According to the provisions of the International Labour Code No. 6735, employers who are planning to employ foreign nationals who will work in Türkiye are required to apply and obtain a work permit before the foreigner commences working.
The work permit is a type of permit issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Republic of Türkiye in the form of an official document that grants the foreigner the right to work and reside in Türkiye legally within its validity period.
There are five types of applications to work permit according to the relevant Turkish legislation: Domestic Application, Overseas Application, Current Work Permit’s Extension Application, Work Permit Application for Foreigners Granted Temporary Protection, and Work Permit Application for Foreigners Granted International Protection.
The “Work Permit Evaluation Criteria” implemented in accordance with the Additional Article of the International Labour Code Implementation Regulation which has been updated in accordance with the Article 22 of the same regulation, and the new regulations have entered into force as of October 1, 2024.
With the new regulation, the employment, financial adequacy and wage criteria in the work permit evaluation criteria have been updated, and new regulations have been made based on sector, profession or job of the foreigner.
Accordingly, in work permit applications, until the date of 1st of January 2025, the employee and the employer should meet the requirements defined above:
- The paid-in capital of the workplace in which the foreigner will be working must be at least 100,000 Turkish Liras or gross sales must be at least 800,000 Turkish Liras or the last year export amount must be at least 150,000 USD,
- The capital amount of the foreigner who is the partner of the company must be at least 40,000 Turkish Liras, which will be considered sufficient in terms of financial adequacy criteria.
In terms of Special Assessment Criteria Based on Sector, Profession or Job, the criteria for the IT sector, education sector, home services sector, aviation sector, sectors requiring advanced technology, public projects, health sector, tourism sector and foreign students are explained in detail:
As of 1st of October 2024, the wage to be paid to the foreigner will be determined by taking into account the national gross monthly minimum wage amount in effect as of the work permit application date. In this line the minimum wages to be paid for foreigners according to their professions are as follows:
- For senior managers and pilots, 5 times the gross national monthly minimum wage,
- For engineers and architects, 4 times gross national monthly minimum wage,
- For other managers, 3 times the gross national monthly minimum wage,
- For those who will work in jobs requiring expertise and mastery, 2 times the gross national monthly minimum wage,
- For foreigners who will work in domestic services and other professions/jobs, it cannot be less than the gross national monthly minimum wage.
