The legal function of the evaluation criteria
Law No. 6735 provides that work permit applications are examined within the framework of the international labor force policy and the criteria set by the Ministry. The criteria aim to evaluate together the protection of domestic employment, the employer's real activity, the foreigner's qualifications, the consistency of duty and salary, and the needs of the sector. They are not merely a "scoring table"; they give concrete form to the legal and economic context of the application. [1, Arts. 7 and 9; 6]
Meeting the criteria does not automatically make the grant of a permit mandatory. Likewise, a refusal that the criteria are not met must explain which data were taken as the basis, for which period and for which workplace. The applicant is obliged to document a claim of exception or exemption.
The five-Turkish-employee employment criterion
The general rule
For workplaces subject to the balance-sheet basis, for each foreigner for whom a work permit is requested, the employment of at least five Turkish citizens at the workplace where the foreigner will work is the basis. In an application for several foreigners, the calculation is made separately for each foreigner. [6]
Which workplace and which period is taken as the basis?
The SGK workplace registry number, the branch and the actual place of work matter. The company's total number of employees across Türkiye may not be sufficient where the application is examined on a branch basis. The employee list must be consistent both for the period close to the date of application and for the period the Ministry requests. Temporary entries, entries with missing days or mass entries made just before the application may be examined for the genuineness of the file.
Workplaces with net sales of TL 50 million
In the applications of the first five foreigners to be employed at workplaces whose net sales in the last year are TL 50,000,000 or more, the five-Turkish-employee criterion is not applied. This exception does not remove financial adequacy, salary, professional qualifications or the other grounds of refusal. [6]
The financial adequacy criterion
A newly established workplace
At a balance-sheet-basis workplace established in the current year and for which the year-end balance sheet and income statement have not yet been drawn up, the paid-in capital must be at least TL 500,000. Committed but unpaid capital must be distinguished from the nominal capital in the trade registry. [6]
An active workplace
At a workplace with at least one year-end balance sheet, one of the following alternatives must be met:
- Paid-in capital of at least TL 500,000, or
- Net sales of at least TL 8,000,000, or
- Exports of at least USD 150,000. [6]
These three conditions are not cumulative; they are alternatives. However, the balance sheet, income statement, export records and tax documents must belong to the correct period and to the applicant employer.
Ordinary partnerships
In an ordinary partnership (adi ortaklık) formed by balance-sheet-basis workplaces, at least one of the partners must meet one of the alternatives of TL 500,000 paid-in capital, TL 8,000,000 net sales or USD 150,000 exports. The partnership agreement and the capacity of employer must be clearly shown. [6]
The salary criterion and the 2026 amounts
The salary to be paid to the foreigner is determined, according to the level of the duty, on the basis of the gross minimum wage on the date of application. The 2026 gross minimum wage is TL 33,030. [6, 13]
| Duty group | Multiplier | 2026 minimum monthly gross salary |
|---|---|---|
| Senior executives and pilots | 5 times | TL 165,150 |
| Engineers and architects | 4 times | TL 132,120 |
| Other managers | 3 times | TL 99,090 |
| Jobs requiring expertise and mastery | 2 times | TL 66,060 |
| Domestic services and other jobs | 1 time | TL 33,030 |
The actual duty matters, not the title
Writing "specialist" or "manager" in the contract is not sufficient on its own. The job description, the organization chart, the foreigner's education, experience and powers and the SGK profession code may be examined together. An artificial title for a foreigner who does not in fact perform a senior executive function, or conversely a different, low-paid title for a person who exercises managerial authority, creates a contradiction in the file.
Actual payment of the salary
The salary undertaken in the application must also be applied in the SGK and payroll records. Reporting below the minimum wage coefficient after the permit is obtained can create problems in social security and work permit inspections.
The lawful-stay exception of 3 August 2026
In a domestic application made on behalf of a foreigner who has stayed lawfully in Türkiye for at least one year in the last three years before the date of application under a work permit, residence permit or international protection, the employment and financial adequacy criteria may not be applied, limited to at most three foreigners at the same workplace. The number of foreigners working at that workplace with a work permit must not exceed the number of Turkish citizens. For the fourth and later foreigners, the ordinary five-Turkish-employee and financial criteria apply again. [6]
This exception is valid only for applications from within the country and for the stated past history. The salary criterion, professional qualifications, prohibited professions, security and other requirements continue.
Special criteria by sector, profession and job
The IT sector
For specialist duties such as software development, databases, mobile software, systems-network security and enterprise architecture, the employment and financial criteria may not be applied to workplaces in the IT sector. At non-IT workplaces, this exception is limited to at most two foreigners. That the duty is genuinely of the nature of IT expertise must be shown by documents and the job description. [6]
Education and health
For education staff, prior permission of the Ministry of National Education (MEB) or the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) is required; for health professionals, the prior permission of the Ministry of Health. For certain groups granted prior permission, the employment and financial criteria are not applied. A prior permission document is not a work permit; the Ministry's work permit procedure is completed separately. [4, 6]
Domestic services
In domestic services, the work permit focuses on care of children, the disabled or the elderly and attendance of patients. The person who may apply, the age/health of the person to be cared for and the foreigner's care experience are examined under special criteria. The employment of a foreigner for general cleaning or ordinary housework is not assessed within this special scope. [6]
Tourism and entertainment
The tourism operation certificate, facility capacity, duty and the foreigner's qualifications are subject to special evaluation. For duties such as spa therapist, artist or entertainment staff, the operation certificate and the professional records matter. The old star, financial adequacy or sector criteria in historical decisions of the Council of State (Danıştay) should not be substituted for the current numerical regulation. [4, 14]
Livestock, manufacturing, poultry farming and recycling
For livestock, the animal stock and the opinion of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; for manufacturing, poultry farming and recycling, special employment exceptions valid until 31.12.2027 have been provided. The workplace/branch and activity code conditions of the exceptions must be applied carefully. A move of a foreigner who obtained a permit under the exception to another employer outside the sector within the first six months may be assessed unfavorably unless there is force majeure. [6]
Criteria for foreigners who are company partners
For a foreigner who opens a new workplace or becomes a partner in a company, the paid-in capital of the workplace must be at least TL 500,000; the foreigner's capital amount must be at least TL 500,000 and the partnership share at least 20 percent. The five-Turkish-employee requirement is sought every month from the beginning of the seventh month of the first permit. If the foreigner's capital share is USD 100,000 or more, these financial and employment criteria are not applied. [6]
Being a company partner is different from actually working in the company. The need for a work permit of a foreign managing partner in a limited company or a foreign partner who is a member of the board of directors in a joint-stock company is determined separately within the framework of the Turkish Commercial Code (TTK) and Law No. 6735.
Foreigners exempted from the criteria
Under the current criteria, the employment, financial adequacy and salary criteria are in principle not applied to the following groups:
- Those whose mother, father or child is a Turkish citizen.
- Holders of a humanitarian residence permit.
- Those with the status of victim of human trafficking.
- Holders of a stateless person identity document.
- Holders of a long-term residence permit.
- Those who have lived in a marriage union with a Turkish citizen for at least three years.
- Those who have been in Türkiye for at least eight years with the stated permits/statuses.
- Documented foreigners of Turkish descent.
- Citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. [6]
The exemption must be proved by a public authority document. Being in this group does not make the grant of a work permit mandatory; prohibited professions, security, misleading documents and other requirements continue to be examined.
Transitional provisions in extension applications
In extending permits granted before the criteria entered into force, the criteria may be applied differently within the international labor force policy. As to financial adequacy, the criterion in force on the date of the initial application is taken as the basis. This transitional provision does not mean that the salary and the other current conditions will not be examined at all. [6]
The document file to prove the criteria
| Criterion | Document | Common risk |
|---|---|---|
| Five Turkish employees | SGK workplace employee list | Wrong branch, wrong month, temporary entry |
| Capital | Trade Registry Gazette, capital payment record | Committed but unpaid capital |
| Net sales | Approved income statement | Wrong period or another company's data |
| Exports | Customs/export and financial records | Foreign currency amount/period mismatch |
| Salary | Employment contract, job description, payroll | Contradiction between title, duty and salary |
| Lawful-stay exception | Residence/work/protection records | Wrong calculation of the last three years and the one-year period |
| Sector exception | Activity document, licence, prior permission | Activity code or duty mismatch |
| Individual exemption | Competent authority document | Relying on a declaration, an outdated record |
The effect of judicial decisions on the current criteria
In its decision E.2017/1899, K.2021/5435, the 10th Chamber of the Council of State (Danıştay) found that, in the period of the repealed Law No. 4817, there was insufficient statutory basis for reaching a conclusion on the sector and the economic conjuncture on the basis of the company's financial situation, and upheld the annulment decision. Because the current Law No. 6735 and the Ministry's criteria expressly regulate financial adequacy, the decision does not remove today's numerical thresholds. It does, however, show that the ground of refusal must be linked to the statutory basis and the file data. [14]
In its decision E.2018/124, K.2022/213, the 10th Chamber of the Council of State (Danıştay), by majority, upheld the annulment of the extension refusal act; the dissent regarded the company's loss, low personnel and activity data as sufficient for refusal. This contrary assessment shows that the financial statements must be examined not alone but together with the legal criterion to be applied and the application period. [15]
Common mistakes
- Thinking that the five-Turkish-employee requirement applies without exception in every application.
- Using the old TL 100,000 capital and the old salary coefficients.
- Confusing the concepts of net sales, turnover and profit.
- Showing the branch-based number of employees as the company-wide figure.
- Assuming the system will apply an exception by itself without uploading the exception document.
- Mistaking a criterion exemption for a work permit exemption.
- Writing the title in the employment contract inconsistently with the actual duty and salary.
- Interpreting the transitional provision at an extension as freezing all the criteria.
- Not monitoring the employment obligation for a company partner that begins in the seventh month.
Related articles: Work Permits in Türkiye: Application Conditions, Types, Extension and Objection to Refusal; Work Permit Application for Foreigners in Türkiye; Work Permit Extension Application; Key Personnel Work Permits in Qualifying Foreign Direct Investments; Foreign Work Permits in R&D, Design and Technology Development Zones; Work Permits for Foreign Engineers, Architects and City Planners.
Conclusion
The work permit evaluation criteria do not consist only of the "five Turkish employees" rule. Workplace-based employment, the alternatives of capital/net sales/exports, the salary tied to the duty, the special sector provisions, the lawful-stay exception and personal exemptions must be evaluated together in the same file. An application made with old figures or with records belonging to another workplace does not meet the legal standard even if the number of documents is large.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are five Turkish employees required for every foreigner?
That is the general rule; however, there are exceptions based on high turnover, lawful-stay history, sector and the individual. [6]
How much capital must a newly established company have?
At a new balance-sheet-basis workplace, the paid-in capital must be at least TL 500,000. [6]
Which financial criterion is required in an active company?
One of the alternatives of TL 500,000 paid-in capital, TL 8,000,000 net sales or USD 150,000 exports is sufficient. [6]
What is the minimum gross salary for an engineer in 2026?
Four times the gross minimum wage, that is TL 132,120. [6, 13]
Are managers' salaries the same?
No. A 5-times criterion applies to senior executives and a 3-times criterion to other managers. The actual duty matters. [6]
To how many foreigners does the exception of one year's lawful stay in the last three years apply?
It applies to at most three foreigners at the same workplace; the number of foreigners cannot exceed the number of Turkish employees. For the fourth and later foreigners the general criteria return. [6]
Are five Turkish employees required for an IT specialist?
In certain IT specialist duties the employment and financial criteria may not be applied. The sector of the workplace and the job description are examined. [6]
What are the criteria for a foreigner who is a company partner?
In general, TL 500,000 capital for the workplace and for the foreigner, at least 20 percent partnership and, from the seventh month, five Turkish employees are required; there is a special exception for a capital share of USD 100,000. [6]
Is being exempt from the criteria a guarantee of a permit?
No. The exemption affects only the stated criteria; the other grounds of refusal and the requirement to hold a work permit continue. [6]
Which financial criterion applies at an extension?
Under the current transitional provision, the financial adequacy criterion on the date of the initial application is taken as the basis; the other conditions are examined separately. [6]
Sources
1. Law No. 6735 on International Labor Force (Uluslararası İşgücü Kanunu). Official Gazette, 13.08.2016, 29800; in particular Arts. 6-10, 15, 21-23. resmigazete.gov.tr
4. Ministry of Labor and Social Security (ÇSGB) - Documents (Belgeler). Employment contract, passport, diploma, employer and sector documents. csgb.gov.tr
6. ÇSGB - Evaluation Criteria (Değerlendirme Kriterleri). Employment, financial adequacy, salary and exception criteria; including the amendments of 03.08.2026. csgb.gov.tr
13. ÇSGB - 2026 Minimum Wage (Asgari Ücret). Period 01.01.2026-31.12.2026: gross TL 33,030.00; net TL 28,075.50. csgb.gov.tr
14. Council of State (Danıştay) 10th Chamber, E.2017/1899, K.2021/5435, 10.11.2021. Assessment of the legal link between financial data and the ground of refusal in the period of the repealed Law No. 4817. app.dejure.ai
15. Council of State (Danıştay) 10th Chamber, E.2018/124, K.2022/213, 19.12.2022. Extension application of company partners; the different assessment of financial/employment data in the majority and the dissent. app.dejure.ai