Getting the permit architecture right
A foreign manager or specialist taking up a post in Türkiye has three layers to deal with: the visa, if one is required, the work permit, and residence. A work permit also serves in place of a residence permit, which is why the right sequence is almost always the work permit first. The wrong sequence produces repeat applications that drag on for months.
Practical guidance
A work permit triggers SGK (Social Security Institution) and tax obligations: salary payments and actual work should not begin before the permit is issued.
Let us manage your permit process end to end
We carry out incorporation, appointment, and permit applications on a single timeline, in two languages.
What the employer has to show
The application is filed through the employer, and the employer has to meet thresholds of its own: a level of paid-in capital or turnover, and the employment of a set number of Turkish workers for each foreign employee. A newly incorporated company needs a plan for reaching those thresholds, and the incorporation and the permit application belong on a single timeline.
Position and salary: where applications fail
The qualifications the position calls for have to match both the candidate’s profile and the salary offered, and the salary thresholds are set as multiples of the minimum wage according to the category of the position. Mismatches — an intern’s profile on a general manager’s salary — are where files most often stall.
The Turquoise Card and the exceptional routes
For highly qualified workers, investors and scientists the Turquoise Card is a strong alternative, but the card is issued with the first three years as a transition period (Law No. 6735, art. 11(2)). The application to have the transition-period annotation removed must be made within the last 180 days of that period and, in any event, before it expires; otherwise the application is rejected and the Turquoise Card becomes invalid. Only after that stage is an indefinite Turquoise Card issued. Certain categories — key personnel, statutory exemptions — also benefit from a streamlined assessment, and choosing the right category shortens the process appreciably.
Process and timeline
Applications made inside Türkiye and applications made from abroad follow different routes. Apostilles and sworn translations, biometric appointments and the fee steps all belong in the timeline. Putting an employee to work before the permit has issued attracts an administrative fine and leaves a negative record for future applications.
What can be done if the application is refused?
A refusal is not the end of the road. An administrative objection is available, followed by an action for annulment; in practice, though, the fastest route is often a new and stronger application that removes the ground for refusal — correcting the job description, bringing the salary up to the threshold, completing the missing documents. Grounds for refusal differ from file to file, so the file should be analysed properly before a second application goes in. Where the refusal comes from the company structure itself, whether capital or the employment ratio, the answer is to plan the company structure around the thresholds before applying at all.
Looking further ahead: long-term residence and citizenship
Uninterrupted and lawful residence in Türkiye lays the ground for a long-term residence permit and, on certain conditions, for a citizenship application. Citizenship by investment offers a separate fast track through channels such as real estate and fixed-capital investment; the current thresholds and the way they are applied are set by regulation. The status of family members, the children’s schooling and social security rights all follow from the type of the principal permit and should be planned together with it. This is the human-resources leg of an Expansion into Türkiye strategy.
The Köksal approach
Our Residence, Work Permit & Citizenship focus area treats permits not as individual documents but as part of the company’s incorporation and employment plan. Our work permits service runs applications end to end, and for assignments towards Germany our Germany Desk plans the EU Blue Card and intra-company transfer routes.
Conclusion
A work permit application is not a form-filling exercise. It is a design problem set by three things at once — company structure, employment plan and salary policy — and the design is what decides whether the first application succeeds. Beyond the permit itself, the same thinking is what turns a permit into a durable status strategy.
