Figures last checked: . Thresholds and the list of closed neighborhoods change; the figures below describe the rules on that date and are not legal advice.
Start with the 90 days
Since a presidential decree published in December 2023, US passport holders enter Turkey without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Before that an e-Visa was needed. The 180 days are a rolling window, so two long stays a year are possible but not three, and the count does not reset on a day trip to a Greek island. Your passport has to be valid for at least 60 days beyond the stay you are allowed; the foreign ministry recommends six months. Anyone who wants to stay longer, for whatever reason, needs a residence permit, an ikamet, applied for before the 90 days run out.
What a home does for a residence permit
Turkey's migration law lets a foreigner who owns a residential property apply for a short-term residence permit. The property must be a home and must actually be used as one; family members who share the ownership may apply as well. The official page says nothing about a value, but in practice there is one: for homes bought since October 16, 2023 the working minimum is USD 200,000, nationwide. Before that date it was USD 75,000 in the big cities and USD 50,000 elsewhere, and older purchases keep the old limits. Because no government page states the number, confirm it with a Turkish attorney before you rely on it.
Owning does not guarantee a permit. Each application is assessed on its own, you need health insurance that is valid in Turkey and proof that you can support yourself, and permits are issued for up to two years at a time and then renewed. US retirement income counts as means, and a US pension is not taxed differently for this purpose than any other income.
Closed neighborhoods
Since 2022 Turkey refuses new address registrations by foreign residents in neighborhoods where foreigners already make up more than about a fifth of the population. That matters for anyone who wants to live in the home rather than visit it: the property can be bought, but a residence permit cannot be registered at that address. The list changes. Istanbul's closed-neighborhood restriction was lifted on June 10, 2026, and several Alanya neighborhoods popular with foreign buyers reopened the same month, but reports still name individual districts as closed. Check the specific address with the migration office or an attorney before you sign, not after.
Citizenship by investment
Turkey grants citizenship to foreigners who buy property worth at least USD 400,000, with a three-year no-sale annotation on the title. The route has its own paperwork: a valuation report and a value confirmation document from the land registry, the full price paid through a Turkish bank with a currency purchase certificate, and since December 2023 no agricultural land or unbuilt plots. The citizenship application itself follows at the migration and civil registration authorities once the purchase is registered. Turkish politicians have discussed replacing the citizenship incentive with a residence incentive during 2026; nothing had been enacted when this guide was written, but the discussion is worth following if the program is part of your plan.
For an American the good news is that nothing is at stake on the US side. The United States does not require a citizen to choose, and naturalising in another country does not by itself put your US citizenship at risk. Turkey allows dual citizenship too. What you cannot leave behind is the IRS: US citizens file a Form 1040 on worldwide income wherever they live, and a second passport changes nothing about that.
Living in Turkey on a US tax return
Spend 183 days or more in Turkey in a calendar year and you are generally a Turkish tax resident, taxed there on worldwide income, including US pensions and investment income. The 1996 US-Turkey tax treaty, in effect since 1998, sorts out which country taxes what and lets you credit tax paid in one against tax due in the other, but it does not remove the duty to file in both. The foreign earned income exclusion only covers earned income, not pensions or rent. A Turkish bank account triggers the FBAR once your foreign accounts exceed USD 10,000 together, and Form 8938 has higher thresholds for taxpayers living abroad: USD 200,000 at year end or 300,000 at any point for a single filer. Social Security continues to be paid to US citizens living in Turkey. Medicare does not travel, so Turkish health insurance, which the permit requires anyway, becomes your real coverage.
Owning the home outright and letting a US CPA and a Turkish accountant talk to each other once a year is, in our experience, what makes retirement in Turkey administratively calm. Our rental guide covers what changes if the home earns money while you are away.
Paying for a home you will live in
The finance does not change because you intend to stay: a lira mortgage is still around 40 percent a year and the usual route is still savings or equity in a US home, as our finance guide explains. What does change is the order. If the residence permit is the goal, the USD 200,000 threshold, the neighborhood and the health insurance belong in the search criteria from the first viewing, and the deed value, not the negotiated dollar price, is what the migration office reads.
Checklist for a longer stay
- Count your days: 90 in any rolling 180, and apply for the permit before they run out.
- Check that the property's deed value meets the working USD 200,000 threshold if it was bought after October 16, 2023.
- Have the specific neighborhood checked for the foreign-resident limit before you sign.
- Arrange Turkish health insurance; Medicare will not cover you there.
- Only consider the USD 400,000 citizenship route with an attorney and a tax adviser on both sides.
- Plan the FBAR, Form 8938 and the treaty position with a CPA before you move, not after.
- Keep your US filings current; a Turkish address does not pause them.
Questions US retirees ask
Further reading
What enquirers tell us about moving
Of the 356 enquiries we received across our network between May 27 and October 9, 2026, 92 gave emigration as the purpose, and 10 of the 285 written messages named retirement explicitly. Those are network-wide figures, not Turkey or the US alone, but they show that the questions in this guide, days, permits and what happens to a pension, come up in roughly one enquiry in four.
Who made this guide. Bas Terpstra makes, reviews and approves every guide, with AI tools and public sources as the starting point. Rules and amounts change, so use this as general information and check the details for your own situation.
This guide is general information and not personal immigration, legal or tax advice. Thresholds mentioned are orientation based on public sources from 2026. Turkey Home Loans is part of a Dutch firm and is not a US-licensed lender, mortgage broker, attorney or tax adviser.