Migration state can be a very useful analytical tool for analyzing how states regulate international migration, and for comparing the practices of different states in this realm. However, we need an extended understanding of the notion of migration state to include the regulation functions of the developing country states for international migration and to reflect on the historical changes with respect to these regulation functions which take place in parallel with the changes in the economic and geo-political position of the countries. This paper starts with a discussion of Hollifield’s conceptualization of the migration state, reflecting on its existing assumptions. Hollifield’s conceptualization is reviewed critically especially based on the criticisms in Adamson & Tsourapas (2020) and Tsourapas (2020). While the paper benefits from the typology of nationalizing, developmental, and neoliberal migration management regimes in Adamson & Tsourapas (2020), the importance of having a temporal perspective is emphasized which is lacking in this study. Rather than looking at these three types (nationalizing, developmental, neoliberal) as existing in different contexts, the paper focuses on the shift from one type to the other in the case of a single country. The paper demonstrates how the migration state in Turkey has gone through transformations during the period from the foundation of the Republic until today. The paper then discusses the implications of this focus on Turkey for a revised and extended understanding of the concept of the migration state.