When you are visiting Turkey as a foreigner, you may use you 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.
Registration Requirements
To register your phone you must have:
1. Your phone
2. Your passport with the Turkish Immigration date-of-entry stamp visible and legible.
3. Your Turkish residence permit (İkamet Tezkeresi). Military and diplomats on assignment to Turkey, and foreign students studying at Turkish universities, may use certain other forms of Turkish residency identification.
4. Turkish lira to pay the registration fee.
Registration Procedure
Here's how to register your mobile phone:
1. Start the registration process soon after arriving in Turkey. It must be completed within the first four months of your stay in Turkey.
2. To determine your phone's IMEI number, type *#06# on the keypad and take a screenshot or write the number down as you will need it for registration.
3. Take your device, its IMEI, your passport, and your Turkish residence permit to a Turkish government tax office (Vergi Dairesi). Tell them you have a mobile device imported from abroad (yurt dışından gelen cihazı), and that you want registration (kayıt). Once you pay the tax, you will receive a Vergi Dairesi Alındısı, a paper receipt for the payment of the registration tax, with your mobile device's IMEI noted on it.
*As of 2022, You will have to pay 2,732 TL for the registration tax. Please note that this amount changes every year.
*In 2023, it will be 6091.30 TL for the registration tax.
4. Take your phone, your passport, Turkish Residence Permit, and the payment receipt to the shop of either Turk Telekom, Turkcell or Vodafone. Buy a SIM card, and the clerk will register the SIM card's mobile phone number with your phone's IMEI number, and with your personal information.
5. If you already have a SIM card, go to the provider that you bought it from and they will register your phone. It is important to note that the phone and SIM card must be registered under the same passport. You can only register one phone every 3 years.
How to Pay the Tax and Register Your Phone Online
If you know Turkish, you can use this online option to pay your bill instead of having to go to the Vergi Daire (Tax Office). Click the button that says ‘Harç ve Değerli Kağıt Bedeli‘ and then choose ‘Cep Telefonu Harcını Öde‘ and fill out the form.
- Once you have payed the tax, you will need an E-Devlet Sifresi which is a password to be able to log on to the government website where you will register your phone.
- Getting your E-Devlet Sifre is very straightforward. You will need your passport, residency permit and your phone, and you will need to go to the nearest PTT which is the main government post office. Just go up to the counter and hand them your passport and residency permit (they may not need your passport) and ask for an E-devlet Sifresi. They will usually ask for your phone number and have it texted to your phone.
- Once you have the password, you can log on to this website using your Residency Permit Number (T.R. Identity Number) and the password which you can later change.
- Once you are on the website, type IMEI Kaydet into the search bar, and click on the option that says Bilgi Teknolojileri ve Iletisim Kurumu/ Imei Kaydet. From there, you will fill out the form to register your phone and you can check on the progress through that same website. If you have any further question, call the BTK hotline at 120 and they can give you an update on whether your phone has been registered or not.
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