When you are visiting Turkey as a foreigner, you may use your phone for up to 120 days via international roaming or with a Turkish SIM card without having to register it.
After 120 days, you must register your device and pay the registration fee or your device will be blocked from the three Turkish mobile phone networks.
You can only register one phone every 3 years.
Important parts you need to know
All mobile devices imported into Turkey, whether they are a mobile phone, laptop (cellular), tablet (cellular), or watch (cellular) must be registered in the Mobile Devices Registration System (Mobil Cihaz Kayıt Sistemi).
- Each individual is allowed to register only 1 SIM-enabled device in Turkey every 3 years. In other words, one phone per passport. As of January 01, 2021, you can now add up to 3 IMEIs per registration, multiple foreign SIM cards, or eSIMs.
- Choose your phone carefully. If you want to get a new phone and register it, you will have to replace the old IMEI number registered on your passport with the IMEI on your new device. This means you will have to pay the registration tax again.
- Your registered device will only work with a SIM issued in your name (the name printed on your passport). If you decide to gift your phone to a friend and decide to put their own Turkish SIM card in, it will not work.
- You may only register your mobile phone with IMEI once every three years. If you plan on buying a new mobile outside of the country, you will not be able to register it until the old registration has expired.
To Register Your Mobile Phone in 2022, You’ll Need the Following:
- Your mobile device,
- Your valid passport and entry stamp inside it that shows your date of entry into the country (immigration police will stamp a page upon your arrival),
- Your Turkish residence permit*, or in Turkish words, your “ikamet tezkeresi”,
- 2732 Turkish Lira – the Turkey phone registration fee for 2022.
*If you are on a diplomatic mission in Turkey or have been deployed for military purposes, or are a student studying at a Turkish university, you will be allowed to use other documents that evidence your residency.
The Registration Process
- Registering your phone should be one of the first things you do when you arrive in Turkey. Try to complete this procedure as soon as possible as you have a 120-day time limit.
- Find your device’s unique 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number and note it down.
- This information can be found under Settings in the About section on Android and in Settings > General > About on iOS devices. If you have a phone with a removable battery, check the sticker under the battery for your IMEI number.
- Pressing *#06# on the keypad can also reveal your handset’s IMEI.
- From here you have 2 options. The first will require you to navigate a Turkish website but allow you to make an online payment.
Registration Fee Payment to Tax Office
After you arrive in Turkey, your passport is stamped by police at the customs. After this date, you have 120 days to register your mobile phone. If 120 days passed after your last arrival then you may need a new entrance stamp to make the registration process.
Take your passport, residence permit card, and 2.732 TL with you and go to any tax office around your district. After you get into the building you should go straight and ask for Vezne (Payment Desk). You should tell them “Cep Telefonu Kaydı” which means Mobile Phone Registration
They will ask you for the IMEI number of your mobile. You can learn it by pushing these digits:
*#06#
After you learn your IMEI number(s) write it down on a paper with your full passport name and passport number and Turkish Foreign ID Number (YKN, the number starting with 99, 98…) You will pay 2.732 TL and you will get a receipt. Here there is something you should pay attention to.
Please check the details of your receipt are correct or not. IMEI number, your name, surname, and passport number, residence permit number If there is a mistake you can not register your phone with this receipt. You will pay the tax again with the correct information.
Registration
You can register with two options if you have a residence permit or not?
Registration through operator company
After you received your correct receipt. You can go to your mobile operator company store in your district (Türk Telekom, Vodafone, or Turkcell) to register your phone.
Mobile companies are charging for the registration of around 300 TL (excluding the sim card fee). So, you will pay in total 3000-3300 TL for mobile registration including the governmental fee.
On the other hand, please do not forget to match your sim card with your residence permit card ID number (YKN), most probably you got your sim card with your passport, and the BTK system needs your mobile number to match with your Foreign ID Number (YKN). So your operator company will relate your passport number and YKN then the system will reactivate your number.
Registration with residence permit by e- Devlet (via turkiye.gov.tr)
You can go to any PTT office and get an e-devlet password with your residence permit card. Then you can log in and register your phone to the e-devlet website. To register your phone to the system you need to pay your tax (governmental fee) in advance with the correct details.
Briefly, if you would like to use a Turkish Sim card on your mobile phone you should register your phone to the BTK system, but if you think that 2.732 TL is too much to pay as a tax, it makes more sense to buy a cheap smartphone or a cell phone already registered to BTK system.
Registering your SIM card with your Residence Permit ID number
Your Turkish SIM Card will be blocked after 30 days x 4 times period which is 120 days. So it means, from the first time you start to use your sim card even 1 day, 30 days period starts for you and after using it actively in the following months 30+30+30+30=120 days then it will be blocked. In these 4 months, you should already start your residence permit process and then you should match your Turkish Foreign ID number with your Turkish Mobile Number. To make this registration, you should go to your operator`s company and deliver them your active residence permit card.
Source: Gordion Partners Investment. “How to Register Your Mobile Phone in Turkey?” https://www.investment.com.tr/2022/08/02/how-to-register-your-mobile-phone-in-turkey/
