Opening a bank account in Turkey

To open a bank account you first must get a tax ID number.  These are not difficult to obtain, but you must go to your local tax office. This map shows which office covers which area: http://www.ivdb.gov.tr/harita/harita.html

You have to give them a copy of your passport and they'll give you a tax number on a card.  This number should be all you need to get a bank account at most banks, although having a residence permit makes things easier. It takes about an hour to set it all up, including a lot of signatures and it usually takes a week or two to get your bank card. I recommend requesting that your card be sent to the branch instead of a home address as dealing with cargo companies here can be difficult. If you get it from the branch they have phones set up that directly call the telephone banking system so you can set up pin numbers.

Foreigners seem to be pretty happy with Garanti Bank, they have a lot of English on their website and the ATMS are everywhere. If you go to a more central branch you are more likely to find someone who can speak English to set up your account.  Years ago I tried HSBC, but not only did no one speak English in both branches I went to, I was told that the Turkish network was different and didn't allow easy access to accounts set up abroad. This was a while ago though so it might have changed. I use TEB as well and am very happy with them, but their ATMs are difficult to find.

Bank accounts are fairly easy to get and banking is quite nice here actually, you can do everything on line and at ATMs (ATMs will even give you change when you pay your utility bills). Banks won't give foreigners credit cards without making a hold on the same amount of money in your bank account as you chose for your limit. I received my first credit card after my job made several months of salary deposits.

Hope this helps

leilot