Work Permit

In our article; we have touched on what a work permit is, how to get it, how to apply from abroad and domestically, what the conditions are, what the necessary documents are, what the cost is and frequently asked questions about it. We recommend that you read the entire article as all the details are important.

What is Work Permit?

Work permit; It is a type of permit that every foreigner who wants to work in the Republic of Turkey must obtain from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, giving the person the right to work and reside. It is not legal for a foreigner who does not have a work permit to work in a workplace in any sector in Turkey and this situation has been linked to a number of sanctions.

To be able to control the foreigners working within the borders of the country and to carry out the necessary examinations and inquiries about the foreign worker in a systematic way is also a permission system that is very important in terms of security.

How to Get a Work Permit?

Work permits can be obtained domestically or from abroad. However, the procedures for buying domestically or from abroad vary. First of all, a foreigner who wants to obtain a work permit from abroad should apply for a work visa at the Consulate or Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in the country where he currently resides.

For the work visa application, the foreign national’s passport, petition for work permit application, photograph and a copy of the contract for the work to be worked are required. We have touched on the necessary documents in detail below.

Applying for a Work Permit from Abroad

If the work permit is to be applied for from abroad, the foreigner must first apply for a work visa to the Turkish representative office in that country. Following this application, the employer in Turkey or the lawyer to whom the power of attorney has given the following; Within 10 working days, the foreigner who applies for a work visa through the online system must apply for a work permit with the reference number provided. As a result of this application made by the employer via e-government, all requested documents are delivered to the Ministry in person or by mail within 6 working days.

We have explained all of the required documents in detail below under the heading “Documents Required for Work Permit”.

As a result of the online application made by the employer in Turkey, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security examines the information and documents submitted by the employee and the employer. If there are missing documents as a result of these examinations, missing documents are requested from the employer.

With the collection of all documents, the Ministry conducts examinations, even takes the opinion of different authorities if it deems it necessary and decides to approve or reject the application.

As a result of the approved work permit, the foreign worker must pay the work visa fee of the Foreign Representation and obtain the visa. However, the foreign worker must enter the Republic of Turkey within a maximum of 180 days.

Applying for a Work Permit from Domestic (in Turkey)

A foreigner who is in the country does not have to apply to the Turkish authorities abroad to work in Turkey and obtain a work permit. However, the foreign national who is in the country must have a residence permit for at least 6 months in order to obtain a work permit. For detailed information about the residence permit, you can read our article titled “Residence Permit“.

If the foreign worker in the country has a residence permit of at least 6 months; The employer in Turkey must apply for a work permit for the foreigner through the online system. As a result of this application made by the employer through the online system, all requested documents are delivered to the Ministry in person or by mail within 6 working days.

The stages after this stage are the same for all procedures as we mentioned in the title above. The Ministry conducts the necessary examinations and concludes them.

Work Permit Application and Conditions

The application for work permit for foreigners is made to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security by the employer via e-government. The foreign national who is abroad can apply for an employer’s work permit with the reference number given when he applies for a work visa at the Consulate or Embassy of the Republic of Turkey.

Along with the application for permission made by the employer, information and documents about the foreign national are also delivered to the Ministry. The documents required for the employer and the foreign employee vary. Providing accurate and complete documents is important to carry out the application process in a healthy way. With the approval of the application, the work permit card is sent to the foreign worker.

The work permit document is sent to the foreign worker by PTT Cargo and its follow-up is possible via e-government. This permit card is an official document that the foreign national has gained the status of a legal foreign worker.

For the foreign employee whose application is approved and who starts to work as a result, the employer must complete the employee’s insurance procedures through SGK within 30 days.

Not every foreigner who wants to work in Turkey will have a work permit. Work permits for foreigners are subject to a number of criteria and conditions. Foreign nationals who meet these conditions and criteria and who are approved as a result of the application made shall have the title of legally working in Turkey.

We can list the conditions required for work permit for foreigners as follows:

1. The paid-in capital of the workplace where the permit application is made for work must be at least 100,000 TL. In addition, the gross sales amount of this business must be 800,000 TL or the company’s export amount of the previous year must be 250,000 US Dollars.
2. At least five of the employees in the workplace where the foreign employee wants to work must be citizens of the Republic of Turkey. If the foreign employee is a company partner, it is required that at least 5 employees who are citizens of the Republic of Turkey work at the workplace within the last 6 months of the work permit period granted. In general, there should be 1 foreign employee for every 5 Turkish citizens.
3. If the work permit is to be obtained on behalf of the company partner, the foreigner who is the partner of the company who wants to receive it must have at least 20% of the capital share. This figure should be over 40,000 TL.
4. The salary to be paid to the foreigner by the workplace must be at a level commensurate with the duty and work to be performed by the foreign employee and must be strictly more than the minimum wage. Minimum salary amounts are determined by the ministry and must be checked before applying.
5. The first two conditions are not required for applications made to work in domestic work (sick-elderly-babysitting).
6. If the company is a tourism and travel company, condition number 2 is not required.

IMPORTANT! Eligibility in terms of criteria that may be additional for the person to be employed or the employer applying must be checked in every application.

Documents Required for Work Permit

After the work permit application is made by the employer through the online system, the necessary documents are delivered to the Ministry within 6 working days. In addition to the documents sent during the application, the original documents should be mailed to the Ministry. Documents can be delivered in person or by mail.

The documents required for a work permit are different for foreign workers and employers, domestic and international applications.

First of all, if we need to sort the documents required for the first application, we can make a grouping and sorting as follows:

Depending on the situation, the documents that the foreign worker must submit:

1. Copy of diploma or provisional graduation certificate. It must be translated into Turkish and certified by the official authorities.
2. Certificate of Equivalence. It applies to foreign workers who have completed their higher education outside of Turkey.
3. Certificate of Competence for foreign workers who will operate in educational institutions. It should be obtained from the Ministry of National Education.
4. Residence permit with a validity of at least 6 months (unnecessary for overseas applications)
5. Copy of passport.

Documents that the employer must submit:

1. Work permit application form.
2. Profit and loss statement and balance sheet for the last year, approved by the authorities. (Commercial Activity Certificate)
3. Turkish Trade Registry Gazette. It shows the capital and partnership status of the business organization.
4. Notarized power of attorney
5. Employment contract between the foreign employee and the employer
6. Wages of Turkish citizens employed in workplaces where foreign specialists are desired to be employed.

After the first application is completed online, the following documents must be submitted to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

A.DOMESTIC APPLICATIONS

Documents that the foreign worker must submit:

1. Employment contract concluded between the employer and the employee.
2. Copy of residence permit valid for at least 6 months.
3. Copy of passport.
4. Copy of diploma.
5. Reference letter, if any.

Documents that the employer must submit:

1. Application petition
2. Work permit application form.
3. Balance sheet, profit and loss statement approved by the COE-DAT, or tax office for the previous year.
4. Turkish Trade Registry Gazette
5. Certificate of activity.
6. Notarized power of attorney of the applicant

B.ABROAD APPLICATIONS

Documents that the foreign worker must submit:

1. In addition to the documents we have listed above, 1 photo.

Documents that the employer must submit:

1. In addition to the documents mentioned above, a copy of the foreign worker’s diploma and passport.

IMPORTANT! Between the documents, the employment contract is more important than others It is very important to prepare the salary and job description appropriately determined in the employment contract in order to prevent the rejection of the application. The amount of salary should not be less than the amounts determined by the ministry.

Work Permit Fee 2023

Certain procedures determined by the regulation are carried out in order to obtain a work permit for foreigners. During the performance of these procedures, some fees and expenses may occur.

2023 work permit fees and expenses are as follows:

Work Permit Extension Application

The work permit is granted for a maximum of one year in the first place. At the end of one year, a maximum of two more years is given in the first extension. For the employee who has completed three years, the extension can be made for a maximum of three more years.

The application to employ foreign workers is made to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. This application must be made within a maximum of 60 days from the expiry of the work permit period. The application of the foreign employee who does not apply within this 60-day period will not be considered for extension of time.

Foreigners on whose behalf the work permit extension application is made may continue to work during the evaluation of the application from the date of expiry of the permit period and in any case provided that it does not exceed 90 days and that the work done and the workplace do not change. This work is considered legal. This 90-day period has been determined with the possible delays in the extension application process in mind. During this period, the rights and obligations of the foreigner and the employer continue in the same way.

In order to apply for a work permit extension, the foreign employee must submit the previous work permit document to the Ministry in addition to the documents mentioned above. The employer submits the foreign employee application form, the SGK registration number of the foreign employee and the other documents mentioned above related to the employer together with the work permit extension application petition.

The employer who will apply for an extension should pay attention to:

• To deposit the foreigner’s salary in full through the bank
• The foreigner must have made SGK payments and do not owe any debt to SGK
• The company does not have a tax debt
• Employing at least 5 Turkish citizens for 1 foreigner to work (we mentioned the exceptions above)

The foreigner who has applied for an extension should pay attention to:

• Not to stay out of Turkey for more than 6 months during the permit period
• Not to have committed any crime

Documents required for work permit extension:

• Work permit extension application petition
• Extension application form filled in electron environment
• Copy of passport
• Previous work permit document
• Trade Registry Gazette showing the latest capital structure of the company and the number of shareholders
• Balance sheet, profit and loss statement approved by the COE-DAT, or tax office for the previous year.

Work Permit for Foreigners for Home Services

Employing foreign workers for domestic services is subject to certain conditions in order to prevent possible grievances. Accordingly, the foreign worker can not work for every domestic service. The foreign worker who wants to work in domestic services can only work as a childminder, elderly caregiver and nurse. It is not legal to employ foreign workers for cleaning, nor is it possible to obtain the necessary permit.

Accordingly, it is mandatory for a child under the age of 15 to live in the house in order to obtain a permit to employ foreign workers in childminding. For elderly caregivers, it is mandatory that someone over the age of 65 lives at home. For nursing, it is imperative that someone in need of care at home is alive. Except in severe cases requiring serious care, male foreigners are not allowed to work in domestic services.

Again, the verifiable household income of the persons who will be get a work permit to work in domestic services must be above a certain amount.

These requirements should be documented together with the documents mentioned above and submitted to the relevant Ministry after the online application.

Work Permit of Foreigners In Scope of Syrians

Many criteria have been relaxed for Syrians or foreigners under temporary international protection to obtain work permits. The salary amounts of these people may be shown from the minimum wage or the requirement of 1 foreigner may not be required for 5 Turkish citizens at work.

Employing Foreign Workers

The employment of foreign nationals in workplaces in Turkey is called employing foreign workers. The employment of foreign workers has been subject to permit in Turkey. Employing unauthorized foreign workers is illegal and has sanctions.

Penalty for Employing Foreign Workers Without a Work Permit 2023

The employment of foreign workers within the borders of the Republic of Turkey has been subject to permit. Employing unauthorized foreign workers is subject to an administrative fine according to the International Labor Force Law No. 6735.

We can list the penalties for employing foreign workers as follows:

• An employer who employs unauthorized foreign workers is obliged to pay a penalty of TL 16,066 for each foreign worker he employs.
• The foreign employee working without permission is obliged to pay a fine of 6.421 TL and the foreign employee working independently is obliged to pay a fine of 12.854 TL. In addition, the Ministry of Interior shall be notified of their deportation.
• The administrative fines specified for the employment of foreign workers or the continuation of working as foreign workers shall be applied by increasing by 1 fold.

Appeal against the Penalty of Employing Foreign Workers

It is possible to appeal against the administrative fine imposed as a result of the determination of employing unauthorized foreign workers. Accordingly, the objection period is specified in Article 27 of the Misdemeanor Law No. 5326 and is 15 days. An appeal of the penalty can be filed within 15 days from the day of notification.

The appeal may be lodged with the Criminal Magistrate, but if another penalty is imposed in addition to the administrative fine, then the court in charge is the Administrative Court.

Frequently Asked Questions and Short Answers

The Importance of a Lawyer in a Work Permit Application

The work of foreign workers in the Republic of Turkey has been subject to a permit. While the existence of this permit legalizes the work of the foreign worker, the absence of a work permit constitutes an unlawful situation and a penalty is imposed.

For this reason, it is important to obtain a work permit for foreigners. This process proceeds in two stages as application and submission of documents to the Ministry. It is important to have in-depth information about the process and to follow it regularly to prevent the rejection of the work permit application or to prevent the prolongation of the process.

Working with an experienced and professional foreigners’ law lawyer for the work permit application and follow-up of the subsequent processes will help both the foreign worker and the employer to complete the process in the healthiest way. You can send your questions to a lawyer on the Ask a lawyer page.