Personal accounts: Turkey

Updated 8 October 2026

An honest assessment before work starts, the quote is fixed in writing.

A foreigner without a residence permit can open a personal account in Turkey, but only with a Turkish tax number. Banks are supervised by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency and strictly follow financial intelligence rules. The decision depends heavily on the bank: some open accounts for non-residents on a passport, others work only with residence permit holders.

An account is needed to rent a home, pay utilities and taxes, receive salary or rent, and when buying property to make the payment through a bank with transfer documents.

Can you open an account in Turkey without residence or a visit

A residence permit is not mandatory, but with one an account is much easier to open: the bank sees your address and foreigner number, and all products are available, including online banking and cards. For non-residents some banks open only basic accounts or refuse.

A visit cannot be avoided: identity is checked at the branch. The tax number everything starts with is issued to a foreigner at a tax office on a passport or online through the Revenue Administration's interactive tax service. A residence permit holder has a foreigner number starting with 99, which also serves as the tax number. Without one of these numbers the bank will not open an account.

Which banks open accounts for non-residents

There is no single list of banks that work with non-residents, and policies change. The logic of choosing is this:

• Banks that open accounts for non-residents on a passport suit you before a residence permit, but often offer only a basic set of products.
• Banks that work only with residents will open the full package once you have a residence permit.
• For buying property for citizenship, you need a bank that issues a currency sale document: without it the purchase will not count for the programme.

Documents for the account

Timelines and running costs

The timeline depends on the bank and the checks: the tax number comes quickly, while opening an account as a non-resident may require extra documents on the source of money. Fees differ between banks and are checked before the visit.

In 2026 the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund protects individuals' deposits up to 1.2 million lira, about $25,000, per person in each bank, in lira and in foreign currency; the previous limit was 950,000 lira. The lira fluctuates noticeably, so many people keep savings in foreign currency accounts.

If you buy property for citizenship, the money goes through a Turkish bank: currency is sold to the bank and you receive a currency sale document. Property worth $400,000 or more must be held for at least three years; see the Turkish citizenship page.

The cost of Murblz support depends on the bank and your status; a manager will calculate it in chat.

Tax data exchange and account notifications

Turkey takes part in the automatic exchange of tax information: the bank fills in a residence form with the client, and account data go to the country of tax residence. The account alone does not make you a Turkish resident: residents are those with a permanent home in the country or those who lived there more than six months in a calendar year.

Russian tax residents notify the tax service of opening a foreign account within one month, separately for each account, and file a report on account flows for the previous year by 1 June. Anyone who spent more than 183 days outside Russia in a calendar year is exempt from both. If the bank's country exchanges tax information with Russia, the report is not filed when no more than 600,000 roubles, about $7,100, came into the account during the year, but the opening notice is still required. How to file is explained in our articles on the foreign account notification and the account flow report.

Common refusals

• No residence permit, and the bank works only with residents.
• The source of money is not documented, especially for large transfers.
• Payments linked to sanctioned countries or goods.
• Frequent transfers without a clear explanation that look like business activity.

What we do

Murblz specialists obtain the tax number, choose a bank that works with your citizenship and status, prepare documents and the explanation of the source of funds and accompany the opening to a decision. If you are moving, we start with the residence permit; see the Turkey residence permit page.

This topic in other countries

Accounts for non-residents in other countries:

• Bank account in Georgia for non-residents
• Bank account in Armenia for non-residents
• Bank account in Serbia for non-residents
• Bank account in Kyrgyzstan for non-residents
• Bank account in the USA for non-residents
• Bank account in Uzbekistan for non-residents
• Bank account in Cyprus for non-residents
• Bank account in Switzerland for non-residents
• Bank account in Singapore for non-residents
• Bank account in Hong Kong for non-residents
• Bank account in Germany for non-residents
• Bank account in Spain for non-residents
• Bank account in Portugal for non-residents
• Bank account in Thailand for non-residents
• Bank account in Argentina for non-residents
• Bank account in Paraguay for non-residents
• Bank account in Uruguay for non-residents

More on this country:

• Turkey residence permit
• Turkish citizenship
• Taxes in Turkey
• Turkey: all programmes

All countries and rules are in the overview a foreign bank account in 2026.

What we do

• Personal account - opening assistance

See also

Company formation · Business account · Investment property · Country taxes · All country programs

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