According to the policies of the Ministry of Communications as well as the Turkish customs, all communication and telecommunications tools and devices, including mobile phones, entered Turkey through the competent authorities and after legal and customs procedures and most importantly, should pay specific taxes.
If you bought your mobile device from Turkey, you will not need To register a phone in Turkey anymore.
For travelers coming to Turkey from abroad, by showing the last passport stamp, they have the opportunity to register the new phone that they brought with them for a period of 120 days from the moment of arrival in Turkey, of course this process is possible for each passport once every 3 years.
But the amount paid had been increased by 200% to 1500 lira.
Due to the high cost of registering a phone in Turkey, buying a new phone in Turkey may be a better idea, however, given that the price of the phone in Turkey is higher than the price in other countries, it may cost you sometimes to register in Higher models cost less.
What devices can be registered in Turkey ?
In Turkey, all electronic devices that have an IMEI number are registered, such as mobile devices, laptops and tablets, this prevents smuggling of these devices and they can also be tracked in case they are stolen.
Diplomats, military personnel, students and other foreigners residing in Turkey who do not have a foriegn identification number are not allowed to use the e-government portal and can use subscriber registration centers for these operators and military personnel, university diplomas for students and residence permits for other residents, to register mobile phone subscriber registration centers in these centers in Turkey and register their phones.
In this case, they must first go to the tax office and receive the tax number, pay the registration fee through their tax number, after that, with the payment receipt, the original and a photo of the last entry stamp in Turkey and the IMEI code for the phone, and then go to one of the official offices To Turkcell, Turk Telecom or Vodafone, leave the contacts and then register the phone in Turkey, these following links are in order to help you communicate with the companies:
Foreigners who do not have any of the above documents can register their phones with the permission of using only one line.
In this case, with the subscription contract in their name and the original passport, mobile phone operators can register in the subscription registration centers, after the employees see the original document to enter the country, they will stamp the original visible document and the official’s approval stamp on the application form, then sending it along with the other documents to the information technology organization via cyberspace, and communications will send the IMEI number of the phone to be registered in Turkey.
Basic steps to register a phone in Turkey :
You can get information about this from the website of the manufacturer or importer, and the deadline is 120 days.
As 120 days after inserting the first Turkish SIM card, you must choose one of the following two cases according to your circumstances:
Status of phone registration in Turkey if you have a residence card:
- Go to one of the central post offices with your original passport and residence card
- Get the e-government password or E-Devlet sifresi
- By submitting your documents and registration, enter the e-government website with the password received https://www.turkiye.gov.tr
- After that, go to the phone registration department and after entering your information, deposit 1838 liras.
Status of phone registration in Turkey if you do not have a residence card :
- Enter code # 06 # on your mobile phone
- Make a note of the 14-digit IMEI code of your phone and display it
- With your passport, getting the number and mobile phone, go to the tax office at your place of residence
- Take your phone to the inbox and fill out the relevant forms
- This form will receive your information and after that you will be given a card to follow the steps
- You will then receive a bank receipt in order for the payment to be made at the bank
You will take the bank receipt with a copy of the first page of your passport and the last stamp of your passport to one of the Turkish mobile phone agencies, and by providing the SIM card number and the specified amount, your phone will be registered within one to seven days.
Important note: in this method you are only allowed to use one mobile line
Additional state about dual SIM phone registration in Turkey :
Since there are two different IMEI numbers for the two SIM cards, you can change the SIM card slot at the end of each one, thus using your phone for 8 months, and in many cases, there is no limit to the second SIM system, and you can use it indefinitely without registering the phone in Turkey.
The best Solution for Phone Registration in Turkey :
Due to the high cost of registering a mobile phone in Turkey, we suggest that you buy a new phone in Turkey, but also bear in mind that buying a phone in Turkey will cost you more than it is in other countries, so there are two cases:
- If you have a mid-range, low-cost mobile phone: Sell it in your country outside and buy a new mobile phone in Turkey at the same cost.
- But if you have a high-end phone such as professional and high-end phones from Samsung, iPhone and others, it is better to pay the registration fee, because buying these brands in Turkey will cost you a lot, which is better than buying high-end phones in Turkey.
Other ways to register phone in Turkey :
There are other methods of registering the phone that most of the retail cell phone sellers do.
The method is to change the IMEI of the phone by rooting the phone, this method is effective only for Android phones, and the cost of this method is about 100 to 200 Liras.
Phone that lost or stolen without consent :
Since the phones are registered, in case they are stolen or lost, you can report the theft using the IMEI number of the phone registered with the ICT Organization, to prevent the phone from using the Internet information network, you can go to the e-government portal https://www.turkiye.gov .tr / btk-kayip-calinti-ihbar-bildirimi, or from submitting your request by calling 120 from the Consumer Contact Center, in addition, regarding the stolen device, you can also inform the judicial authorities.
Frequently Asked Questions :
– What should we do if we encounter a warning (unregistered device) while checking the IMEI number of a mobile phone we purchased from within the country ?
In this case, we have to go back to where we bought the phone, the manufacturing factories or importing companies must report the information about the device that they have legally imported or produced to the information and communication technology organization, and when it is proven that there is a device whose information was not recorded, its antenna will be cut off.
– Is it possible to transfer a person’s registration rights to others for money or for free ?
According to the rules of the Ministry of Commerce, any traveler coming from a foreign trip is allowed to import a phone within 3 years, provided that he uses the lines registered in his name, using a person to enter the country to register a phone for another person will cause problems for the person carrying the document if there is a problem, in the event of a crime with a registered telephone device, the first person accused by the judiciary and security services will be the person who holds the entry document.
– How much money do we need to register a phone in Turkey ?
According to the latest legal changes, the cost of registering a phone in Turkey is 1838 liras.
– Does this number change according to our phone model, for example, does the cost of iPhones differ from Android ?
Before 2020, this number was different for other Apple phones, but in the new year, this number is fixed and does not depend at all on the type and model of the phone to be registered in Turkey, if you have any kind of cell phone, including Windows Phone Android iOS or BlackBerry or any brand, you have to pay the same fee, because this amount is fixed.
Read more about buying a SIM card in Turkey
