Yabancı kimlik, address registration and e-Devlet: the Turkish numbers, and which office issues them

Which number do you need in Turkey? The foreigner number, the yabancı kimlik numarası. Anyone living in Turkey for six months or longer gets this eleven-digit number, usually starting with 99, and it is printed on your residence permit. The rest of your Turkish life hangs on it, along with three deadlines. You have your address registered within twenty working days, you collect a password for e-Devlet at the PTT with your permit, and you register your Dutch phone. The finding at the source comes from the Turkish telecoms regulator: a phone from abroad works for 120 days without registration and is then taken off the network.

Which numbers and registrations do you get?

What	What for	Office	Deadline
Foreigner number (yabancı kimlik)	almost everything: bank, tax, healthcare, phone	comes with your residence permit	anyone staying six months or longer
Address registration	proof of address, renewing your permit	civil registry (nüfus)	within 20 working days after receiving the permit
e-Devlet password	online government services	PTT office, with your permit	as soon as the permit arrives
Tax number	tax return, lease, bank	tax office, can be requested online	when you need it
IMEI registration of your phone	calling with a device from abroad	e-Devlet	device works 120 days without; registration within 365 days of entry
UETS address	electronic mail from the government	PTT	needed when renewing or switching permit

How do you get the foreigner number?

Through your residence permit. You apply via e-İkamet, and the permit itself is produced by the migration authority and sent to your address by the PTT. The number is on the card. If it isn't there yet, you can look it up at the population register with your permit number or your personal details. If that search returns no number, it has not been assigned yet.

How the permit itself works, and which route suits you, is in the residence routes to Turkey.

Why do you have to register your address separately?

Because the migration authority and the civil registry are two offices. Anyone granted a residence permit in Turkey registers in the address register at the civil registry within twenty working days after the permit has been notified. If you move afterwards, or your marital status or name changes, you also report that within twenty working days, to the migration authority and to the civil registry. If you move to another province, you apply there for a new permit within twenty working days; you don't pay the fees again.

Renewal starts with your address. For a renewal the migration authority asks for a current proof of residence (yerleşim yeri belgesi) from e-Devlet, plus an electricity, water, gas or landline bill. Anyone who didn't register their address doesn't have that proof. So arrange the registration straight away, not when the renewal is due.

What do you use e-Devlet for?

Almost everything that can be done online with the government: downloading your proof of residence, registering your phone, and later preparing the renewal. For services that require logging in you need a password, an e-signature or a mobile signature. As a foreigner you collect the password at a PTT office, with the permit showing your foreigner number.

At the PTT you also arrange your national electronic notification address, UETS. The migration authority asks for that document when you renew or switch to another type of permit. It is not needed for children under 18.

And the tax number?

You request it when you need it, for example for a lease, a bank account or a tax return. Foreigners can request a so-called potential tax number online through the Turkish tax administration's digital tax office. On the form you fill in, among other things, your foreigner number, your place of birth and your parents' names.

Why do you have to register your phone?

Because Turkey registers every device with an IMEI number, including a laptop with such a number. A device you bring from abroad works for 120 days without registration. After that it is taken off the network. You register it within 365 days of entering the country, via e-Devlet, with the password from the PTT. That is possible from 18, and there is a fee. Per person you may register one device on your passport per three calendar years.

The alternative is a phone bought in Turkey. A device that arrives from abroad by post or via the internet cannot be registered. The order in which you arrange all this after arrival is in the route to Turkey.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.1: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Turkey or go straight to step 5.1 in the open plan.