The ability of foreign personnel to take up posts in the entertainment sector is tied to a work permit specific to this field. When the number of foreign nationals employed at facilities in tourism areas and at entertainment businesses is taken into account, the weight this type of permit carries in practice becomes self-evident.
The legislation lays down a special regulatory regime for this sector that differs from other work permits. Below we assess, in turn, the criteria the employer must meet, how the application is conducted, the documents to be submitted, the clauses that must be present in the employment contract, the minimum pay thresholds, the extension procedure and the remedies available against a refusal decision.
Criteria Required of the Employer
The employment of foreign personnel in the entertainment sector is conditional upon the presence of a number of requirements. The striking feature of these requirements is that they are directed not at the foreign national who is to work but at the workplace that is to employ them. The criteria to be met by the employer at the application stage are as follows:
- The paid-in capital of the workplace must be at least TRY 100,000; or, alternatively, its gross sales must be at least TRY 800,000 or its export volume at least USD 250,000
- At least 10 Turkish citizens must be employed at the workplace
- The company shareholder making the application must hold at least 20% of the capital, and the monetary value of that holding must also be at least TRY 40,000
The examination of whether these criteria are met is carried out by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Failure to satisfy even one of the requirements results in refusal of the application. Where a deficiency is identified in the application file in respect of these requirements, the authority may allow the person concerned time to remedy it.
How Does the Application Process Work?
A work permit relating to the entertainment sector is obtained through an application conducted by the employer by means of the e-izin application accessed through the e-devlet portal. The route by which the employer logs into the system differs according to whether the foreign national is in Türkiye or abroad at the time of the application.
If the foreign national is abroad, they first apply to the Turkish diplomatic mission in the country where they are located. The employer completes the process by logging into the e-izin application with the code generated by that application.
If the foreign national is in Türkiye, the system is accessed using the foreigner identification number or passport details. The online application is concluded once the employer has transferred the necessary information and documents to the system.
Where the application is received favourably, the bank accounts into which the fee and the valuable paper charge are to be paid are notified to the email address registered for the employer in the e-izin system. Following that notification, the payments must be transferred to the relevant accounts within 30 days.
If the payments are made in full within that period, the Ministry sends the work permit document within 30 days to the workplace address declared in the application. If payment is not made, the application is refused.
CAUTION: The employer is obliged to submit the insured employee commencement declaration for the foreign personnel to the social security institution to which the workplace is affiliated within 30 days of the date on which the work permit application is approved.
CAUTION: Where the application is made from abroad, the foreign national must apply to the civil registry office and create an address registration within 20 days of the date on which they enter Türkiye.
Many other types of work permit also exist for foreign nationals wishing to be employed in Türkiye; those permits and the application route to be followed are the subject of a separate study.
Documents to Be Submitted with the Application
A set of documents is prescribed that must be uploaded to the e-izin system when the application is made. Some of these documents are obtained by the employer and some by the foreign personnel.
Documents to be submitted by the employer:
- An authorised bank statement establishing that the workplace’s turnover over the last year is at least USD 40,000 or the equivalent of that amount in foreign currency
- The trade registry gazette showing the current capital structure of the workplace and the number of shareholders
- The balance sheet and profit and loss statement for the most recent year, certified by the tax office or by a certified public accountant
- The operating and investment certificate obtainable from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism
- Where the application is made through a representative rather than by the employer, a power of attorney
- The employment contract concluded between the employer and the foreign national on whose behalf the permit is sought (the clauses required in the contract are explained separately below)
Documents relating to the foreign personnel:
- The passport or the document taking the place of a passport
- A notarised copy of the diploma, or of the graduation certificate taking its place, with a sworn translation into Turkish
- Where the foreign national is resident in Türkiye at the time of the application, the residence permit document
- A biometric photograph of the foreign national
- A reference certificate approved by the competent authorities and accompanied by a sworn translation
All of the documents must be uploaded to the e-izin system by the employer at the time of the application. Documents that cannot be obtained electronically are expected to be scanned, converted to pdf format and transferred to the system in that format. The documents are not additionally required to be produced in physical form.
Mandatory Clauses in the Employment Contract
There are a great many matters to be observed when drawing up the employment contract to be concluded between the foreign personnel and the employer. The conditions and clauses that must appear in the contract may be listed as follows:
- A provision that the pay will not fall below the minimum amount determined for foreign nationals by the Directorate General of International Labour Force (that Directorate General determines the minimum pay that may be paid to foreign employees every six months, and pay may not fall below that level)
- A clause providing that the return ticket and travel expenses will be borne by the employer when the foreign national returns to their own country during the period in which they work for the employer
- The tax number of the workplace
- The date on which the foreign national will start work
- The full address of the workplace where the work will be carried out
- A clearly specified job description for the foreign national
- An information notice concerning the employee’s rights
- The numbers of the 157 Helpline for Victims of Human Trafficking and of the 170 helpline, so that they may be called upon if needed
These elements must without fail be present in the contract that is signed. An employment contract that does not carry the required clauses will be regarded as invalid, and consequently the work permit request founded on that contract will also be refused.
The Minimum Pay Threshold for Foreign Personnel
The minimum wage determined by the Directorate General of International Labour Force for foreign nationals for 2023 was applied as TRY 13,414.50. That said, foreign nationals who are to serve as acrobats in tourism and animation organisations must be paid at least 2 times that amount. For foreign artists, the minimum pay to be paid has been set at 3 times that amount.
How Long Does the Application Take?
Provided that the application has been made in full and in due form, a request for an entertainment sector work permit is decided within 30 days.
Where there is a deficiency in the documents, the authority allows additional time for it to be remedied, and this causes the process to be prolonged. For this reason, consulting a lawyer working in the field of immigration law before the application, or indeed having the application made directly through a lawyer, contributes to the process being concluded quickly and favourably.
Fees and Costs
The costs arising with this type of permit consist of the work permit fee and the fixed valuable paper charge. The fee is calculated as TRY 3,090.20 for each 1 year of the permit. Accordingly, a fee of TRY 3,090.20 must be paid for permits granted for up to one year and of TRY 7,180 for permits granted for up to two years. The valuable paper charge, irrespective of the duration of the permit, is TRY 356. All of the amounts stated are valid for 2023 and will be updated in the years ahead.
Refusal of the Application and Remedies Against a Refusal
A request for an entertainment sector work permit is refused where the required conditions are not met, where a deficiency identified in the documents is not remedied within the period allowed by the authority, or where the Ministry does not consider the request compatible with international labour force policy.
Objection and Action for Annulment
Both the foreign personnel on whose behalf the application was made and the employer who made the application are entitled to object to a refusal decision and to bring an action for annulment.
An objection is made within 30 days of service of the refusal decision, by uploading the objection pleading to the e-izin application. If the objection is upheld, the necessary steps are taken directly by the competent authorities.
Where an objection made within the time limit and in due form is rejected, the foreign personnel or the employer may bring an action for annulment against the refusal. The court with subject-matter and territorial jurisdiction in that action is the Ankara Administrative Court.
The objection and litigation route to be pursued against the refusal of permits specific to the entertainment sector is subject to the same time limits and procedures as apply to the refusal of other work permits.
The Possibility of Making a Fresh Application
A person whose request is refused may make a fresh application taking into account the matters set out in the grounds for refusal. If the deficiencies that led to the refusal of the previous application are not remedied, the refusal of the new application will be unavoidable.
Extension of the Work Permit
The duration of an entertainment sector work permit may be extended. As with the initial application, an extension request is submitted through the e-izin application by the employer or by a representative authorised by them. The request must be made from the point at which 60 days remain until the permit expires and, in any event, before the permit period runs out.
Extension requests are taken into consideration provided that the conditions on which the permit is based continue to exist and that the necessary documents have been uploaded to the system in full. The permit may be extended for a maximum of 2 years on the first extension and for a maximum of 3 years on subsequent extension requests. However, the extension period may not exceed the period remaining under the employment contract.
CAUTION: An extension is possible only if the foreign national continues to work for the same employer. Where the foreign national reaches agreement with another employer or turns to self-employment, the extension request is not granted; such a request is treated as a permit application made for the first time.
Remedies Against Refusal of an Extension Request
A person whose extension request is refused may object to the competent authority and may also bring an action for annulment before the administrative court. The time limits and procedure relating to these routes coincide entirely with the regime applied where an initial application is refused.
Can Work Continue While the Extension Is Being Assessed?
While the extension request is under examination, the foreign national may continue to work for a further 90 days from the date on which the existing work permit expires. If the request is refused, however, that work takes on an unlawful character.
During this period in which the foreign national continues to work, the rights and obligations of both the employer and the foreign personnel arising from the law remain in existence.
Conclusion
Both the criteria required and the documents to be submitted are regulated in detail in the case of the entertainment sector work permit. Failure to meet one of the conditions, or documents not being of the required standard, results in the refusal of the application. In order for the process to be conducted smoothly and quickly along the objection and annulment routes pursued against a refusal decision, it is beneficial to obtain legal support in the field of immigration law.
Independent Legal’s Assessment
With this type of permit, the great majority of applications founder not on the qualities of the foreign national but on the employer’s conditions relating to financial thresholds. Determining before the application which of the capital, turnover or export criteria can be documented most strongly in the file forestalls the weeks that would otherwise be lost to correspondence about deficiencies.
The second sensitive point is the employment contract. Here the contract is not merely a document regulating the relationship between the parties; it is at the same time a condition of validity of the administrative application, and the absence of one of the mandatory clauses directly results in refusal. Reflecting the pay multiples specific to the sector correctly in the text of the contract is equally decisive.
In a particular file the following headings should be reviewed as a priority:
- Documenting which of the capital, turnover or export thresholds the workplace meets, and verifying the condition of employing 10 Turkish citizens
- Recording in the contract and on the payroll the pay multiples applicable to acrobat and artist status
- Placing in the calendar the 30-day periods for payment and for the insured employee commencement declaration following approval
- Not overlooking the 20-day address registration obligation in applications made from abroad
- Making the extension request within the 60-day window and while work with the same employer continues
- Not missing the 30-day objection period in the event of refusal, and planning from the outset for the option of an action before the Ankara Administrative Court
Independent Legal provides advisory services and conducts litigation in work permit applications relating to the employment of foreign personnel in the entertainment and tourism sectors, in extension processes, and in objections and actions for annulment pursued against refusal decisions.