According to the social security laws in our country, people who have foreign employment whether in a contracted or non-contracted country have the opportunity to credit their services abroad and the periods as a housewife in a foreign country for the consideration of these periods as completed in Turkey in cases of retirement, invalidity, old age and death.
Creditable periods are:
- Insurance periods completed abroad
- Periods of unemployment up to one year at the end or between these periods
- Periods spent as a housewife
- Conditions for crediting foreign services:
- Being a Turkish citizen during the creditable periods and on the date of application for crediting (these two conditions need to be met simultaneously)
- Certifying the periods or services completed as a housewife
- Making a written application
Foreign insurance periods and periods as a housewife abroad are not creditable if they are not completed as a Turkish citizen. Also if the claimant is not a Turkish citizen at the time of application his/her claim for crediting shall be disallowed.
If the person has a foreign citizenship besides Turkish citizenship, he/she can benefit from this regulation brought about by the mentioned law.
For the persons having natural born citizenship of Turkey and acquiring another country’s citizenship through a declaration of alienage; they cannot avail themselves from this right of crediting because of not being a Turkish citizen at the time of application, even though they have had Turkish citizenship during the creditable periods in question.
What shall I do first for crediting of services abroad?
In order to credit the services abroad, the Application Form for Crediting of Services Abroad shall be filled in. (link)
Apart from this document, a written application regarding the claim for crediting can also be accepted. However, in case the information given in the written application is not enough, claimant may be asked to fill in the Application Form for Crediting of Services Abroad.
Samples of the Application Form for Crediting of Services Abroad can be obtained from either Social Security Provincial Directorates/Social Security Centres or from Social Security Institution’s website:
(http://www.sgk.gov.tr/wps/portal/tr/sigortalılık/form_ve_dilekceler/formlar).
Apart from the Application Form for Crediting of Services Abroad, which documents are required for the application?
For crediting the periods completed abroad, it is compulsory to certify the periods in question at the time of application. In the enclosure of the Application Form for Crediting of Services Abroad, a document indicating the foreign services is also required at the time of application for crediting.
The documents necessary for the application for crediting are as follows:
1.For insurance periods completed in contracted countries;
- Service record or insurance card to be taken from the insurance authority in the country of employment,
- In case the workplace of the insured is a property of a public enterprise or governed by a public enterprise or a governmental body, the following documents are not subject to a separate authentication:
- Service documents issued by the municipality to which the workplace is subject in the country of employment,
- Documents indicating the periods of employment issued by tax offices,
- Documents indicating unemployment periods issued by employment agencies,
- Service document issued by relevant professional organizations or associations or other public enterprises,
- Service document issued for self-employed persons abroad by tax offices, relevant professional organizations or associations or other public enterprises to which these people are subject,
- Service documents issued by foreign representative offices of Turkey (such as consulates, labour and social security consultancies or attaché’s offices), with a statement of “for the purpose of crediting” on it.
2. For insurance periods completed in non-contracted countries;
- Service documents which are stated to be used for crediting and issued by foreign representative offices of Turkey such as consulates, labour and social security consultancies or attaché’s offices, with a statement of “for the purpose of crediting” on it,
- References indicating the periods of service, which can be taken from their workplaces abroad, and translation of their work permits stated in their passports,
- For the seamen, service documents to be taken from representation offices such as Turkish consulates, labour and social security consultancies or attaché’s offices in the country the flag of which is carried on the ships, or references, indicating their insurance periods, which can be taken from their workplaces and also translation of their work permits, registered on the documents regarding their employment on the ships or samples of the pages on the passports, which show the entrance and exit dates which coincides with their employment periods.
3. For periods completed as a housewife shall be certified with one of the following documents;
- Translation of the residence permit indicating their residence abroad and which is issued by certified translation offices in Turkey or by translators, who are accredited by Turkish representation offices abroad and which is approved by the relevant representation office,
- Document to be issued on the base of residence permit by Turkish representation offices including labour and social security consultancy or attaché’s offices,
- In the absence of such a document of residence, a copy of the passport pages indicating the entrance and exit dates, photo and identity information or entrance-exit table which can be taken from the police offices.
The written applications for crediting which do not include enough documents for the acceptance of the application, are not rejected but claimants are required to enclose missing documents.Administrative assistance can be provided for certification, when necessary, by the competent authorities of contracted countries. In accordance with this purpose, our provincial directorates can request our General Directorate (Foreign Services Department) to make a correspondence with the relevant country for determination of foreign employments of the persons who have missing documents for the application of crediting.
