Before you start

A passport valid at least 60 days beyond the permit period you request
A residential address in a mahalle OPEN to foreigner registration — in Antalya, check Konyaaltı and Muratpaşa addresses specifically
A twelve-month written lease, not a 'kışlık' winter let — an eight-month contract does not support a one-year permit
Valid health insurance covering the whole permit period (compliant private foreigner policy, or SGK if employed)
A credible, evidenced purpose of stay: property, study, work, family or business — bare tourism is routinely refused

Step-by-step

1
Enter Türkiye visa-free or on an e-Visa
Citizens of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and most EU states enter visa-free for up to 90 days within any rolling 180-day period; others apply online at evisa.gov.tr before flying, since walk-up airport visa counters are closed. Antalya Airport (AYT) is one of the busiest international airports in the country each summer and is about 13 km east of the centre, so unlike Bursa you arrive directly. You must lodge the e-İkamet application inside the 90-day window.
OnlineWho: You, before and on arrivale-Visa issued in minutes; entry stamp on arrivalVisa-free for most Westerners; e-Visa roughly 50-60 USD where required
2
Check the mahalle — the Antalya list is short and specific
The Göç İdaresi announcement publishes the closed neighbourhoods as a downloadable spreadsheet, and for Antalya it names exactly ten: Liman, Hurma and Sarısu in Konyaaltı; Topçular in Muratpaşa; Kargıcak, Mahmutlar, Kestel and Avsallar in Alanya; and the AOSB 2. and 3. Kısım industrial estates in Döşemealtı. A lease in one of those cannot be registered for a residence permit, which voids the application however good the rest of the file is. Verify against the current published list rather than against anyone's memory — it is reissued as populations move, and district reputation tells you nothing.
OnlineWho: You, before you sign anythingMinutes to check; 1-3 weeks to find a compliant homeFree to check
3
Pick your ground of stay, and get the lease and insurance to match
Purely touristic applications are routinely refused, so the file needs a real basis. In Antalya the four common ones are property ownership, employment, study at Akdeniz Üniversitesi, and family ties. If you are applying on property, note the threshold changed on 16 October 2023: a residential property bought on or after that date supports a short-term permit only if the price written on the tapu is at least USD 200,000, converted at the Central Bank rate on the transfer date, and a valuation report no longer substitutes for the deed price. Then buy a 'yabancı ikamet' compliant health policy covering the whole permit term, and get the lease notarised.
In personWho: You, with a landlord, an emlakçı or a notary1-3 weeksCompliant insurance roughly 100-250 USD/year; notarised lease about 50-100 USD
4
Apply on e-İkamet and attend the Antalya appointment
Create an account at e-ikamet.goc.gov.tr, complete the short-term (kısa dönem) form, upload documents and pay the fees. The system assigns an appointment at the Antalya Provincial Directorate of Migration Management, or at the Alanya, Manavgat or Kemer district office if that is where you live — worth confirming, because the drive from Alanya to the provincial centre is over two hours each way. Attend with your passport and a copy, biometric photos, the printed form, insurance policy, lease, proof of funds and every fee receipt.
OnlineWho: You (or a licensed immigration lawyer)Form about an hour; appointments often weeks out; decision days to weeksSee totalCost — the 2026 schedule is published in lira and re-set each January
5
Receive the card and YKN, then unlock everything else
On approval the permit card is printed and posted by PTT to your registered address, carrying your Yabancı Kimlik Numarası (YKN) — 11 digits starting with 99. With the YKN you can open a bank account, get a tax number, register a SIM, book through the health system and create an e-Devlet account (verify the password in person at a PTT branch). Institutions ask for the number far more often than for the card itself.
In personWho: You; card delivered by PTT postCard typically arrives within 2-3 weeks of approval

Documents you’ll need

Passport (original plus a copy), valid well beyond the permit period
Biometric photographs to official specification (usually 4)
Health insurance valid for the full permit term and marked as valid for residence-permit applications
Proof of address — a twelve-month lease, ideally notarised, in an OPEN mahalle; or the tapu if you own
Proof of sufficient funds, plus the residence-permit fee and document-fee receipts

Things most newcomers don’t know

Antalya's closed-mahalle problem is small in size and badly placed — three of the four residential closures in the city are in Konyaaltı.

Ten mahalles out of 1,162 nationally sounds like nothing until you notice which ten. Liman, Hurma and Sarısu are the Konyaaltı beach neighbourhoods, and Topçular is in Muratpaşa. Two more are industrial estates nobody lives in. So the honest summary is that Antalya is one of the least restricted provinces by count while being restricted in precisely the postcode most newcomers put at the top of their list.

Source: Göç İdaresi Başkanlığı — Mahalle Kapatma Duyurusu and its published spreadsheet

In June 2026 the four Alanya mahalles were widely reported reopened — but that was not published as a Göç İdaresi announcement, so verify it yourself.

Local Alanya press and the district's property industry reported from 4 June 2026 that Mahmutlar, Kestel, Avsallar and Kargıcak were accepting foreigner residence registrations again, in some accounts tied to the USD 200,000 property threshold. The national closed-neighbourhood announcement on goc.gov.tr still carries all four. That gap between what the market says and what the ministry publishes is exactly the sort of thing to settle at the counter before you sign a lease or a sale, not after.

Source: Local Alanya reporting, June 2026, against the current Göç İdaresi published list — unresolved

The 'kışlık' winter let is the local trap: it is eight or nine months long, and a permit needs twelve.

Coastal landlords make more money letting by the week in summer, so a great many advertised flats are offered only for the off-season. The rent looks wonderful and the contract quietly expires in April. Because your registered address underpins the whole permit, a lease shorter than the period you are applying for creates a problem at renewal even when the first application squeaks through.

Source: Antalya coastal rental practice, 2026

You have a district migration office, and using the right one saves a day of driving.

Antalya province runs the provincial directorate plus district offices at Alanya, Manavgat and Kemer, each with its own contact address. The coast is long — Alanya alone is 130 km from the city — so people who assume everything happens at the provincial centre lose a whole day to a drive they never needed to make.

Source: Antalya İl Göç İdaresi Müdürlüğü — district office contacts

Common mistakes to avoid

Signing in Liman, Hurma, Sarısu or Topçular without checking — they are on the published closed list and the lease cannot be registered.
Taking a 'kışlık' eight-month winter lease and then applying for a one-year permit against it.
Applying on property ownership without checking the tapu price against the USD 200,000 threshold that has applied since 16 October 2023.
Assuming the fee you read in a blog is yours — the harç is set by reciprocity and varies by nationality, and both charges are re-set every January.
Letting the 90-day visa-free window lapse before lodging the application, or overstaying and triggering a fine and re-entry ban.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.