediacy of this development might be useful for people in the midst of trying to attain a residence permit. The districts are: Küçükçekmece, Başakşehir, Bağcılar, Avcılar, Bahçelievler, Sultangazi, Esenler, and Zeytinburnu. This is in addition to Esenyurt and Fatih which were previously also restricted in their entirety. The database below corresponds to the original neighborhood restrictions from July of this year.
Following on the back of their announcement in June, the Interior Ministry has made the decision to increase the number of neighborhood closures to foreigners in Turkey from applying for first time residence permits or protection status while being registered as living within those neighborhoods.
While this number was previously at 781 neighborhoods, as of July 1st 2022, it has been increased to 1,169 neighborhoods. The Ministry intends for this to reduce the concentrated numbers of foreigners in particular areas, with the increase in neighborhoods reflecting a shift from a 25% foreigner quota to 20% quota as of the beginning of the month.
A full updated list/table can be found below.
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What do neighborhood closures to foreigners in Turkey mean for those applying for residency or some form of protection status?
The short answer is that it means if you’re moving to Turkey and intend to stay beyond the scope of your visa, you’ll need to be sure that you find accommodation outside one of these neighborhoods.
Renewals for the time being seem to have not been included in the scope of the ministry’s comments, so as long as already registered with your local Nüfus Müdürlüğü, you should be OK to apply for ongoing renewals.
This is of course a developing issue and we’ll be adding additional information as it becomes available to us.
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For those requiring assistance with their residence permit application process, feel free to check out our guide or contact us via help@yabangee.com. The official Ministry announcement (and downloadable list of neighborhood closures to foreigners in Turkey) can be found here.
Do you think these changes will affect people in the midst of transitioning from one neighborhood to another in one municipality of the ones affected by this decision?