Send money to Turkiye from Canada
Grey pays out in Turkish lira into a bank account in Turkiye, reached by the recipient's 26-character TR IBAN. Ziraat Bankası, İş Bankası, Garanti BBVA, Akbank and Yapı Kredi are all supported, and transfers from a funded balance usually settle the same day. The lira figure is fixed the moment you confirm.
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A corridor that has grown quickly
Turkiye is not one of Canada's old migration routes, which is exactly why it is worth writing about properly. The Turkish community here has grown fast over the last fifteen years, concentrated in Toronto, North York, Mississauga, Vancouver and Calgary, and it skews young: graduate students, engineers, doctors completing qualifications, families who arrived on skilled worker visas rather than through chain migration.
The money that goes back reflects that. Less of it is monthly household support and more of it is specific and dated: a parent's medical bill in Ankara, a sibling's tuition in Izmir, a share of an apartment purchase in Antalya, rent on a flat in Istanbul kept for the summer. Alongside the families are Canadian firms buying from Turkish suppliers in textiles, machinery, food and construction materials, who pay in lira because that is the currency the invoice is written in.
Turkiye runs on IBANs. Nobody there uses a bare account number, so the one detail to ask for is the TR IBAN. Grey converts your balance into lira in a single step and credits that account, and the person receiving never needs to open anything.
Three steps to a lira payout
Sign up
A free Grey account opens in about five minutes from your phone, verified with one valid identity document. No branch and no paperwork in the post.
Fund
A Grey balance is held in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, in pounds or in euro. Yours is funded by a client, an employer or a transfer you make yourself.
Send
Paste the 26-character TR IBAN, read the lira figure against the rate and the fee, and confirm. Transfers from a funded balance usually settle the same day.
What a transfer to Turkiye costs
On this route the lira figure is the only fair comparison between providers. Currencies that move a lot get priced defensively, and a provider that shows no fee will often be recovering it inside a wider spread. The amount that lands is where all of it becomes visible.
The date matters here more than on most corridors. Sending the same value from Canada in March and in September will not produce the same number of lira, so when someone in Turkiye has quoted you a lira price, ask how long that price holds before you decide when to send.
How the lira rate is fixed
The rate on your confirmation screen is the rate applied. It does not move between the moment you send from Toronto and the moment the credit posts in Istanbul, and Grey does not revise it after settlement.
In a currency that shifts, that is the point of the whole exercise. A supplier's invoice, a hospital's estimate or a university's fee notice is a lira number, and you want to meet it exactly rather than send an approximation and settle the difference later.
What happens when you ask a Canadian bank for lira
Ask a Canadian bank for lira and you will usually be steered towards sending US dollars instead, because the lira is a thin market on this side and gets priced accordingly. The person in Ankara or Izmir then pays their own bank's spread on arrival, plus whatever the correspondent chain has already taken, and you never learn what actually landed. RBC, TD Canada Trust, BMO, CIBC and Scotiabank all charge their wire fee whatever the amount, and Interac e-Transfer does not cross the border at all. Grey quotes the lira directly, shows the fee and the rate together, and credits the TR IBAN.
What your recipient in Turkiye sees
Lira, credited to their Turkish bank account as an ordinary domestic deposit. They do not sign up to Grey, download anything or collect anything.
Any Turkish bank
Ziraat Bankası, İş Bankası, Garanti BBVA, Akbank and Yapı Kredi are supported. The TR IBAN is the only routing detail you need.
Timing
Transfers sent from a funded Grey balance usually settle in Turkiye the same day, which matters when a payment has a deadline attached.
GreyTag
If the person in Istanbul also uses Grey, send to their GreyTag instead. That transfer is free and instant, and no IBAN is exchanged.
Funding a transfer before a deadline
There are no Canadian dollars going into Grey. The balance is funded in the currency your money already arrives in, and waits there until lira is needed.
Paid by a client
Consultants, engineers and contractors in Canada can be paid straight into their Grey account details, with no domestic step in between.
Paid by an employer
Salary from a company outside Canada can land in your balance in the currency it is paid in, and the conversion into lira happens when you send.
Moved in by you
Move money in from an account you already hold in another currency, which is how most businesses fund a run of supplier payments.
A funded balance is the practical difference on this corridor: when a supplier or a hospital gives you a lira figure that holds for a few days, the money is already in place to meet it.
What money from Canada pays for in Turkiye
Medical bills for a parent
Treatment, medication and hospital costs in Ankara, Izmir or Istanbul, paid in lira to the account the family or the clinic gives you.
Tuition and student costs
University fees, rent and living costs for a sibling or a child studying in Turkiye, sent to a TR IBAN on the date the institution asks for.
Property and rent
An instalment on an apartment in Antalya or Istanbul, a maintenance charge, or rent on a flat the family keeps for the summer.
Paying Turkish suppliers
Canadian importers settling invoices with manufacturers in textiles, machinery, food or construction materials, in the lira the invoice is written in.
Four cases account for most of this route.
What Grey does well on this route
FAQs
Which Turkish banks can Grey pay from Canada?
Ziraat Bankası, İş Bankası, Garanti BBVA, Akbank and Yapı Kredi are supported, along with other Turkish banks reachable by IBAN.
What is a TR IBAN and where do I find it?
It is the 26-character account identifier Turkish banking runs on, beginning TR. Your recipient sees it in their banking app or on a statement.
Does the money arrive in Turkish lira?
Yes. Grey converts your balance into lira in one step and credits the Turkish account, so nothing is converted again on arrival.
How quickly does a transfer reach an account in Istanbul?
Transfers sent from a funded Grey balance usually settle in Turkiye the same day, and you can track them through to settlement.
Can I pay a Turkish supplier's invoice in lira?
Yes. Send lira to the supplier's TR IBAN, with the amount fixed at confirmation so the invoice figure is met exactly.
Will the lira amount change after I confirm?
No. The rate is fixed at confirmation, so the lira figure on your screen is the figure that posts to the account.
Can I send Canadian dollars to Turkiye?
No. Grey holds US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds and euro. One of those converts into lira when you send.
Does my mother in Ankara need a Grey account?
No. She needs a Turkish bank account and its IBAN. The lira arrives as an ordinary domestic credit.
Why do banks push me to send dollars to Turkiye instead?
Lira is a thin market for Canadian banks, so they pass the conversion to the receiving bank. Grey quotes the lira directly.
Can I pay university fees in Turkiye directly to the institution?
Yes, where the university gives you its TR IBAN. The lira credits that account like any domestic payment.
Does the lira amount depend on when I send?
Yes. The same value sent in different months converts to different lira figures, so check how long a quoted price holds.
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