Turkish Council

Want to live in Turkey through a language course? Here is the catch most people miss: you must enter Turkey with a Turkish language course visa. If you apply for the residence permit without it, you will be rejected automatically. The process: get an invitation from a Turkish language school, apply for the language course visa at the Turkish Embassy in your country (with flight reservation, hotel booking, and student letter), come to Turkey, then apply for the residence permit with your enrollment letter, health insurance, paid residence permit tax, and an authorized rent contract. Submit everything to the immigration office and your card arrives by post.

You need to pay tuition to enroll to a Turkish Language School in order to get invitation letter and student document. The other expenses are visa fees, residence permit tax, private health insurance, residence permit card fee and notarization of your rent contract.

Firstly, you need to pay for the invitation letter to apply for the Turkish Language Course Visa. It is directly paid to the Turkish Language School. Also, you need to pay for the visa expenses such as flight reservation, Turkish visa fee, accommodation reservation and travel insurance. Turkish visa fee is paid to the Turkish consulate directly. In 2026, the single entry Turkish visa fee 9,376 Turkish Lira and multi entry Turkish visa fee is 31,410 Turkish Lira. There might be additional expenses if the Turkish consulate works with a 3rd party visa agency.

After you get the visa, you need to enroll to the Turkish school for 1 year course. School admission paper is required to apply for the Turkish Language Course Residence Permit. For the Turkish Language Course residence permit, the other costs are residence permit tax, residence permit card fee, private health insurance and notary fee of rent contract. Turkish residence permit card fee in 2026 is 964 Turkish Lira. Turkish residence permit tax for most nationalities is $80 per year in 2026.

The Turkish Language Course School fee is approximately $1,500 and $4,000 per year depending on the school and program. Usually, schools ask for some prepayment to give the Turkish Language Course Visa Invitation Letter and it is approximately between $300 and $1,000 depending on the school.

Invitation letter and school admission papers are required to apply for the Turkish Language Course Visa at the embassy. You can get your Turkish language School Invitation letter from universities, Tömer center and private language schools in Turkey.

You can apply to Turkish Language Course Visa at the Turkish embassy in your country. The embassy will ask for regular visa application documents such as passport, biometric photo, travel insurance, flight tickets and accommodation. In addition to these documents, Turkish embassy asks for your visa invitation letter from your language school if you are applying for the Turkish Language Course Visa. You can enroll to a language school in Turkey and ask for visa invitation letter from them.

The Turkish Language Course Visa Invitation Letter can be given by certain institution in Turkey, such as universities with TÖMER programs and also from private Turkish language schools that are registered to the Ministry of Education. These institutions can provide you with the visa invitation letter that will allow you to apply for the Turkish Language Course Visa and Residence Permit.

Foreigners can renew their Turkish Language Course Residence Permit only one time. It means that they can stay in Turkey with Turkish language course residence permit for 1 year + 1 year, total 2 years.

Visit the website of Turkish Council for more information about Turkish Language Course Invitation Letter, Visa and Residence Permit: https://www.turkishcouncil.org

Many foreigners are coming to Turkey with Turkish course visa and Turkish Language Course Residence Permit. The residence permit can be taken for 1 year at each application. You can make renewal only for one time and that application can be done for 1 year. So, in total, you can stay in Turkey with Turkish Language Course Residence Permit for 2 years.

You can make renewal application for Turkish residence permit at e-ikamet.goc.gov.tr. In the Turkish residence permit renewal, the immigration office asks for extra address documents such as UETS, address registration on edevlet and utility bill in your name.

How to Apply for Turkish Language Course Student Residence Permit in 2026

You can apply to Turkish Language Course Residence Permit if you come to Turkey with the same type of visa. You need to make an online application for residence permit on the website of immigration office https://e-ikamet.goc.gov.tr/.

On the online residence permit application, you need to choose appointment location and appointment time. You need to prepare your files and go to the appointment at immigration office.

You will submit your Turkish Language Course Residence Permit file and you will give your finger prints at the immigration office. Usually, the result comes in 2-3 weeks. You can track your status online. When residence permit is approved, your card will be printed and it will be sent to you with PTT.

You can apply for Turkish language course student residence permit for renewal in the next year.

Official student letter is required for the Turkish Language Course Residence Permit. You need to make an application for the Turkish Language Course Residence Permit online at the website of Immigration Office: https://e-ikamet.goc.gov.tr/.

After you make your online application, you need to wait for your appointment date. Required documents for the Turkish Language Course Residence Permit are your passport copy, Turkish Language Course Visa Copy, Copy of last entry stamp, 2 biometric photos, notarized rent contract, residence permit insurance, tax payment receipts and Turkish Language Course Student Letter from your school.

Foreigners cannot apply to Turkish Language Course Residence Permit if they come to Turkey visa-free or with tourist visa. You need to have a Turkish Language Course Visa in order to be eligible to apply for Turkish Language Course Residence Pemit.

According to Turkish immigration rules, the residence permit type you are applying to should be linked to your visa. For example, you can apply to Business Residence Permit if you entered Turkey with Business Visa. If you entered Turkey with Tourist Visa, you can apply to Tourist Visa. For Turkish Language Course Residence Permit, immigration officers ask the foreigner to enter Turkey with Turkish Language Course Visa (Türkçe Dil Kursu Vizesi).

You can apply to Turkish Language Course visa at the Turkish embassy in your country. In order to apply for the Turkish Language Course visa, you need to provide an invitation letter (acceptance letter) from a Turkish Language Course School (TÖMER or private school).

You need to provide the required documents to the Turkish Embassy in order to get a Turkish Language Course Visa. The required document is a visa invitation letter from a Turkish university or from a school that is accredited to the Ministry of Education.

The visa invitation letter can be from the TÖMER program of a Turkish university. Also, many foreigners apply to Turkish Language Course Visa with a visa invitation letter from private schools that are accredited to the Ministry of Education.

In addition to the visa invitation letter, you also need to submit some documents for the Turkish visa application such as passport copy, biometric photo, flight reservation, hotel reservation and financial documents. Sometimes, Turkish embassies might ask for your diploma, transcript, criminal record, birth certificate or even health report as well.

You need to get a visa appointment from the Turkish consulate. The visa appointment website of Turkish embassy is https://www.konsolosluk.gov.tr/. Some Turkish embassies work with 3rd party visa agencies, you can make your application to them directly and submit your required documents to apply for a Turkish Language Course Visa.

Student residence permit and short-term Turkish Language Course residence permit are very different and you need to be careful which one you are applying to. Student residence permit is only given to foreigners who study at a university for a higher education degree (undergraduate, masters, phd). On the other hand, Turkish language course is a type of short-term residence permit and it is given to foreigners who study at TÖMER or at private Turkish language schools that are accredited to the Turkish Ministry of Education.

Making a student residence permit application while you are in Turkey with Turkish Language Course Visa is wrong and it may result with rejection of your residence permit. You should apply to student residence permit only if you are enrolled to a university program in Turkey.

If you come to Turkey with Turkish Language Course Visa, you have to choose Short-Term residence permit and you should apply to Turkish Language Course Residence Permit.

University student visa and Turkish language course visa are different visa types in Turkey that are usually mistaken.

University student visa is given to foreigners who are admitted to higher education programs such as vocational program, undergraduate program, masters or PhD.

The Turkish language course visa is given to foreigners who just enrolled to Turkish language education programs in TÖMER programs in universities or in private school's that are registered to the Ministry of Education.

In order to apply for Turkish student visa, you need to have an invitation letter from a Turkish university for a degree program. Then, you can apply for student visa and Turkish embassy in your country. Note that the invitation letter from university needs to have your foreigner ID number that is given by YÖK.

For the Turkish language course visa, you need to have get an invitation letter from a university TÖMER program (Turkish education center) or from a private school that is registered to MEB (ministry of foreign affairs). You need to go to the Turkish embassy in your country with your invitation letter and other documents.