Turkey IMEI registration: the 120-day rule tourists confuse with the eSIM ban

Every mobile phone has a unique serial number, the IMEI. Turkey keeps a national register of them, and a handset that was not sold through official Turkish channels is not on it. The official device-registration service, MCKS, puts it simply: a phone brought in from abroad can be used for 120 days without being registered. After that it is closed to communication until it has been registered.

Registration is what costs money. It requires a one-off “usage permit fee”, which is revalued every January. For 2026 it is 54,258 TL — up 18.95% from 45,614 TL in 2025 — which at the European Central Bank rate of 18 September 2026 is about £830 or €970. It is more than many phones are worth, and that is generally understood to be the point: it removes the advantage of buying a handset abroad to avoid Turkish tax.

Because of the number 120. The clock gives an unregistered phone about four months, and a holiday lasts a week or two. There is nothing to declare when you arrive and nothing to pay, and nobody at the airport will ask about your phone.

If you buy a Turkish tourist SIM, the shop handles the paperwork that does apply: as a temporary visitor your phone's IMEI is paired with your new Turkish number when you sign the contract, using your passport. From then on that handset works with that number for the period the rule allows.

• Anyone staying longer than about four months — students, remote workers, people with a second home, long-term medical patients.
• Anyone who plans to keep using a foreign-bought phone with a Turkish SIM. After 120 days the choice is to pay the fee, or to switch to a phone that was bought in Turkey and is already registered.
• Repeat visitors who use the same phone for months each year. Do not assume that leaving the country resets the clock: travellers' reports conflict, and nothing official says it does.

If you do need to register, the order is: pay the fee, then register the IMEI against your identity. The fee is paid to the tax administration — at a tax office, through a bank, or online — and the registration itself is completed on e-Devlet or at an operator's shop. Foreigners need their passport and, to use e-Devlet, generally a Turkish foreigner ID number. Do it before the 120 days run out, not after the phone has been cut off.

Because a person can register only one device every three calendar years, the decision deserves a moment's thought: register the phone you intend to keep.

The two are connected in one respect only: both come from the same regulator and the same preference for mobile service in Turkey to run through Turkish operators. For the story of the block itself, read Is eSIM banned in Turkey?