Foreign nationals who wish to run their own business in Türkiye without entering the service of an employer must obtain not an ordinary work permit but a work permit of an independent nature, regulated as a separate category. This permit is not open to everyone; falling within one of the groups of persons enumerated one by one in the Regulation on the Implementation of the International Labour Force Act is a precondition.
The application is conducted through the e-permit system and requires the documents to be submitted electronically. Where the request is refused, an objection may be raised against the refusal decision or an action for annulment may be brought before the administrative court. Below we assess the scope of this permit, the persons who may benefit from it, the application procedure, the document file, the grounds for refusal and cancellation, and the financial obligations.
The Scope of the Permit Type
The independent work permit is a category of work permit that authorises the foreign national to carry on an activity in Türkiye on their own name and account. What is involved here is not work based on a service contract or on an employer–employee relationship; the foreign national pursues the activity within the framework of their own business or profession.
The authority conferred by the permit is not confined to work; a foreign national holding this permit also acquires the right to reside in Türkiye.
Who May Benefit from This Permit?
The fundamental criterion for the permit to be granted is membership of one of the groups set out in Article 29 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the International Labour Force Act. The Regulation identifies those groups as follows:
- Members of the professions determined by the Directorate General of International Labour Force,
- Foreign nationals who are cross-border service providers; these may work independently or may be tied to an employer established abroad,
- Members of the board of directors of joint stock companies who hold the status of shareholder,
- Persons who are both shareholder and manager in limited liability companies,
- Managers who are active partners in partnerships limited by shares,
- Foreign nationals who hold the status of both partner and manager in company types other than joint stock companies, limited liability companies and partnerships limited by shares.
An additional restriction applies to the members of the professions included in this enumeration. Those persons may not carry on work that is incompatible with the profession they hold; where such a situation is established, their work permits are cancelled.
A Repealed Condition: Five Years of Uninterrupted Residence
A condition that is still voiced from time to time in practice but that has no validity today deserves separate mention. Article 7 of Act No. 4817 on Work Permits for Foreigners made the grant of a work permit of an independent nature conditional upon the foreign national having resided in Türkiye uninterruptedly for 5 years.
That Act has been repealed; today no five-year residence history is required for this permit.
Conducting the Application Through the E-Permit System
To submit the request, the e-permit system is accessed through e-Government; the documents are uploaded to the platform and the relevant fees are paid. There is an important procedural difference that sets this permit type apart from the others: the application is made not by an employer but by the foreign national seeking the permit in person.
Access to the system is effected with the foreigner’s identification number. Since that number is allocated to foreign nationals who have resided in Türkiye for at least six months, a person wishing to obtain the permit must in fact have a six-month residence history.
Once the independent work permit type has been selected in the system, the information in the form that opens is completed and the requested documents are uploaded through the same platform. The process is completed by payment of the work permit fee and the valuable paper charge.
The Requirement of an Electronic Notification Address
A foreign national applying from within the country is required to hold a registered electronic notification address. Where the administration identifies a deficiency in the file, it contacts the person concerned through that address and allows a period for the deficiency to be remedied; it also gives notice of the acceptance or refusal of the application through the same channel.
In the case of requests made from abroad, the registered electronic notification address must be entered into the system within 30 days following the day on which work commences.
Issue of the Permit Document and Activity at More Than One Workplace
If the request is granted, a work permit document issued for a fixed term is prepared in the name of the foreign national. The document is sent by post to the address entered into the system at the time of the application.
Foreign nationals holding this permit may carry on activity at more than one workplace, provided that the provisions of the legislation are complied with and a separate application is made through the system. Here too, however, the criterion of compatibility with the profession retains its validity; no work incompatible with the profession may be carried out at any of those workplaces.
The Right of Residence Arising from the Permit
Foreign nationals holding an independent work permit need not obtain a separate residence permit for the duration of the permit. The work permit itself constitutes the legal basis for residing in the country until the end of its period of validity.
For as long as the permit remains in force, no parallel residence permit application is expected.
Documents Required in the File
The documents that must be submitted with the application may be listed as follows:
- The foreign national’s passport or the document serving in place of a passport,
- Two biometric photographs of the foreign national,
- A copy of the diploma, or of the document serving in place of a diploma, with a notarised Turkish translation,
- A document establishing that the work to be carried out in Türkiye is actually performed; that is, a licence or similar document showing that the foreign national is qualified for whichever activity is to be pursued,
- Where the permit is sought for the purpose of establishing a business, the business licence.
This list is not fixed. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security retains the power to update the documents required and to request additional documents; it is therefore advisable to check the current list on the e-permit application before applying.
Missing Documents and the Ministry’s Request for Additional Documents
Where a deficiency or problem is found in the file, the Ministry contacts the foreign national through the registered e-mail address and allows an additional period of up to 30 days for the deficiency to be remedied. If the deficiency is not remedied within the period allowed, the request is refused.
The Ministry’s power is not confined to this. The foreign national may also be asked for documents establishing that criteria such as the contribution to be made to science and technology or the scale of the employment to be created are met. That request is made after the application has been completed, and again a period of up to 30 days is granted for the documents to be uploaded. If the period passes without result, the outcome is refusal.
A further detail on the documents that should not be overlooked is the validity period of the passport. The validity of the passport uploaded to the system, or of the document serving its function, must exceed the period sought for the permit by at least 6 months.
The process does not consist merely of gathering documents; the statutory conditions must also be satisfied and the procedural steps correctly carried out.
Remaining in the Country During Assessment: The Application Document
A foreign national who wishes to await the outcome in Türkiye after making the application may remain in the country for as long as their visa is valid. A person who has neither a visa period nor a residence permit must request a work permit application document.
This document allows its holder to remain in the country until the application is concluded; more than that, it also permits multiple entries and exits. Its period of validity is 3 months from the date of issue.
The document is issued free of charge only to foreign nationals who are members of the professions; the others eligible for this permit type are liable to pay a fee when they request an application document.
Refusal of the Request and Cancellation of the Permit
Applications made by persons falling outside the scope of Article 29 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the International Labour Force Act are refused. Likewise, files submitted with missing documents and not completed within the period allowed by the administration are decided adversely. Where the conditions existing at the time of the application subsequently cease to exist, the permit already granted is cancelled.
In short, requests that do not meet the conditions, that remain deficient in terms of documents or that conflict with the criteria are not accepted; where a request has been accepted and the position is established afterwards, the permit is withdrawn. The Ministry may also refuse a request where it does not consider it compatible with international labour force policy.
Another ground for cancellation concerns time spent outside the country. Leaving aside cases regarded as force majeure — such as health grounds or compulsory public service — the permit holder’s remaining abroad without interruption for more than 1 year results in cancellation.
Objection and Action Against Refusal and Cancellation Decisions
Two remedies are available to those concerned against adverse decisions: objection and an action for annulment. The relationship between these two remedies runs in one direction only. Pursuing the objection first suspends the period for bringing an action for annulment; if the objection is refused, the route to court remains open. Conversely, where an action for annulment has been brought directly, it is not possible to exercise the right of objection afterwards.
An objection is addressed to the Ministry using the e-permit system within 30 days of the date on which the refusal decision is served on the foreign national.
An action for annulment, on the other hand, is brought before the administrative court within 60 days running from the day following service of the decision. If an objection has previously been raised, that period is suspended. To put the matter concretely: where an objection was raised on the 25th day following service, 35 days remain in which to bring the action, running from the day after service of the decision given on the objection.
Detailed explanations of the legal avenues available against refusal or cancellation decisions are set out in our note on the refusal of a work permit application.
How Long the Application Takes to Conclude
Requests for an independent work permit are decided on average within 30 days. The period varies according to whether the applicant meets the conditions, whether the documents have been submitted in full and whether the fees have been paid in full.
Financial Obligations
There are two items payable: the work permit fee and the valuable paper charge. The fee levied for a permit of an independent nature has been set at TRY 30,914.40, and the charge for the valuable paper at TRY 356.
These figures relate to 2023 and are revised each year by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
Independent Legal Assessment
The independent work permit is an area that calls for procedural management rather than legal characterisation. Obtaining the documents, the notifications made through the system, the payment of fees and the monitoring of the periods allowed by the administration are interlocking links; a failure in any one of them leads directly to refusal.
Particularly in applications made in the capacity of company partner and manager, it is decisive that the group among those listed in Article 29 of the Regulation into which the person falls should be correctly identified from the outset. Where that characterisation is made wrongly, the request will come to nothing, however completely the file has been prepared.
When a specific application is being planned, we recommend that the following points be given priority:
- Establishing clearly, by reference to the company type and the capacity held, which category the applicant falls into,
- Satisfying, before the application, the six-month residence condition required for a foreigner’s identification number,
- Planning the validity of the passport so that it exceeds the permit period sought by at least six months,
- Keeping the registered electronic notification address active and not missing the additional 30-day periods granted by the administration,
- For members of the professions, assessing in advance the compatibility of the work to be carried out with the profession, in view of the risk of cancellation,
- In the event of a refusal decision, making the choice between objection and court action deliberately, having regard to the running of the periods.
Independent Legal provides advisory services and conducts proceedings across the whole of this field, from the preparation of foreign nationals’ work permit applications to the objection and administrative court proceedings to be pursued against refusal and cancellation decisions.