1. Introduction
Under the International Labour Force Law, work permits are issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (the “Ministry”), and all persons falling within the scope of the Law are, as a general rule, required to hold a valid work permit. In addition to authorising a foreign national to work and to be employed in Türkiye, a work permit also substitutes for a residence permit pursuant to Law No. 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection. Accordingly, obtaining a work permit is of dual significance for foreign nationals seeking to work in Türkiye.
Where the foreign national is already legally residing in Türkiye, a work permit application may be filed domestically directly by the employer. Where the foreign national is abroad, the process is initiated by the foreign national in person before the competent Turkish consulate, following which the employer completes the necessary procedures in Türkiye by using the reference number issued in connection with the consular application. In both cases, the steps to be taken by the employer and the employer’s fulfilment of the applicable workplace requirements are of critical importance for the completion of the application process.
Pursuant to Article 22 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the International Labour Force Law, the authority to determine the assessment criteria applicable to the employment of foreign nationals in Türkiye has been vested in the General Directorate of International Labour Force (the “General Directorate”) within the Ministry. In this context, the General Directorate announced that the Work Permit Evaluation Criteria currently in force (the “Criteria”) entered into force on 1 October 2024. It was further provided that certain exemptions would apply to the assessment of work permit applications concerning foreign nationals possessing specified qualifications and applications made within certain sectors, and that such exemptions would enter into force on 3 August 2026. This study examines the exceptional arrangements that entered into force as of 3 August 2026 and the conditions applicable to employers and foreign nationals seeking to benefit from them.
2. Position under the Work Permit Evaluation Criteria Prior to 3 August 2026
Under the Criteria established by the General Directorate, work permit applications are principally assessed on the basis of three fundamental criteria: employment, financial eligibility and remuneration. Accordingly, the principal requirements to be satisfied by employers and workplaces applying for, or otherwise taking part in the process of obtaining, a work permit for a foreign employee are as follows.
Under the employment criterion, workplaces subject to the balance-sheet accounting basis are required to employ five Turkish citizens for each foreign national they seek to employ. However, one of the general rules provides that this employment requirement shall not apply where the workplace’s net sales for the preceding year amount to TRY 50,000,000 or more.
Under the financial eligibility criterion, workplaces subject to the balance-sheet accounting basis that wish to employ foreign nationals must satisfy certain requirements relating to their capital and revenue. If the workplace is newly established, meaning that it was incorporated during the current year and has not yet prepared a year-end balance sheet and annual income statement, its paid-in capital must be at least TRY 500,000 in order to employ a foreign national.
Where the workplace is an existing enterprise established in a year preceding the current year and has prepared at least one year-end balance sheet and annual income statement, it must have either paid-in capital of at least TRY 500,000, net sales of at least TRY 8,000,000, or exports amounting to at least USD 150,000.
Where the workplace is an ordinary partnership established by an enterprise subject to the balance-sheet accounting basis, at least one of the partners in such ordinary partnership must likewise have paid-in capital of at least TRY 500,000, net sales of at least TRY 8,000,000, or exports amounting to at least USD 150,000.
The remuneration criterion determines the minimum salary payable to a foreign national depending on the position in which that person will be employed. The gross statutory minimum wage in force on the date of the work permit application is taken as the basis for this calculation. Accordingly, the salary payable to the foreign national must be at least:
- five times the minimum wage where the foreign national will be employed as a senior executive or pilot;
- four times the minimum wage where the foreign national will be employed as an engineer or architect;
- three times the minimum wage where the foreign national will be employed in another managerial position;
- two times the minimum wage where the foreign national will be employed in a position requiring expertise or skilled craftsmanship; and
- one minimum wage where the foreign national will be employed in domestic services or other occupations.
3. Amendments to the Criteria Effective as of 3 August 2026
The provisions of the Criteria entering into force on 3 August 2026 introduced a number of exemptions in favour of certain foreign nationals and workplaces in relation to the criteria applied to work permit applications.
These amendments do not alter the general assessment framework in its entirety. Rather, they provide certain facilitations for foreign nationals satisfying specified conditions and for workplaces operating in certain sectors, as explained in further detail below. In other words, the amendments effective from 3 August 2026 do not abolish the fundamental criteria altogether; they merely establish certain exemptions.
Accordingly, the fact that an application concerns a foreign national falling within the scope of one of these exemptions should not be understood to mean that the application will automatically be approved merely because the conditions introduced by the new amendments are satisfied.
The amendments entering into force affect three principal categories:
- Under Article A.4 of the Criteria, the employment and financial eligibility criteria shall not apply, subject to specified numerical limitations, to domestic applications concerning foreign nationals who, during the three years preceding the date of the work permit application, have legally remained in Türkiye for at least one year under a work permit, residence permit or international protection status.
- Under Articles B.10.A, B.10.B and B.10.C of the Criteria, respectively, the employment criterion and, subject to certain conditions, the financial eligibility criterion shall not apply until 31 December 2027 to workplaces operating in the manufacturing, poultry farming and recycling sectors.
- Under Article Ç.1.f of the Criteria, the employment, financial eligibility and remuneration criteria shall not apply at all to foreign nationals who have remained in Türkiye for at least eight years under a work permit or under a short-term, long-term, family, student, humanitarian or victim-of-human-trafficking residence permit.
The scope of these provisions is explained in further detail below.
3.1. Exemption Applicable to Foreign Employees
3.1.1. Scope of the Exemption and Foreign Nationals Eligible to Benefit
Pursuant to Article A.4.1 of the Criteria, the employment and financial eligibility criteria shall not apply to foreign nationals who:
- have legally remained in Türkiye for at least one year during the three years preceding the date of the work permit application under a work permit, residence permit or international protection status; and
- will submit their work permit application domestically from within Türkiye.
For the purposes of benefiting from this exemption, the mere fact that a foreign national has previously been present in Türkiye is not sufficient. The requirement of at least one year’s residence within the three-year period preceding the application date must have been satisfied under a work permit, residence permit or international protection status.
As stated above, a work permit enables a foreign national both to work in Türkiye and to reside in the country for the duration of such employment. A residence permit, by contrast, authorises a foreign national to remain in Türkiye for a specified period but does not, in itself, confer a right to work. International protection is a legal protection status granted to foreign nationals who are unable to return to their country of origin due to a risk of persecution or serious harm, including refugees, conditional refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection.
In order to benefit from these exemptions, the foreign national’s work permit application must be made domestically. Consequently, foreign nationals who are outside Türkiye and submit their applications from abroad through Turkish consulates will not be eligible to benefit from this exemption.
The exemption under this provision is limited to the employment and financial eligibility criteria. Although the employer is therefore not required to satisfy those two criteria in relation to an eligible foreign national, the remuneration payable to such foreign national must still satisfy the applicable remuneration criterion.
3.1.2. Maximum Limit of Three Foreign Nationals
At workplaces employing foreign nationals falling within the scope of Article A.4.1, the number of foreign employees must, as a general rule, not exceed the number of Turkish citizen employees.
Accordingly, for example, a workplace employing three Turkish citizens may not employ more than three foreign nationals under this exemption.
The restrictions do not end there. The exemption may only be applied in respect of up to three foreign nationals per workplace. Therefore, where the number of foreign employees would exceed the number of Turkish citizen employees or where an employer seeks to employ more than three foreign nationals under this exemption, the exceptional regime will cease to apply and the relevant applications will instead be assessed under the general evaluation principles set out in the Criteria.
For example, where a work permit application is made for a fourth foreign national to be employed at a workplace, both the employment and financial eligibility criteria will be taken into account, since the fourth foreign national exceeds the maximum limit of three persons eligible for the exemption.
Subject to the exclusion of foreign nationals under international protection, where, as in the above example, applications are made for a fourth or fifth foreign national, the general requirement of employing at least five Turkish citizens for each foreign national will again apply. Accordingly, a workplace would in principle be required to employ at least 20 Turkish citizens in order to employ four foreign nationals, and at least 25 Turkish citizens in order to employ five foreign nationals.
3.2. Sector-Specific Work Permit Exemptions
In addition to the exemptions introduced for certain categories of foreign nationals, the provisions entering into force on 3 August 2026 also introduced sector-specific exemptions intended to facilitate the employment of foreign nationals by workplaces operating in certain sectors.
The sectors covered by these exemptions are manufacturing, poultry farming and recycling.
What distinguishes these sector-specific exemptions from the exemptions discussed above is that they are based not on the personal characteristics or legal status of the foreign national, but rather on the field of activity of the workplace and the nature of the work in which the foreign national will be employed.
3.2.1. Manufacturing Sector
The provisions of the Criteria entering into force on 3 August 2026 establish a specific system governing both the application of the general employment criterion and the relevant exemption in relation to work permit applications submitted by enterprises operating in the manufacturing sector.
First, the relevant provision states that, in assessing the general employment criterion for work permit applications in the manufacturing sector, account shall be taken of the total number of Turkish citizens employed by the enterprise throughout Türkiye.
By contrast, an exceptional arrangement has been introduced where there is a need to employ additional foreign nationals beyond those already employed subject to the general employment criterion.
Where such additional foreign labour is required, until 31 December 2027, a work permit application for one foreign national for every five Turkish citizens employed at the relevant branch shall be assessed without applying the employment criterion.
Accordingly, while the total number of Turkish citizen employees employed by the enterprise throughout Türkiye is taken into account in calculating the foreign nationals subject to the general employment criterion, only the number of Turkish citizen employees working at the workplace where the additional foreign national will actually be employed is taken into account when determining the number of additional foreign nationals eligible for the exemption.
In other words, the number of foreign nationals who may be employed under the exemption at each branch is determined separately by reference to the number of Turkish citizen employees employed at that particular branch.
3.2.2. Poultry Farming Sector
The special system described above for the manufacturing sector also applies to the poultry farming sector.
Accordingly, the employment of foreign nationals will, as a general rule, remain subject to the general Criteria. However, until 31 December 2027, the exemption may be utilised for the employment of additional foreign nationals in occupations such as animal care and poultry-house maintenance, based on the number of Turkish citizen employees working at the relevant branch.
In addition to this special rule, a further exemption has been introduced for workplaces in the poultry farming sector employing fewer than five Turkish citizens.
Provided that the application is made domestically and that the number of foreign employees does not exceed the number of Turkish citizen employees working at the workplace, the employment and financial eligibility criteria shall not apply, as of 3 August 2026, in respect of the employment of up to two foreign nationals.
3.2.3. Recycling Sector
The special system applicable to the manufacturing and poultry farming sectors also applies to the recycling sector.
The employment of foreign nationals at workplaces operating in the fields of waste collection, recovery and disposal will, as a general rule, remain subject to the general Criteria. However, until 31 December 2027, the exemption may be utilised in relation to the employment of additional foreign nationals in occupations such as waste collection and recycling work, based on the number of Turkish citizen employees working at the relevant branch.
As in the poultry farming sector, a further exemption applies to workplaces in the recycling sector employing fewer than five Turkish citizens.
Provided that the application is made domestically and that the number of foreign employees does not exceed the number of Turkish citizen employees working at the workplace, the employment and financial eligibility criteria shall not apply, as of 3 August 2026, in respect of the employment of up to two foreign nationals.
3.3. Exemption for Foreign Nationals Who Have Remained in Türkiye for Eight Years
Article Ç of the Criteria as a whole regulates which categories of foreign nationals are exempt from the Criteria and the conditions under which they may benefit from those exemptions.
Paragraph 1 of Article Ç lists the categories of foreign nationals whose work permit applications are exempt from all three of the employment, financial eligibility and remuneration criteria.
This paragraph entered into force together with the Criteria on 1 October 2024. In summary, the foreign nationals exempted under this paragraph include:
foreign nationals whose mother, father or child is a Turkish citizen; foreign nationals holding a humanitarian residence permit; foreign nationals who have been granted a residence permit as victims of human trafficking or who benefit from a victim support programme under the Regulation on Combating Human Trafficking and Protection of Victims; foreign nationals holding a Stateless Person Identity Document; foreign nationals holding a long-term residence permit; foreign nationals who have lived in a marital union with a Turkish citizen for at least three years; foreign nationals of Turkish descent who will work in occupations and professions other than those reserved exclusively for Turkish citizens and who have been recognised as being of Turkish descent by the Ministry of Interior or Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or who are considered appropriate by the General Directorate within the framework of international labour force policy; citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus; and, separately from the foregoing categories, foreign nationals who have remained in Türkiye for at least eight years under a work permit, short-term residence permit, family residence permit, student residence permit, long-term residence permit, humanitarian residence permit or victim-of-human-trafficking residence permit, as provided by the amendment entering into force on 3 August 2026.
Foreign nationals falling within the scope of this provision must have remained in Türkiye for at least eight years prior to the date of application on the basis of a work permit, short-term or long-term residence permit, family residence permit, student residence permit, humanitarian residence permit or victim-of-human-trafficking residence permit.
As with the other categories falling within the same provision, none of the three fundamental criteria—namely, the employment, financial eligibility and remuneration criteria—shall apply to foreign nationals satisfying these conditions.
4. Conclusion
The amendments entering into force as of 3 August 2026 have introduced certain conditional relaxations to the general Criteria applicable to the employment of foreign nationals, thereby providing greater flexibility for workplaces and employers.
Although these amendments alleviate certain difficulties associated with the employment of foreign nationals, the mere fact that a foreign national falls within the scope of one of the exemptions does not mean that the relevant work permit application will be assessed wholly independently of the general criteria.
Accordingly, in order to ensure the proper application of the newly effective rules, employers should verify that the foreign national in respect of whom the work permit application is to be filed, the remuneration payable to that foreign national and the workplace in which the foreign national will be employed each satisfy the relevant statutory and regulatory requirements.
For detailed information on this subject and to receive paid oral and/or written legal consultancy services, please contact us through the “Contact Us” section of our website.
Detailed information regarding our law firm’s practices in Contract Law, Foreigners and Citizenship Law and Labor and Social Security Law may be accessed through our website.
İlkim ŞANEL (Apprentice Attorney)
Uçar Law & Consultancy Office
Editor: Adar UÇAR (Attorney at Law)
