It has become known how many foreigners live in Turkey under residence permits and what countries these foreigners are citizens of. The statistics are constantly updated by the Turkish Presidency of Migration Management. 

So, according to data for May 2025, there are just over 1.1 million foreigners living in Turkey on existing residence permits; in 2023, there were 1.3 million. It is interesting to look at these figures in terms of dynamics, as it is noticeable that the number of residence permits issued to foreigners has dropped significantly over the last six months. 

What are the types of residence permits in Turkey and how many people with these documents live there? 

Residence permit type

Number of foreigners in May 2025

Number of foreigners in September 2023

Short-term residence permit

744,025 

939,351

Student residency permit

147,290

150,973

Family residence permit

110,589 

102,070

Others

198,421 

164,531

Top 10 countries whose citizens live in Turkey on a residence permit:

Foreigners native country

Number of foreigners in May 2025

Number of foreigners in September 2023

Turkmenistan

122,443

104,707

Azerbaijan

87,546

66,662

Russia

82,086

134,073

Iran

75,977

85,527

Syria

72,608

83,340

Iraq

65,217

100,278

Uzbekistan

58,155

54,563

Kazakhstan

46,865

44,110

Afghanistan

38,024

46,211

Ukraine

33,209

38,897

Top 3 regions where foreigners are registered:

  • Istanbul — 608,648 (six months ago — 706 thousand.)
  • Antalya — 141,269 (six months ago — 158 thousand.)
  • Ankara — 76,440 (six months ago — 86 thousand.)

In all other regions, there are far fewer migrants.