Aviation is one of the sectors in which foreign personnel are employed most intensively; work permits in this field are nevertheless subject to special criteria that depart from the general work permit regime. The ability of foreign nationals to serve in Türkiye as pilots, technicians, flight attendants or cabin crew depends on obtaining this sector-specific type of permit.
In practice, a substantial proportion of applications founder not on questions of legal substance but on numerical thresholds: the ratio of foreign personnel to Turkish personnel, the paid-in capital of the undertaking, the turnover threshold and the wage floor are foremost among them. To these are added the formal and substantive requirements of the employment contract.
Below we examine, in turn, the criteria required for the permit to be granted, how the application proceeds through the e-permit system, which documents must be submitted, the elements the contract must contain, the extension regime and the remedies available in the event of an adverse decision.
Sector-Specific Criteria for Employing Foreign Personnel
The ability of an aviation undertaking to employ foreign pilots, technicians, flight attendants or cabin crew depends on the criteria laid down in the legislation being satisfied. Those criteria may be summarised as follows:
- The foreign pilot to be employed must produce the pilot licence obtained in their own country.
- Foreign cabin crew may not be assigned to domestic flights.
- The number of foreign cabin crew at an airline undertaking may not exceed the number of cabin crew who are Turkish citizens.
- The employment of foreign cabin crew requires that at least 2 cabin crew who are Turkish citizens be on duty on narrow-body passenger aircraft, and at least 3 on wide-body passenger aircraft.
- The reason for which the foreign cabin crew member is employed must be clearly established; the foreign language relied upon as justification must be proved by an internationally valid certificate attesting a good command of it. Where, however, the language relied upon is the official language of the state of which the person concerned is a national, no certification is required.
- The aviation undertaking employing foreign personnel must have employed at least 5 Turkish citizens for each foreign national to be engaged.
- The capital share of the company partner making the application may not fall below 20%.
- The aviation undertaking in which the employment is to take place must have paid-in capital of at least TRY 100,000 and gross ticket sales of at least TRY 800,000.
Failure to satisfy any one of the criteria listed results in the refusal of the application.
Procedure for Obtaining the Permit for Pilots, Technicians and Cabin Crew
A work permit in the aviation sector is obtained upon an application made, through the e-permit application accessed via e-Government, by the aviation undertaking in the position of employer. The employer logs into the system by means of a registered electronic mail (KEP) address and an electronic signature.
If the foreign national is abroad, they must apply to the Turkish diplomatic mission in the country where they are located in order to obtain a reference number; the employer makes the online application using that number. Where the application is concluded favourably, the foreign employee must create an address registration at the civil registry directorate within 20 days of the date of entry into Türkiye.
If the employee is already present in Türkiye, the foreigner identification number beginning with 99, or passport details, are used in the application. That identification number is issued to foreign nationals who have resided in the country for at least 6 months.
The process is completed by filling in the application form in the e-permit application and uploading the requested documents to the system. If the application is assessed favourably, the fee amounts and the bank account details are sent to the employer’s registered KEP address; the employer must make payment within 30 days of receipt of that notification.
The application is deemed complete once the fees have been paid. Where the assessment of the competent authorities is concluded favourably, the work permit document is sent by post to the address of the workplace.
The employer has a further obligation: within 30 days of the favourable conclusion of the application, it must attend the social security centre in the province where the workplace is located and produce the insured employment commencement document for the foreign employee.
Documents to Be Submitted with the Application
Some of the documents the aviation undertaking must upload to the e-permit system at the application stage relate to the foreign national who is to work, and others to the employer institution:
- The passport or the document serving in place of a passport, together with a photocopy
- A diploma or equivalent document such as a graduation certificate, translated into Turkish by a sworn translator and bearing notarial or consular certification
- A curriculum vitae of the foreign national in Turkish
- The employment contract signed between the foreign national and the aviation undertaking — this contract must satisfy a considerable number of criteria, the details of which are explained below
- If the employee resides in Türkiye, the residence permit document
- If the application is made on behalf of a pilot, the pilot licence obtained in their country and translated into Turkish
- The insured service list showing the total number of personnel at the institution — since the number of foreign nationals who may be employed is limited, how many of the staff are Turkish citizens and how many are foreign nationals is verified from this list
- The certificate of activity
- The profit and loss statement and balance sheet for the most recent year, certified by the tax office or by a sworn financial adviser
- The Trade Registry Gazette setting out the current capital structure and shareholding position
- A power of attorney, if the application is made through the employer’s lawyer
The documents must be uploaded to the system in pdf format. For documents that cannot be obtained electronically, it is sufficient to convert them into pdf format using a scanning application; no physical submission is additionally required.
Documents originating abroad, such as passports or diplomas, must be submitted with a notarised Turkish translation and bearing an apostille. Otherwise those documents will be treated as deficient.
Elements Required in the Employment Contract
Acceptance of the application depends on the contract between the parties containing certain elements. The first requirement is that the contract be drawn up in writing. The text is expected to set out clearly the job description of the foreign employee, to state the tax number of the workplace, and to indicate the date of commencement of employment and the address at which the work will be performed.
As regards remuneration, the amount must not fall below the minimum set by the competent authorities and the wage to be paid must be expressly written into the contract. That the employee has been informed in writing of their rights and employment claims is also among the elements required.
As for the formal requirements: each page of the contract must be signed both by the institution and by the foreign employee, and each page must in addition bear the full name and signature of the foreign employee and of the representative of the employer aviation undertaking. It is likewise mandatory to include in the text the numbers of the 157 Helpline for Victims of Human Trafficking and the 170 helpline, so that the employee may contact them if needed.
If the contract does not satisfy these criteria, the work permit application is refused. Since those criteria call for technical knowledge in places, it is useful for the contract to be prepared with legal advice.
Minimum Wage Payable to Aviation Personnel
The lowest wage payable to foreign cabin crew, flight attendants and technicians is TRY 13,414.50, as determined by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in respect of foreign nationals. For pilots the floor is different: 6.5 times the minimum wage applied to foreign nationals is taken as the basis.
These figures represent the lower limit; there is no objection to a higher wage being set. Conversely, agreeing a wage below the floor amount results in the refusal of the application. Since the Ministry updates the minimum wage for foreign nationals every 6 months by the revaluation rate, the amount in force at the time of the application must be checked carefully.
How Long Do Applications Take to Conclude?
Work permit applications in the aviation sector are concluded on average within 30 days. Where documents are uploaded incompletely, the administration’s granting of additional time for completion is the principal factor prolonging the process. Cases in which the wait is extended because of the administration’s workload are also encountered in practice.
Costs and the Obligation to Pay
The cost of this application consists of the valuable paper charge and the work permit fee. Although the amounts change each year, for 2023 the valuable paper charge was applied as a fixed TRY 356 and the work permit fee as TRY 3,090 per year.
Payment must be made within 30 days of the Ministry sending its bank account details to the applicant’s KEP address. The party liable to meet these costs is the employer aviation undertaking.
Refusal of the Application
The application is refused where, for instance, the sector-specific employment criteria are not met, the documents are uploaded incompletely, or the employment contract does not contain the required elements.
A foreign national faced with a refusal decision who is present in Türkiye, holds no residence permit and whose visa period has also expired must leave the country within 10 days of notification of the decision; failing that, they will be deported. That said, the remedies of objection and an action for annulment remain open against the decision. Where those remedies are pursued, no deportation measure will arise until the application has been concluded.
Objection and Action for Annulment against the Refusal Decision
An adverse decision may be challenged both by an objection to the administration and by an action for annulment before the administrative court. These rights are afforded not only to the foreign national on whose behalf the application was made, but also to the employer institution that made it.
The objection is made by a petition submitted through the e-permit application. The petition is expected to use formal language and to explain the grounds of objection. The time limit is 30 days running from the day following the day on which the refusal decision was notified to the employer institution and to the foreign employee. If the objection is upheld, the necessary steps are carried out directly by the administration.
If the objection is dismissed, or without any objection having been made at all, it is possible to bring an action for annulment directly. The judicial forum with subject-matter and territorial jurisdiction in such an action is the Ankara administrative courts.
The objection and litigation process to be pursued against refusal decisions in the aviation sector does not in essence differ from the regime applicable to general work permit applications. The details on this subject are set out in the note entitled “refusal of a work permit application”.
Reapplying after a Refusal
There is no obstacle to making a fresh application following a refusal decision. However, a favourable outcome for the new application depends on the deficiencies that led to the refusal of the first application having been remedied. Where that is not done, the second application will also be refused.
Extension of the Work Permit
The extension request is submitted by the employer aviation undertaking through the e-permit application. The application must be made 60 days before the expiry of the existing permit and, in any event, before the permit period has run out. Extension requests made after the period has expired are refused.
If the sectoral criteria continue to be satisfied and the foreign employee continues to work at the same aviation undertaking, the extension request is granted. The documents required on extension consist of the papers submitted with the initial application together with the existing work permit document.
Where an extension is requested for the first time, the permit may be extended by a maximum of 2 years. Once that period has expired, a further extension may be sought; at the second stage the maximum extension period is 3 years.
If the employee has moved to a different aviation institution, the permit is not extended. In such a case the aviation undertaking in the position of new employer must make a work permit application on the person’s behalf from the outset.
Fuller explanations concerning extension applications are to be found in the note entitled “work permit extension”.
Refusal of the Extension Request and Available Remedies
Failure to make the extension application in time, the conditions no longer being satisfied, or a failure to remedy deficiencies in the documents are grounds for refusal.
Both the foreign employee and the employer aviation undertaking may likewise object to the refusal of an extension request and bring an action for annulment.
Those concerned may pursue the objection remedy within 30 days of notification of the refusal decision. Objection petitions are submitted through the e-permit system in which the initial application was made. If the objection is dismissed, it is possible to bring an action for annulment before the administrative court.
The objection and litigation route pursued against a refusal of extension is, in terms of time limits and procedure, the same as the arrangement applicable to the refusal of an initial application.
May Work Continue While the Extension Is Under Review?
If the extension application has been made within time, the foreign employee may continue working even though the existing permit has expired. That facility is not unlimited, however: the period may not exceed 90 days from the date on which the existing work permit expired.
Where work continues during this period, the mutual rights and obligations arising from the employment contract likewise continue unchanged. The employer aviation undertaking is accordingly obliged both to continue paying the wage and to continue paying the insurance premiums.
NOTE: The moment the extension application is refused, the foreign employee must cease working, whether or not the 90-day period has expired. Otherwise the work becomes unlawful and both the aviation undertaking and the employee face an administrative fine.
General Assessment
The work permit specific to the aviation sector is a type of permit hedged about with detailed criteria. In particular, the contract between the foreign national and the aviation undertaking must contain certain elements; otherwise the application is refused. Although the remedies of objection and an action for annulment are available against a refusal decision, obtaining a result through those routes also calls for procedural knowledge. For that reason it is appropriate for the process to be conducted with the support of legal advice.
The Independent Legal Assessment
In aviation files, the great majority of grounds for refusal arise not from legal argument but from measurable thresholds not being met at the time of the application. The ratios, the capital and turnover thresholds and the wage floor are data that can be verified on the documents before the application is made. Where the institution’s staffing structure is planned in advance by reference to these thresholds, the risk of refusal is considerably reduced.
The second critical point is timing. Making the extension request before the permit expires, paying the fees within 30 days of the KEP notification, and completing the insured employment commencement notification likewise within 30 days are timetables that directly determine whether rights are lost.
In concrete employment planning, the following headings come to the fore:
- Verifying, against the staffing list, the ratios of foreign to Turkish personnel together with the cabin crew numbers that vary according to aircraft type
- Documenting the thresholds for paid-in capital, gross ticket sales and the partner’s capital share before the application is made
- Writing the wage into the contract having regard to the current minimum wage for foreign nationals and, for pilots, the floor of 6.5 times that figure
- Leaving no deficiency in the apostille and notarised translation of documents originating abroad
- Checking the formal requirements of the employment contract — page signatures, helpline numbers, tax number — one by one
- Ensuring the employer is aware that, where an extension is refused, the 90-day facility to continue working comes to an immediate end
Independent Legal advises throughout the process of employing foreign personnel in the aviation sector, from the preparation of permit applications to the objections and actions for annulment to be pursued against refusal decisions.