Look inside
The plan for Turkey, from the inside
These are all 29 steps of the Turkey journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.
For which country?
Every country has its own steps, its own order and its own clocks. Switch as often as you like.
- Steps
- 29
- Phases
- 5
- Official sources
- 30
- Only for your situation
- 8
Phase 1
6 steps
Orientation
Turkey doesn't give settlement but a permit you keep renewing — and two things shape this journey more than the form: which neighbourhood you choose, and the treaty that leaves your AOW with the Netherlands.
- 1.1
Understand the system: 90 days free, then the ikamet
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 1.2
Know how healthcare and tax work there
- Lead time
- an evening of research
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.3
Explore the region — with the earthquake map beside it
- Lead time
- weeks, preferably outside the high season
- Costs
- an exploratory trip is a serious cost item
- 1.4
Get a picture of what it's going to cost
- Lead time
- 1-2 hours with the calculator
- Costs
- none
- 1.5
The family conversation
- Lead time
- weeks, not hours
- Costs
- none
- 1.6
Choose your target date
- Lead time
- decision moment
- Costs
- none
Phase 2
5 steps
Your visa
You choose the route on paper, but the neighbourhood has a say: in a closed neighbourhood a first application is automatically refused — and the only reliable list is the address check in e-ikamet itself.
- 2.1
Choose your route
- Lead time
- decision moment after reading
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 2.2
Check the neighbourhood before you sign
- Lead time
- a quarter of an hour — and it saves months
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 2.3
Gather the documents
- Lead time
- 2-4 weeks
- Costs
- fees, apostilles and sworn translations per document
1 official source
- 2.4
Submit via e-ikamet and go to the appointment
- Lead time
- appointment follows automatically; decision within weeks to months
- Costs
- harç plus card fees — indicatively around € 700 for a year
1 official source
- 2.5
Know the annual cycle: renewing, and the road to eight years
- Lead time
- recurring — every permit period again
- Costs
- every renewal again harç and card fees
1 official source
Phase 3
8 steps
Closing the Netherlands
The familiar list with two lessons of its own: the CAK route replaces the private policy for pensioners, and the exemption from wage tax applies to your pension — not to your AOW.
- 3.1
Arrange the healthcare transition
- Lead time
- 3-6 weeks — start with the CAK before you leave
- Costs
- the treaty contribution to the CAK, or your private premium
1 official source
- 3.2
Know where you'll pay tax
- Lead time
- a conversation with a tax adviser, plus the Turkish ruling
- Costs
- advisory hours — depending on your situation
3 official sources
- 3.3
Deregister and tell the SVB
- Lead time
- deregistering is possible from 5 days before departure; the whole takes 4-8 weeks
- Costs
- limited — cancellation costs per contract
2 official sources
- 3.4
Arrange your money lines
- Lead time
- 1-2 weeks
- Costs
- none
- 3.5
Partner comes along without a job of their own
- Lead time
- an evening together, then a few things to arrange
- Costs
- none — the consequences are in the article
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.6
Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule
- Lead time
- one decision, before you commit to anything else
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.7
The house in the Netherlands: sell, rent out or keep
- Lead time
- one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advisory hours; when renting out possibly an interest surcharge from the bank
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.8
Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house
- Lead time
- an evening, and after that one report a year
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 4
4 steps
The move
The move goes by road here instead of by sea — but the car doesn't come along, and the pet has the longest clock of the whole journey.
- 4.1
Choose your form of move and request quotes
- Lead time
- quotes 2-3 weeks; the transport itself 1-2 weeks
- Costs
- according to your moving choices
Only if this applies to you
- 4.2
The car: sell it, unless you're retired
- Lead time
- decision moment — on the MA route the registration within 30 days of arrival
- Costs
- sell in the Netherlands; buy there; or the MA route with a deposit
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 4.3
Pet coming along: the longest clock of the journey
- Lead time
- plan 4-6 months ahead
- Costs
- per animal — titre test, certificate and transport run into the hundreds of euros
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 4.4
Book the crossing and your first accommodation
- Lead time
- book before departure
- Costs
- falls under "the first months" in your budget
Phase 5
6 steps
Arrival in Turkey
The chain after landing: address registration, tax number, phone, bank — and two clocks that keep ticking: activating healthcare and the driving licence that has to be exchanged within six months.
- 5.1
The registration chain: address, tax number, phone, bank
- Lead time
- 2-4 weeks
- Costs
- small fees; banks sometimes ask for a minimum deposit
- 5.2
Activate your healthcare
- Lead time
- 1-3 weeks
- Costs
- the treaty contribution or your premium runs from now on
1 official source
- 5.3
Exchange your driving licence — within six months
- Lead time
- application 2-4 weeks; start well within the deadline
- Costs
- fees and a health declaration
1 official source
- 5.4
Housing: DASK, year of construction and the rent indexation
- Lead time
- with every contract again
- Costs
- the DASK premium annually; a supplementary policy on top
1 official source
- 5.5
School for the children
- Lead time
- make contact with schools before the move
- Costs
- public free but Turkish-language; international thousands of euros a year
Only if this applies to you
- 5.6
Landed
- Lead time
- it's done
- Costs
- none
8 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Turkey journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 2.2 of your plan
Check the neighbourhood before you sign
- Lead time
- a quarter of an hour — and it saves months
- Costs
- none
Since 2022 hundreds of neighbourhoods with many foreigners have been closed to new residence applications — in practice that hit precisely the Dutch favourites, such as parts of Alanya. A first settlement at an address in a closed neighbourhood means an automatic refusal; renewal at an existing address and family reunification remain possible.
Which neighbourhoods are closed changes continuously — there have been periods of closure and of reopening, and every static list online is out of date the moment you read it. The only reliable check: enter the exact address in e-ikamet before you sign a rental or purchase contract — the system itself blocks on a closed neighbourhood — and check the announcements on goc.gov.tr.
Where you arrange it
What this step rests on
This is step 2.2 of 29. The other 28 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
And what you don't see here
This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:
- The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
- Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
- The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
- The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.
Ready to start on Turkey?
All 29 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 399 once, no subscription.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Turkey: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Turkey really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
Thirty-six journeys are fully ready — Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Canada, Panama, United States, Suriname, China, Dubai, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand: your step-by-step plan, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.