Your child studying in Turkey: a guide for parents

In Turkey the body that allows a university to operate and award degrees is YÖK, the Council of Higher Education. Private universities are called "foundation" (vakıf) universities in Turkish law, and YÖK publishes their list on its own website. A grand name, a glossy building or a polished website is no substitute for that check.

It takes a few minutes: copy the university's exact Turkish name from the admission letter or its official site and find it in the foundation-university list on yok.gov.tr. If an institution calls itself a "university" but is not on that list, stop there.

The universities we work with are listed by name on our universities page; run the same check on them yourself. The full method and the warning signs of an unlicensed institution are in our post on verifying a YÖK licence. Universities in North Cyprus sit under a separate accreditation system; if that is your option, read our guide to studying in North Cyprus. Both links are at the bottom of this page.

The simplest rule for peace of mind: tuition goes directly to the university's own official account — not to ours, not to anyone's personal account, not to a "holding account". The university gives the account number in the admission letter or its own enrolment portal and issues the receipt in the student's name. If anyone hands you a different account number, call the university's international office before paying — and take that office's number from the university's official website, not from the message you were sent.

HOMA STUDY's service is free for the student: choosing universities, preparing the file, applying and following up until the admission letter. The university pays our fee, not you, so you never pay anything into our account under any name. Currency, payment methods and receipts are covered in our post on how to pay Turkish university tuition.

Most scams on this route look the same: money before paperwork, promises before any review. If you see one of these signs, stop and ask the university directly. The full list, and how to verify an admission letter independently, is in our post on telling an honest agency from a scam.

Annual tuition is one line of the budget. For a real estimate, multiply tuition by the years of the programme, monthly living costs by the months, then add the one-off items. The published tuition of the universities we work with is on our pricing page, and two full worked examples — a four-year bachelor's and a six-year medical degree — are in our post on the total cost of a degree in Turkey.

If you saw a special offer further up this page, read the "What this amount covers" line on its card carefully: which year is the amount for, and what do later years cost? Offer prices appear only on those cards, so that any change shows up there at once.

Add these items too:

Two separate questions get mixed up here. A YÖK licence means the degree is legal and valid in Turkey. How the same degree stands in Iran is decided by two separate Iranian ministries: the Ministry of Science for non-medical fields, and the Ministry of Health for medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and the other health sciences. Degree evaluation is not automatic; it happens after graduation, on the graduate's own application, and a university's standing can differ from one field to another and change over time.

Where each university we work with stands on the Ministry of Science lists, intake by intake and with the official source, is on our page on Turkish universities approved by Iran's Ministry of Science, linked at the bottom of this page. Those lists are published separately for each intake window, and the Ministry of Health list is a different one. Only Iran's official authority can give a definitive answer for an individual student's case.

If recognition in Iran matters for your child's future — a government job, further study in Iran or a medical licence — say so in the first conversation, and before choosing, ask Iran's official authority for the current status of that university and that field. The full explanation is in our post on whether Turkish degrees are recognised in Iran.

Turkey has three kinds of student dorm: state KYK dorms, the university's own dorms, and private dorms. KYK dorms follow a national regulation; university and private dorms have their own rules. So separate buildings for women and men, entry and exit hours and guest rules all vary from dorm to dorm, and one dorm's rules tell you nothing about the next.

What you can do: before paying, ask for the dorm's written rules and find four things in them — how women and men are separated, entry and exit hours, the guest and visiting rules (including where parents can meet their child), and the terms for cancelling the contract and getting money back. The dorm's certificate also counts as proof of address in the residence-permit file.

If your child rents a flat, ask the university's international office before signing whether that address is open for registering foreign residents; in recent years Turkey has closed some neighbourhoods and districts to new registrations of foreign residents, and the list changes. For the residence-permit file, the lease must also be certified by a notary. Our dorm guide, the post on gender rules and curfews, and the student flat-rental guide are linked at the bottom of this page.

We will not give you a number that only exists to calm you down. Turkey, like any country with big cities, has very different neighbourhoods, and ordinary city precautions apply there too. Our summary of safety in university cities, with its source, is in our safety-in-Turkey guide.

Here is what is in your hands, even from Iran:

Under article 38 of Law No. 6458, Turkey's student residence permit (öğrenci ikamet izni) is given only to on-campus students in associate, bachelor's, master's or PhD programmes. Open education (açıköğretim), distance programmes and "special student" status give no student residence permit. A Turkish language course on its own is not a student permit either; but a student enrolled at a university who is sent by it to a language course (TÖMER) can apply for one. The law sets no upper age limit.

For an Iranian student the route is: enter Turkey visa-free on an ordinary Iranian passport for up to 90 days, register at the university, apply on the e-ikamet system within that legal stay, and hand the documents to the university's international office. Göç İdaresi, Turkey's migration authority, decides, and the decision can take up to 90 days. Neither we nor any other agency can decide in its place.

If your child is under 18, you have a part in the file too. The official e-ikamet checklist for under-18 applicants asks for an approved consent letter from the parents or legal guardian living outside Turkey, plus a notarised undertaking from a person or institution in Turkey named in that consent letter. If the parents are divorced, a custody document is needed as well. Because Iran is not party to the Apostille Convention, these documents must be certified by the Iranian authorities and the Turkish mission and come with a notarised Turkish translation. We go through that list with you before travel.

The permit lasts only while your child remains an active student. If enrolment lapses or the permit is used for a purpose other than study, it is cancelled or not renewed (article 40). Under the 2023 protocol between YÖK and Göç İdaresi, universities report passive students to the migration authority. Work is possible only with a separate work permit, and associate and bachelor's students may work only after the first year (article 41).

If North Cyprus is your option, note that it runs its own separate student permit system, and residence in North Cyprus is not Turkish residence. Full details on the permit, its costs and documents are on our Turkish student residence page.

You usually need no visa to visit: Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs exempts ordinary Iranian passport holders from visas for trips of up to 90 days. The exemption counts separately for each traveller and has nothing to do with your child's residence status.

But your child's student permit brings you no residence. Article 38 of Law No. 6458 is explicit: a student's permit creates no right to residence for parents or other relatives. A student can sponsor family residence only for their own spouse and children, after at least one year on a residence permit in Turkey and subject to income of at least the minimum wage, insurance and suitable housing (article 35). Nor is student residence a route to citizenship: Turkey's citizenship regulation lists residence for study, and residence to accompany a studying child, among the stays on which a citizenship application is not accepted, so it does not count toward citizenship.

Before booking, ask about your child's dorm guest rules; for a stay of a few days, a hotel or short-term rental near campus is usually simpler. More detail is in our post on family visits to Turkey.

Our work does not end with the admission letter, but it has clear limits, and it is better you know them now.

What we do, free: we take you and your child through university enrolment step by step. We tell you which Iranian documents need translation and legalisation, and how to obtain the high-school diploma equivalence certificate (Denklik) needed for bachelor's enrolment — Turkey's Ministry of National Education issues it, and because Iran is not party to the Apostille Convention, the diploma and transcripts must go through official legalisation instead. And we go through the residence-permit file with your child, from the e-ikamet application to the document checklist and the hand-in at the university's international office.

What we do not do: we do not decide admission — the university does. We do not decide residence either; Turkey's migration authority has authorised no intermediary firm, and the student files the application on e-ikamet. We do not sell appointments, and we do not take tuition from you; tuition goes directly to the university.

You do not need to chase your child's paperwork every day, but keeping these few things at home will make you calmer, and if something goes wrong, help comes faster. The first months apart are hard on both sides and homesickness is normal; we have a post on homesickness and adjusting to a new culture you might read together.

HOMA STUDY is a new startup founded by Homa Yaghoubian. The company itself is young, but our team has more than 8 years of experience inside the education system. Through official agency agreements we have access to more than fifty private universities in Türkiye and North Cyprus, and the universities we work with are listed by name on our universities page so you can check them yourself.

Our service is free for the student, because the university pays our fee. If you have not decided yet, a no-obligation conversation is enough: message us on WhatsApp or through the advice form on this page and ask your questions. We will tell you what we know and what you should ask an official authority.