The law gives a school-age child a place, but the paperwork comes in two parts: a separate ikamet for the child and a school that can link the child to you.
The written rules are simple: compulsory education covers children aged 6 to 14, and schools must be open to every child regardless of language, race or religion. According to the official pages and law texts checked on 7 November 2026, the child needs a residence permit of their own, applied for separately from the parent's. Legal commentaries dated 3 October 2025 and 8 August 2026 report that schools in practice often ask for the child's ikamet first.
Does your child meet the school-age rule?
Compulsory education in Türkiye covers children aged 6 to 14, and state schools provide it free of charge. The rule comes from Law No. 222 on Primary Education and Training, as amended on 27 June 2019, which sets the age span in its opening articles. For a family arriving in winter, this means a child aged 6 to 14 falls within compulsory education.
The same law sets a separate threshold for starting first grade: a child must be 72 months old by 31 December of the enrolment year. A child who turns six at any point up to 31 December of the enrolment year meets the threshold; a child who turns six after that date waits for the next intake. Early start and deferral are set by a bylaw, so a parent who wants a different starting age has to check that bylaw.
Why does your child need their own ikamet?
According to the Presidency of Migration Management (Göç İdaresi), a foreigner who stays beyond the visa or visa-free period, or beyond 90 days, must apply for an ikamet through the e-İkamet system. Count how long the child will stay against that limit.
The former refakat practice has been abolished. The application and the residence permit are now issued separately for each foreigner, including the child, so there is no family application that covers a child automatically. A legal representative or a lawyer may file the application on the child's behalf.
What to check before applying: whether the child has already passed the 90-day threshold, and which visa status the child entered on. The e-İkamet system is the channel named by Göç İdaresi; the child's application is a separate file from the parent's.
Which school is open to your child?
Educational institutions are open to everyone without distinction of language, race, sex, disability or religion, as stated in article 4 of the Basic Law on National Education No. 1739. A state school cannot turn a child away on those grounds.
International private schools, known as milletlerarası, are meant only for foreign students. A 24 July 2026 amendment to Law No. 5580 on Private Educational Institutions expressly treats the enrolment of Turkish citizens in such a school as a violation. That means the restriction is aimed at Turkish citizens; a foreign child falls within the intended group.
State schools may not exclude a child on the grounds listed in article 4, and international private schools are intended for foreign students; whether a desk asks for documents is a separate question (see below).
What the enrolment desk may still demand
Legal commentaries dated 3 October 2025 and 8 August 2026 report that schools in practice wait for the ikamet and the foreigner identification number before enrolling a foreign child. Some head teachers refuse enrolment without an ikamet, not knowing about the exceptions in the rules.
According to the legal commentaries dated 3 October 2025 and 8 August 2026, a refusal may rest on an incomplete reading of the rules. Ask the school to name the written basis for the refusal and take it up with the district education directorate or a lawyer.
The two commentaries, dated 3 October 2025 and 8 August 2026, both describe the same pattern; expect the ikamet question at the desk and plan the residence application early.
How the school links the child to you in e-Okul
Members of a community channel reported in a post of 9 September 2025 that foreign parents do not see their children in e-Devlet.
According to the same community report of September 2025, the link is made in e-Okul by the school, not by the education directorate, so ask the school where the child is registered.
According to the same community report of September 2025, at enrolment ask the school to link the child to the right parent in e-Okul.
When to bring in a lawyer or legal representative
According to the Presidency of Migration Management, a legal representative or a lawyer may apply on the child's behalf. If the child has no permit yet, a lawyer or legal representative can file it while you sort out enrolment.
If a school refuses for lack of an ikamet, as legal commentaries of October 2025 and August 2026 describe happening in practice, this is the point to involve a lawyer.
A resident's report in a community channel, dated 10 December 2023, describes an Izmir family refused a tourist ikamet for the parents. The officer said the children's schooling gives no right to a parents' residence permit. It is one case, not a general rule.