Rejection, Cancellation or Non-Extension of a Residence Permit Application
The rejection of a residence permit application, the cancellation of a current permit and the non-extension of its duration are different administrative acts. Each act must be reviewed on the basis of the conditions of the relevant permit type and the specific facts in the foreign national’s file.
The main causes of dispute are as follows:
- Failure to establish the purpose of stay with sufficient information and documents
- One of the conditions for the permit type being absent or later ceasing to exist
- An allegation that the residence permit was used for a purpose other than the one for which it was granted
- Inconsistency in address, lease, title deed or housing records
- The passport or health insurance not being suitable
- Insufficiency regarding income or sponsor conditions
- The family tie or the intention to live together being regarded as disputed
- An allegation that studies are not actually being continued
- Periods spent outside Türkiye
- Existence of a valid deportation decision or an entry ban decision for Türkiye concerning the person
- Assessment of public order or public security
- An allegation of a forged or untrue document or statement
- Failing to attend the appointment without an excuse or failing to submit the requested documents within the time limit
A rejection, cancellation or non-extension decision is notified to the foreign national, the legal representative or the attorney. The notification must be reviewed immediately as to the reasons for the decision, its legal basis, the date of notification, the available avenues of application and the foreign national’s current status.
Annulment action against the rejection decision
Residence permit decisions are administrative acts. The lawfulness of the act in terms of its elements of competence, form, cause, subject matter and purpose may be reviewed in the administrative courts. In preparing the case:
- The authority that issued the act
- The date of notification of the decision and the time limit for filing an action
- The administrative court with subject-matter and territorial jurisdiction
- Whether the reasons for rejection have been made concrete
- Whether the application documents have been assessed
- The records and inquiries on which the administration relied
- Family life, the best interests of the child and ties in Türkiye
- Proportionality and the exercise of discretionary power
- The conditions for a stay of execution
- Other administrative acts connected with the rejection decision
are assessed together.
For administrative acts for which no special time limit is provided, the time limit for an annulment action is, in general, sixty days starting from the day following written notification. However, deportation, administrative detention, entry ban or international protection acts may be subject to different time limits and procedures. When the same notification contains more than one act, the time limit and the competent judicial route of each decision must be determined separately.
Filing an action does not in every case automatically stay the execution of the administrative act. A request for a stay of execution must be substantiated with file-specific information and documents on the damage that may arise if the act is carried out and on the act’s manifest unlawfulness.
Reapplication for the same purpose of stay
If a residence permit application is rejected, under Article 21/10 of the Implementing Regulation of the Law on Foreigners and International Protection (YUKK), a new purpose of stay is required in a reapplication within six months. The exceptions to reapplication are reviewed separately, particularly as to the reason for cancellation and the relevant permit type. If the foreign national’s lawful stay continues and a new legal reason has arisen, the option of transition with a different purpose of stay or a new application may be assessed. Making a new application does not automatically stop the time limit for filing an action against the earlier rejection decision.
How Does an Administrative Objection Affect the Time Limit for Filing an Action?
Under Article 11 of the Administrative Procedure Law (İYUK), a proper application made to the superior authority — or to the authority that issued the act if there is no superior authority — before an action is filed and before the time limit for filing an action has expired suspends the running time limit. If no reply is given within 30 days, the request is deemed rejected. After an express or implied rejection, the remaining time runs; the earlier days are not erased and a new 60 days does not begin.
An ordinary request for information, a telephone call or a new e-İkamet record is not automatically counted as an Article 11 application. A petition submitted after the time limit has expired does not revive the time limit for filing an action that has passed.
Can I Stay in Türkiye When I File an Action?
Filing a residence permit action does not by itself provide a right of lawful stay and does not automatically stay the act. For a stay of execution, manifest unlawfulness and the condition of damage that is difficult or impossible to remedy are substantiated together. If a decision is made, its scope and its implementation by the administration are followed separately.
If there is a separate deportation decision, the special 7-day route for filing an action from notification is, as a rule, assessed against it. Do not apply the 60-day time limit of a residence permit rejection action to this decision. The obligation concerning departure from Türkiye is separate from the time limit for filing an action; the rejection notification and the current status of stay must be reviewed together.
Related detailed page: Entry Bans to Türkiye, Restriction Codes and Visa Disputes
The Court Decision and the Following Stages
The case is prepared on the basis of the authority that issued the act, subject-matter and territorial jurisdiction, the application file and the date of notification. Family life, the best interests of the child, health or a concrete public order ground are addressed with documents. The competent administrative court examines the requests for a stay of execution and on the merits under their own conditions.
On notification of the decision, the avenue of appeal and its time limit are checked separately. The general time limit for appeal (istinaf) is 30 days; the appeal regime of the decision is confirmed separately. The time limit for objecting to stay of execution decisions is, as a rule, 7 days. Whether the administration carries out what an annulment or stay of execution decision requires is followed; a permit or a right to work outside the scope of the decision is not presumed.
Our working approach in the case file
We assess the connection between the reasons given and the documents submitted, the notification, the status of stay and any other decisions in a separate chronology of acts. We determine the request, the evidence, the time limit and the scope of representation; we handle the petition, responses to interim decisions and post-decision information according to the work undertaken.
Information Needed for the First Consultation
Prepare your passport, your current permit and your application records; if there is a decision, all of its pages and the notification record. If a permit expiry, a trip or an application deadline is approaching, mention it in your first message. The file-specific document list and the method of representation are settled in the consultation.