Welcome
Hi — I'm Arek 👋
I'm not an expat. I was born and raised in Istanbul, and for years I watched friends move here from abroad and run into the same wall: residence permit confusion, scam landlords, neighborhoods picked from outdated blog posts, banking that takes 4 visits to figure out.
Most of the answers existed — they were just scattered across forums, lost in WhatsApp groups, or trapped in someone's head who'd already moved on.
So I built SettleIn. First the guides, then the calculators, then the scam scanner. Useful, but quiet. You could find an answer, but you couldn't ask one. You couldn't talk to anyone.
That's what this community is for.
This is the place to:
→ Ask the question that's been sitting in your head for a week
→ Share the place you stumbled into and loved
→ Warn someone before they sign that lease
→ Tell the story you wish someone had told you when you arrived
A few things I want to keep true:
• Real people, real experience. No bots, no astroturf. Editorial posts are signed "SettleIn Editorial" so you always know what's what.
• Useful over loud. A tip from someone with 3 followers beats a long thread from someone with 3000.
• Locals are part of this. Half the value is what we (people who grew up here) can share — the other half is the perspective only newcomers can bring.
I'm here every day. I read every reply. If something is broken, tell me. If something is missing, let's build it together.
Welcome to the community. Glad you're here.
— Arek
Founder, SettleIn Turkey
