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General rules regarding the employment of foreigners in Turkey are regulated in the International Labor Law (“Law numbered 6735”). There are two ways to apply for foreigners to work in Turkey, from abroad and domestically. Foreigners who are in Turkey with a valid residence permit for at least 6 months can apply for work permit.
Documents required by the employer:
1. The employment contract signed between the foreign worker and the employer
2. Turkish Trade Registry Gazette showing the latest capital and partnership structure of the organization
3. Balance sheet and profit/loss statement of the last year, approved by tax office or certified public accountant
4.Document proving that organizations (including consortia) that have the right to carry out projects for which international tenders have been opened by public institutions and organizations have undertaken the work to be received from the relevant institution and organization
5. Payroll proving that Turkish engineers/architects/contractors are employed in the same profession in legal entities that will employ foreign experts within the scope of engineering, architecture, contracting and consultancy services
6. Notarized PoA of the person authorized to make the electronic application as a user on behalf of the institution and organization that will employ foreign personnel, or a document showing that the person under the capacity of user works in the institution and organization that made the application.
7. It is mandatory to obtain preliminary permission from the competent authority in the evaluation of work permit applications of foreigners who will work in health and education services that require professional competence. In health services; Turkish Ministry of Health and in the education services; Turkish Ministry of Education are competent authorities to issue preliminary permission for the applicant employer companies.
Documents required by the worker:
1. Copy of the foreign employee’ passport
2. Copy of the Diploma or Temporary Graduation Certificate with sworn Turkish translation and notarized.
3. Biometric passport photo of the foreign employee
Criteria’s’ that applicant employer companies and foreigner employees must comply with:
1. In the workplace for which a work permit is requested, at least five Turkish Citizen employee must be under the payroll of the employer company.
2. The paid-in capital of the employer company must be at least TRY100.000 or its gross sale must be at least TRY800.000 or the last year's export amount must be at least USD250.000
3. Article 2, shall not be applied in the permit requests for foreigners to work in associations and foundations, and articles 1 and 2 shall not be applied in the evaluation of work permit applications of foreigners who will work in the Turkish representations of foreign state airlines, education sector and domestic services.
4. The foreign partner of the company requesting permission must have at least 20 percent of the capital and not less than TRY40.000.
5. The amount of monthly wage declared to be paid to the foreigner employee by the employer company must be at a level compatible with the foreigner's duty and competence. Accordingly, taking into account the minimum wage as of the date of application, the minimum wage to be paid to the foreigner must be;
- 6.5 times than the minimum wage for senior managers and pilots,
- 4 times than the minimum wage for unit or branch managers, engineers and architects,
- 3 times than the minimum wage for teachers and those who will work in jobs that require expertise and mastery,
- At least the minimum wage for foreigners to be employed in home services, 1.5 times the minimum wage for foreigners who will work in other professions,
- 2 times than the minimum wage for foreigners who will work in tourism-animation organization companies as acrobats and similar titles, and for foreigners who will work in jobs such as masseurs, masseuses and SPA therapists.
6. The work permit applications of the employer companies with the scope of following:
At least three-star tourism establishments, certified by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, certified holiday villages, thermal hotels with operating permits obtained from official authorities,
- Hammam-sauna-SPA etc. facilities that have a contract (with a contract) with the certified tourism enterprises,
- Sports centers with permission from official authorities that employ at least twenty (20) Turkish citizens foreign employment requests for jobs that require expertise and mastery such as masseurs, masseuses and SPA therapists will be evaluated by the Ministry, applications of the employer companies do not comply with the aforesaid criterias’ will not be evaluated.
7. If at least 10 Turkish citizen is employed by the entertainment industry and tourism-animation organization companies; the quota for the employment of five Turkish citizens for each foreigner will not be applied separately for the work permit application of the foreigner employees that will work in professional or expert fields of the sector.
Special regulation for foreign engineers and architects:
To issue application for work permits for foreign engineers and architects is kept within the scope of exceptions in Article 20 of the Law numbered 6735. With its contribution to science and technology specified in the Article 16/1/a of the same law, it is included in the scope of qualified workforce. In this case, it turns out that foreign engineers and architects are exempted from work permits on certain conditions. The exemption application is submitted directly to the Ministry in the relevant articles of the law and as stated above.
In addition, in the Article 42nd of the Regulation numbered 31718, the opinion of the, Union of Chambers of Engineers and Architects of Turkey is taken in the work permit applications of foreign engineers and architects. Before the Ministry decides on the subject, it sends the relevant documents to the Union of Chambers of Engineers and Architects of Turkey and finalizes the work permit application in the light of that decision.
Finally, Turkish employer companies wants to employ foreign engineers and architects can apply work permit exemption to the Ministry and Ministry takes into account the contribution of the foreign employees to Turkish Economy. In that respect, with that work permit application evaluation criterias’ will not be applied to the Turkish employer company.
