Closed Addresses for Foreigners in Turkey (2026)

First, let's explain what the concept of "closed areas, closed addresses" means for foreigners in Turkey.

The Directorate of Migration Management (Göç İdaresi) issued announcements in June 2022 and October 2022, closing these areas in Istanbul and many regions of Turkey to foreigners' residence permit applications and address registration applications, in order to balance the concentration of foreigners. This is how closed addresses for foreigners came about.

This means foreigners cannot rent a property in these areas and apply for a residence permit or register an address. When applying for a tourism residence permit and registering an address, we need to pay attention to areas closed to foreigners and must not provide an address from these areas.

You can access this list from the Directorate of Migration Management's neighborhood closure announcement page.

Areas closed to foreigners in Istanbul

To understand closed areas in Istanbul, we need to understand two situations. The first is that 10 districts are fully closed, and the second is that some neighborhoods in open districts are also closed.

Fully closed districts

Avcılar, Bahçelievler, Bağcılar, Başakşehir, Esenler, Esenyurt, Fatih, Küçükçekmece, Sultangazi and Zeytinburnu are fully closed to foreigners in Istanbul. No neighborhood in these districts is open.

The districts listed above are definitively closed to foreigners. Residence permit applications and address registrations cannot be made from these districts.

Districts with only some neighborhoods closed in Istanbul

The second thing we need to pay attention to from this point is that some neighborhoods in certain districts are closed. When renting a property from districts other than the closed districts listed above, we also need to watch out for these closed neighborhoods.

Closed neighborhoods in open districts in Istanbul for foreigners

This list shows the specific neighborhoods that have been closed to foreigners' residence registration in districts that are otherwise open for residence in Istanbul.

What are the exceptions to the closed areas?

In the situations listed below, foreigners can register an address in closed areas:

• There is no closed area rule for student residence permit holders.
• There is no closed area rule for work permit holders.
• There is no closed area rule for family residence permit holders.
• There is no closed area rule for investment-based citizenship j-clause residence applications.

How were the areas closed to residence registration determined?

The neighborhood list in question has been compiled in accordance with official data shared with the public by the Directorate of Migration Management under the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Turkey. There are two main regulations underlying this process:

• 30 June 2022: With the first announcement published by the Directorate of Migration Management, specific neighborhoods were closed to foreigners' residence registration. First announcement.
• 19 October 2022: With a second announcement published subsequently, the scope of closed areas was expanded and the list took its current form. Second announcement.

Therefore, these restrictions are based on administrative decisions announced directly through the agency's official website.