All foreign nationals (including EU citizens and residents) must obtain a work permit before starting employed work in Turkey. The Turkish entity that sponsors the work permit application (and acts as the local employer) must also meet certain requirements that must be maintained over the life of the work permit. The employer must meet a 5:1 ratio of Turkish to foreign employees per worksite (or be granted an exemption), as well as meeting certain capital or other financial requirements. These rules are set out in the Law regarding Work Permits for Foreign Nationals (the ‘Law’) and the amended Regulation on Work Permits for Foreign Nationals.

The sponsoring employer must also meet certain minimal salary requirements. Between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2022, the required amount is:

• Gross minimum monthly wage: TRY 5,004.00
• Net minimum monthly wage: TRY 4,253.40

(1 TRY = 0.11 USD approximately, at the time of writing)

In addition to this minimum salary requirement, the salary to be paid to the foreign employee must be commensurate with the position in question. Specifically:

• High level managers and pilots cannot be paid less than 6.5 times the minimum wage (or TRY 32.526,00 gross per month).
• Department managers and engineers/architects cannot be paid less than four times the minimum wage (or TRY 20.016,00 gross per month).
• Employees who will work in a position requiring expertise (note: this is not defined) and teachers cannot be paid less than three times the minimum wage (or TRY 15.012,00 gross per month).
• In the tourism sector, employees who will work as performers or in similar positions for tourism and entertainment organisations and masseurs and spa therapists cannot be paid less than twice the minimum wage (or TRY 10.008,00 gross per month).
• Individuals who will work in all other positions (such as those in sales or low-level marketing positions) cannot be paid less than 1.5 times the minimum wage (or TRY 7.506,00 gross per month).
• Household workers cannot be paid less than minimum wage.

The salary requirements described above do not include benefits of any kind, including housing allowances, bonuses, and others.

Salary requirements must be maintained throughout the whole period of work permit validity. In our experience, aside from household or tourism workers, applications that relate to a position with a salary less than three times the minimum wage face increased scrutiny.

Please also note that work permit applications that are pending at the start of a new year will be required to meet the minimum wage requirement that applies for the new year, not that for the year the application was filed.