Do detention or imprisonment days count against my ikamet permit duration?
General information, not legal advice. For high-stakes decisions, confirm with the official institution in the next-step below, or consult a qualified Turkish lawyer.
Pending expert review. This fact is sourced but has not yet been reviewed by an independent legal expert. Treat as a starting point.
No. Time spent in detention, prison, or in a geri gönderme merkezi (administrative detention centre) does not count as a violation of your ikamet's duration. The rule is in Law 6458 Article 26(1).
However, your ikamet may still be cancelled depending on the circumstances of the criminal or administrative case. Foreigners in detention without a Yabancı Kimlik Numarası can be issued one without needing an ikamet.
Watch-outs
- Even though detention time doesn't count as ikamet-violation time, the underlying offence can itself trigger a deportation order under Law 6458 Article 54. See law-06 for the full deportation triggers.
- "Ikamet may still be cancelled" is discretionary — the relevant authority decides based on case facts, not on a fixed formula.
- The protection here is narrow: it stops the clock running during detention, but doesn't shield against status decisions arising from the detention itself.
Next step
If detained, the priority is sorting the underlying legal case with a lawyer. The ikamet status will follow from that resolution — fighting the ikamet question in parallel without addressing the case beneath it is rarely the right order of operations.
All sources (1)
- Resmî Gazete — Law 6458 Art. 26(1) ↗
Related
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