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WORK - RESIDENCE PERMITS AND IMMIGRATION IN TURKEY
By Ayten Gasimova
ADMD Law Office, Istanbul TURKEY
The main purpose of this brief information note is to discuss the issue of work and residence permits required for foreigners in order to reside and work in Turkey along with some information regarding permanent immigration regulations.
Work Permits:
In order to work in Turkey, foreigners should obtain a working visa. In addition to this, they will also need to get a working permit. The Law Concerning Work Permits of Expatriates No. 4817, dated March 6, 2003 has introduced fundamental changes in Turkish law. One of the most crucial changes is that the competent (expert) authority for the work permits will be the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. The new law has introduced four (4) types of work permits. Each type will be discussed in detail below:
As mentioned above, according to Turkish legislation, before applying for a visa to work in Turkey as an administrative or technical employee, an expatriate must first obtain a work permit. For this work permit it is necessary to establish that the applicant has adequate technical and/or administrative knowledge.
According to the Law on Work Permit of Foreigners No. 4817, dated March 6, 2003, foreign personnel that will be employed in Turkey will need first to apply to the Turkish Consulate abroad in order to obtain his/her work permit before entering Turkey. However, if the foreign personnel is in Turkey for the last six (6) months and/or if he/she is a married to a Turkish citizen, he/she may directly apply to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in Turkey since the mentioned Ministry has right to grant, extent and cancel the work permits for foreigners to be employed in Turkey.
In addition to all said above, it is also important for enterprises to know that in order to employ foreign citizens, they must apply to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security with the following documents:
Documents Requested From the Foreign Personnel:
Documents Requested From the Company Employing the Foreign Personnel:
It is normally not possible to obtain a work permit for the expatriate's family members unless each, separately, is able to qualify a work permit based on his or her own skills and qualifications. However, according to the new law, periodical work permit may be granted also to the expatriate's spouse, who he/she has brought along with him/her or later and his/her children, who are in need of his/her support.
Once the Work Permit is granted, a Working Visa should be obtained from the Turkish Consulate in the expatriate's own country before applying for a Residence Permit.
Work Permits for Foreign Key Personnel:
According to the Direct Foreign Investments Law No. 4875, dated June 17, 2003 foreigners that hold key personnel status and are employed in foreign direct investments with exceptional features (investments above tresholds to be mentioned below) have a right to file their applications for work permits at the representations (consulates) of the Turkish Republic in the countries they are citizens of or in the countries they reside.
These applications will be transfered by the representations to the Ministry of Labour. Communication between the two on the issue of work permit will be held by e-email and the procedure is swifter compared with a regular application. In addition, the employer of the foreigner will need to submit the required documents to the Ministry along with the application form within three (3) days since the date of the application.
Moreover, after receiving work permit, key personnel have to apply to the representations of the Turkish Republic abroad for work visa within ninety (90) days since the date of their receipt of the work permit and apply to the Ministry of the Interior for a residence permit within thirty (30) days following their entry to Turkey (will be discussed below).
If key personnel previously received a residence permit-with the exception of residence permits given for education in Turkey-with minimum six (6) months period, for any reason, and have been granted a work permit within this permit, he/she is not required to obtain a work visa from the representations of the Turkish Republic abroad.
The documents listed below need to be handed in along with the work pemrit applications of key personnel in order to be employed in foreign direct investments with exceptional features:
Extension of Work Permits:
Extension of a work permit has to be made fifteen (15) days before its date of expiry at the latest. Extension applications made after such deadline will be considered as initial applications by the Ministry rather than renewal applications. These applications may as well be made earlier, provided that they are filed within the two-months (2) before the expiry date of the work permit. In case a work permit is extended, the date of initiation of the extended work permit is the date of expiry of the expired work permit which makes more practical to apply in the last fifteen (15) days.
Residence Permits:
According to Turkish Regulations, the application for a residence permit should be made personally by the foreigner (in practice application may be made by an agent however the individual must at least be present once for facial confirmation) to the Police Department Foreigners Bureau.
With regards to family members of the expatriate, residence permits for all of them for the period of the expatriate's employment shall also be obtained. However, in case of a delay of the work visa process/procedure, the expatriate may be granted a temporary residence permit for three (3) to twelve (12) months for touristic purposes. The applicant should take into consideration that the residence permit is normally issued within one week.
The required documents for residence permit application made to the related Police Department are the following:
In addition the applicant will need to exchange USD 1.000.- per month for short term (less than six (6) months) application and USD 300.- per month (more than six (6) months) for long term applications into Turkish Lira and submit the receipt along with the applicaiton. This amount of exchange is to prove that the applicant could support the expenses of his/her stay in Turkey and could be reexchanged or used directly without any regard to the application and the sole requirement is to produce such excahnge receipt.
Finally, another important aspect to take into account is that in case of the expiry of residence permit, the foreigner has to make an inquiry to the authorities within fifteen (15) days in order to extend the expired residence permit.
Issues Regarding Access and Immigration:
According to the Turkish Passport Law No. 5682, dated July 24, 1950 foreigners who wish to enter the country, needs to obtain a visa from the Turkish authorities (please note that there are exceptions for visa requirements for entry and stay for citizens of some countries announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). One should bear in mind that there are three (3) types of entry visas for Turkey:
Information for Non-European Nationals Seeking Asylum in Turkey:
Under Article 6 of the Turkish Citizenship Law No. 403, dated February 11, 1964 there is a list of requirements to be met in order to acquire Turkish citizenship:
In addition to Article 6, Article 7 of the Citizenship Law titled ‘Exceptional Granting of Citizenship', refers to those who are of Turkish origin, their children and spouses who are among those who will be granted citizenship exceptionally. As a result, immigrants will no longer be referred to as foreigners living in Turkey if they are granted citizenship.
As for the Refugee and Asylum Seekers status in Turkey, it needs to be mentioned that Turkey is a party to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees (Geneva Convention) and its 1967 Additional Protocol. Turkey used an opportunity given under Article 1 (B) (a) of the Convention which gives a Geographical Limitation.
According to this provision, it is up to the contracting parties to decide whether to apply the Convention to people escaping from their own countries as a result of events taking place in Europe before January 1, 1951. Moreover, at the time of signing the Convention, Turkey has made use of the geographical limitation as well as the time limitation. Nonetheless, the time limitation was put aside when Turkey was signing the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. Accordingly the provisions of the Convention only apply to those refugees and asylum seekers who enter Turkey from the "European countries" (including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Belorussia, Ukraine, Russian Federation, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and other continental European countries).
As a result of the remaining limitation, according to the Turkish legislation a refugees is defined as ‘an alien who is outside his/he country and cannot or is reluctant to enjoy the protection provided by his/her country of origin; or in case of stateless persons who is reluctant to go back to the country he/she previously resided, due to a well founded fear of prosecution based on his/her race, religion, nationality, membership to a particular group or political opinion as a result of events taking place in Europe'.
Foreigners who are willing to apply for refugee status must approach the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (hereinafter, referred to as UNHCR) Offices in Turkey in order to submit their application forms. One should bear in mind that in order to do so foreigners must follow two (2) separate procedures. The first procedure is known as ‘The Temporary Asylum Procedure of the Government of Turkey' and the second one is ‘The Refugee Status Determination Procedure of UNHCR'. It is up to the Turkish Government to decide whether or not to qualify foreigners with a temporary asylum under the 1994 Asylum Regulation and 1951 Geneva Convention. While refugees wait for UNHCR to evaluate their claims, they are usually required to live in one of thirty (30) ‘satellite cities' throughout Turkey.
UNHCR reviews applications for refugee status according to the 1950 Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other United Nations General Assembly resolutions. It needs to be mentioned that UNHCR refugee status determination can take from eight (8) months to over a year. In order to remain in Turkey legally, all asylum seekers are under an obligation to register themselves and their family members with the highest administrative officer within five (5) days of entry to Turkish territory. Similarly, those who enter the country illegally are forced to apply for asylum at the point of entry. On the other hand, they are at the risk of missing the deadline, as they are obliged to travel long distances. In addition to this, asylum seekers will get additional/extra fifteen (15) days in order to present valid documents to the authorities. However, it needs to be taken into account that asylum seekers do not usually have any valid documents while crossing the borders.
Therefore, according to Article 8 (3) of the Law on Settlement No. 2510, dated June 14, 1934 [revised at 2006], all immigrants will have to sign a ‘citizenship declaration' and to get an ‘immigrant paper' which is usually regarded as a birth certificate and is valid for two years. It should be kept in mind that those who are accepted as immigrants would instantly be given citizenship by the Council of Ministers. However, those who have not reached maturity age will be connected to their parents or their relatives. On the other hand, minors who are not accompanied while arriving will be given citizenship regardless of their age.
Apart from all mentioned above, asylum seekers need to submit applications to the Ministry of Interior (hereinafter, referred to as MOI) as well as UNCHR. It needs to be mentioned that Turkey gives only temporary asylum to non-European refugees. The reason behind this is that refugee status is usually kept for Europeans. However, those who are granted refugee status are usually resettled to third countries.
Next important factor is that under the Asylum Regulation of 1994 asylum seekers, who are not granted a refugee status, may then get residence permits on humanitarian grounds. On the other hand, if the application gets a rejection, then the asylum seeker has a right to protest the decision. Even if the decision remains the same, the applicant can still file a suit before the courts. This may lead to suspension of deportation procedures as appeals and case re-openings could take years. It needs to be kept in mind that deportation is not a judicial but an administrative procedure according to Turkish law. As a result, applicants with lawyers can still appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter, referred to as ECHR). It therefore can order the Government to stop from deporting the applicant.
Another important issue to discuss is that UNCHR might recognize some persons who have escaped violence under ‘extended mandate', such as Somalis. Moreover, it could also be individuals from Cote d'Ivoire and Sudan. This could be referred to as secondary protection, which in practice is not recognized by Turkish law; therefore it does not provide any protection from arrest or deportation.
Already discussed above, third country nationals of Turkish origin will need to sign a ‘citizenship declaration' in order to apply for an immigrant status. Moreover, they will also need to get an ‘immigrant paper', regarded as a birth certificate. As a result, those accepted as immigrants, will be immediately granted citizenship. In addition, one should keep in mind that if a third country national of Turkish origin decides to maintain his/her nationality and chooses not to apply for an immigrant status, he/she will still get a special treatment as Foreigners of Turkish descent have a privileged status with regards to right to work, meaning that they can work at any public or private institution with an exception of the Turkish Armed Forces and Security Forces.
On the other hand, this does not mean that applications would be rejected just because the applicant comes from outside Europe. In addition, asylum seekers need to take into account the fact that when they come to Turkey form outside Europe, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is informed about the application. These asylum seekers are interviewed and registered by the UNHCR. Therefore, if they are listed as refugees, then they will only enjoy temporary residence in Turkey until the UNCHR office in Turkey place positions them in a third country.
As can be analyzed, Turkey is not very sympathetic to asylum seekers, especially those coming from Iran or Iraq. This will be discussed in more detail in the following section.
Iranian and Iraqi Refugees:
Turkey does not grant refugee status to Iranian or Iraqi asylum-seekers due its geographical limitation (1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees). As a result, they are usually sent to third countries. However, these refugees are subject to some of the asylum and protection procedures provided by the UNCHR along with the Turkish authorities during the period of their stay in Turkey. It needs to be mentioned that they have to accomplish definite criteria for refugees in order for them to be settled in third countries. In addition, asylum seekers have to through several interviews, and those who fail to meet the basic refugee criteria, which includes language, nationality, his/her race or not being protected by the country of citizenship, are usually rejected. However, as it was already discussed above, asylum seekers have a right to appeal, but if the appeal process does not lead to any changes, then asylum seekers are under the risk of being sent back to their host countries.
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