Legal and source review date: 2 October 2026. General information only. Publication-day and filing-day checks remain required. No outcome, timing, cost, approval, exemption or tax treatment is assured.
An executive assignment to Türkiye is rarely a single immigration filing. It is a connected legal and operational project involving the individual, the entity that directs the work, the entity named in the permit, the payroll payer, the group company bearing the cost and, in some structures, an employer of record. Turkish international labour legislation reaches both the foreign national who applies to work or works in Türkiye and the person seeking to employ that individual. The Labour Act, meanwhile, identifies the worker and employer through the employment contract. Those starting points make the real relationship more important than the label placed on an assignment chart.
A reliable plan therefore begins with a factual map. The map should identify who recruits and can dismiss the executive, who sets objectives, who controls daily work, where services are performed, who pays each component of remuneration, who recharges it and which entity holds the workplace and social security registrations. The answers drive the permit route, residence position, payroll withholding, social insurance, governing law and exit filings. An employer-of-record agreement or secondment letter may allocate tasks between companies, but the documents should match the operating reality.
This guide uses official materials reviewed on 2 October 2026 and addresses inbound local hires and secondments. It does not determine any person’s eligibility, residence, tax status, treaty position, dismissal rights or filing date. Nationality, travel history, exact duties, corporate authority, remuneration, home-country coverage and the wording of the relevant treaty must be checked for the matter. No outcome, timing, cost, approval, exemption or tax treatment is assured.
1. Map the assignment and the actual employer
The employer map should separate legal identity from managerial activity. A senior executive may act as an employer representative and exercise workplace authority without displacing the employer’s own responsibility for employment decisions. A group arrangement may also create a statutory principal-employer relationship in which the lead employer and subcontractor share responsibility for defined obligations at the workplace. The analysis should identify powers of instruction, signing authority, budget control, reporting lines and the ability to change or end the assignment. It should then test whether the host, home entity or service provider is performing the obligations assigned to it in the contracts.
Temporary-transfer arrangements need the same discipline. Where the Labour Act rules on a temporary employment relationship apply, the transferring and receiving employers share specified reporting responsibility. That rule cannot be answered by calling the arrangement a secondment or staff supply. Teams should record the legal basis, duration, employee consent where relevant, workplace, supervision and responsibility for occupational and employment compliance. The host should know which events it must report back to the formal employer, and the home entity should not assume that an intercompany agreement removes Turkish duties arising from the work performed in Türkiye.
For an employer-of-record structure, the review should cover the provider’s Turkish legal entity, work permit sponsorship, employment contract, payroll, workplace registration and authority to direct or terminate. It should also examine whether the client’s daily control, cost recharge or corporate powers create consequences outside the service contract. An EOR label is an operating description, not a statutory safe harbour. The same factual record should be used across the permit application, employment documents, payroll, transfer-pricing material and corporate authorisations so that one workstream does not contradict another.
2. Select and maintain the work-permit route
Unless a statutory or treaty exemption applies, a foreign executive must obtain a work permit or work permit exemption before starting work. The filing route depends on the individual’s lawful position: a qualifying domestic application follows the Ministry process, while an overseas application begins through the competent Turkish foreign mission. Approval is not automatic. The Ministry applies international labour-force policy and the statutory assessment framework to the completed application. A project calendar should therefore distinguish preparation, filing, assessment, approval, entry, registration and actual work start rather than treating a submitted application as authority to begin duties.
The statutory refusal grounds remain part of every assessment. If one is established, the Ministry must refuse under the relevant provision. Where a first dependent permit is approved, it is linked to the contract, workplace and job and may run for no more than the initial statutory period of one year. Approved extensions with the same employer may run for up to two years on the first extension and up to three years on later extensions. These are maximum legal periods, not promised durations. The filing must still match the actual role, employer, workplace and contract.
A move to a different legal employer is assessed as a first application, not as a continuation of the former employer’s permit. Long residence or years of lawful work may make an executive eligible to apply for an indefinite permit, but eligibility does not create an absolute right to approval. An independent-work-permit request is assessed through factors including education, experience, expected contribution, investment and employment effects, and relevant company shareholding. The appropriate route should be chosen from the facts; a corporate title or equity interest does not by itself settle whether the executive should use a dependent, independent or other permit category.
For the domestic route, the implementing regulation normally requires a residence permit valid for at least six months unless the General Directorate applies an exception. Someone who cannot use that route applies through the Turkish mission in the country of nationality or lawful stay. The regulation states an administrative assessment period for a duly completed application with all requested information, but the period should not be converted into an approval or mobilisation promise. Requests for further information, factual complexity, public-authority review and defects in the filing can affect the process. Travel and start dates should remain conditional until the applicable permissions are in place.
A timely extension may allow limited continuation for no more than ninety days after expiry only while the job and workplace remain unchanged and the regulation’s conditions are met. Filing-day criteria also matter. The sponsor may need to test the current Turkish-employee headcount, financial-capacity measures and the declared wage against the applicable multiple of the current gross minimum wage. A special exception effective on 3 August 2026 may remove general employment and financial criteria for a defined group with prior lawful stay, but only within its published limits. A different-employer move still requires a new permit. All dynamic criteria should be rechecked on the actual application date.
3. Treat permit exemptions as documented routes
An exemption category does not mean that the file can be ignored. A foreign executive who falls within a work-permit-exemption category must obtain the exemption before working under it. Where an employer relies on a statutory or treaty right to work without a permit, the implementing regulation also requires the prescribed Ministry notifications before exempt work starts and after it ends. The company should keep the application, decision, validity dates, passport and travel evidence, the facts supporting the category and proof of each notification. The assignment calendar should prevent work outside the stated activity, location or period.
Exemption analysis should begin with nationality, proposed activity, duration, remuneration, employer, sector and prior Turkish presence. Short business travel, board activity, intra-group services, installation work, training and cross-border service delivery may raise different questions. Describing productive work as meetings does not change its substance. The file should record which provision is relied on, why each condition is met and who approved the conclusion. If the planned activity changes, the company should revisit the route before the executive assumes the new duties.
Immigration and social security exemptions are separate. A work-permit exemption does not automatically remove SGK coverage, payroll withholding, residence or address obligations. Conversely, a valid social-security posting certificate does not authorise work under immigration law. Each conclusion needs its own legal basis and evidence, and the dates must align. This is especially important for short assignments, where teams sometimes compress travel, immigration, payroll and insurance questions into a single informal business-visitor decision.
4. Coordinate work permission, entry and residence
A valid work permit or exemption generally operates as a residence permit during its validity, subject to statutory exceptions. The reverse is not true: a residence permit alone does not authorise employment. A foreign national remaining beyond the visa or visa-exemption period must obtain the appropriate residence basis unless Law No. 6458 provides an exception. For most work-permit holders, Article 27 supplies the residence basis described by law. The immigration file should therefore link passport, entry, visa, permit, service and work-start records while preserving the distinction between permission to stay and permission to work.
An approved overseas applicant must complete the address-registration step within the period stated in current Ministry guidance after entry. Entry and exit themselves must take place through the designated border process with a valid passport or substitute document unless a lawful exception applies. Practical onboarding should capture the actual entry date, passport stamp or electronic record, permit-service date, address evidence and registration receipt. A planned arrival date is not a substitute for the recorded event, and payroll or workplace records should not show productive work before the legally permitted start.
When the basis for residence ends or changes, the executive may need to apply for the residence permit appropriate to the new purpose. Passport validity can limit the period that may be granted because the requested permission cannot extend beyond the statutory margin. If an in-country residence application is refused, cancelled or not extended, the authority must consider the statutory factors and notify its decision. Exit and challenge advice should be based on the decision actually served, the current status of the work permit and any other lawful basis; teams should not infer a deadline or continuing right from a portal screenshot alone.
5. Draft the employment and secondment documents as one record
An employment contract with a foreign element may contain a governing-law choice, but that choice cannot deprive the employee of the minimum protection supplied by mandatory rules of the habitual workplace. Without a choice, the law of the country where the employee habitually works generally governs. A temporary period in another country does not automatically create a new habitual workplace merely because the employee works there for a limited time. The documents should identify the expected duration, mobility pattern and continuing links to the home role without assuming that an assignment label conclusively fixes the conflicts analysis.
Where there is no single habitual work country, Article 27 may point to the employer’s principal place of business. A demonstrably closer connection may support another law under the statute, while preserving mandatory protection at the place of work. Directly applicable Turkish rules can operate despite a foreign-law clause, and a foreign-law result may be displaced where its application would be manifestly contrary to Turkish public policy. These are fact-sensitive rules. The home contract, host contract and assignment letter should state their relationship, avoid conflicting termination or benefit terms and identify which entity performs each obligation.
Article 44 provides Turkish jurisdictional connecting factors for individual employment disputes. The contract record should be prepared with that possibility in mind. An employment contract lasting at least one year must be in writing under Article 8 of the Labour Act. A fixed-term contract requires an objective condition such as fixed work, completion of a task or a specified event; the assignment end date alone should not be used mechanically. A probation clause is limited to two months, extendable to four months by collective agreement. Bilingual versions should be reconciled and signed authority documented.
The package should address base salary, allowances, bonus eligibility, equity, pension, private insurance, housing, schooling, travel, tax equalisation or protection, currency, expenses, leave, confidentiality, intellectual property, data processing and return rights. It should say which entity pays each item and whether the cost is recharged. Board appointments, powers of attorney and regulated-sector approvals should sit in the same implementation plan. Separate instruments are often necessary, but they should not create incompatible definitions of employer, start date, role or termination.
6. Build SGK onboarding and Turkish payroll from the same facts
The executive and the named employer must comply with social-security obligations connected with the permit. Ministry guidance expects insured work and declared remuneration to align with the permit filing and current social-security rules. A person working under a service contract for an employer falls within the employee insurance category when Article 4(a) applies. Foreign nationals working under service contracts are also brought within those provisions unless reciprocity or an international social-security agreement changes the result. The payroll setup should therefore use the same legal employer, role, workplace, start date and wage data supplied in the immigration file.
Before an Article 4(a) employee starts, the Turkish employer normally files the insured-entry notification, subject to the statutory exceptions. Current SGK guidance likewise describes filing through e-insurance before work starts. If a Turkish workplace is new, the workplace notification must be submitted by the applicable time. Corporate formation alone does not complete those steps. The implementation checklist should allocate responsibility for workplace registration, e-notification access, employee entry, health activation, payroll data and reconciliations, and should retain the portal receipts rather than relying on an email that the process was completed.
For each reporting period, the employer submits prime-based earnings and service information through the current combined withholding and premium declaration process. Where fewer than thirty days are reported, the missing-day reason and required supporting evidence must be retained. Employers and workplace owners must also preserve and produce insured-work and payroll records for the periods and inspection process stated in current guidance. Shadow payroll should capture foreign-paid amounts early enough for the Turkish process. Late data from the home country can create mismatches between payslips, withholding, SGK earnings, accounting and recharge records.
Payroll governance should include a monthly data owner, currency conversion method, gross-up treatment, benefit valuation, equity-event feed, correction procedure and documented sign-off. The Turkish payroll provider needs enough information to identify all compensation connected with the services. The home payroll team needs clear instructions on what remains payable abroad and how it will appear in Turkish reporting. A reconciliation between permit remuneration, employment terms, payroll, SGK and intercompany charges is more useful than five separate compliance confirmations.
8. Determine domestic tax residence year by year
A Türkiye tax resident is subject to domestic full liability on income and gains from inside and outside Türkiye, subject to any applicable treaty relief. Domestic residence analysis examines domicile and the separate continuous-presence rule; it should not be reduced to a day count. The file should document homes, family location, registration, travel, work pattern and the purpose and expected duration of the stay. A conclusion should be made for each tax year because arrival, departure and personal circumstances can change.
Domestic law contains a temporary-purpose exception that may apply to a foreign executive even where presence exceeds six months, but only when the precise Article 5 conditions are met. A nonresident is subject to limited liability on income and gains treated as obtained in Türkiye. Neither label should be assumed from the assignment letter. The residence and sourcing analysis should use the actual chronology and legal conditions, then examine treaty relief separately. Residence, payroll withholding and final tax liability are related questions, but they are not always identical.
A day ledger should be built from passport and travel records and reconciled to work calendars, remote-work days, leave and business travel. It should identify the tax year, not merely the assignment period. The team should also capture homes available, spouse and dependent location, habitual living arrangements, economic relationships and any residence certificates. These facts can matter when domestic systems overlap and a treaty tie-breaker must be considered. The conclusion should be refreshed if travel or family plans change.
9. Apply treaty residence and employment-income tests without shortcuts
The applicable double tax agreement must be identified by the executive’s residence connections and the relevant tax year. Treaty residence commonly requires first establishing domestic residence in each state and then applying the treaty’s own tie-breaking language. Employment-income analysis usually asks where employment is exercised and whether every condition of a short-stay exception is satisfied. The exact treaty text controls. A day threshold cannot be used on its own, and a residence certificate does not answer every employment-income condition.
The employer and cost-bearing tests require a factual review of direction, benefit, remuneration and recharge. The entity signing or paying the contract is relevant, but it may not be the end of the inquiry. Intercompany invoices, management accounts, payroll instructions and transfer-pricing records should be consistent with the position taken. If the Turkish entity bears or deducts the remuneration cost, that fact may affect the treaty analysis even when cash is paid abroad. A shadow payroll may still be required to report Turkish-source employment income.
The executive’s authority can also create corporate tax and permanent-establishment questions for the overseas company. Those issues are distinct from individual residence and wage withholding. They should be analysed from actual negotiation, contracting, decision-making and office-use facts rather than inferred from an immigration title. The project should involve corporate tax and transfer-pricing advisers where the executive will habitually conclude contracts, lead core business activity or cause material costs to be recharged.
10. Capture benefits, recharge and shadow payroll
The domestic wage definition includes money, benefits in kind and benefits capable of representation in money when provided for dependent work. A payment for past or future services may be wage income regardless of its label. The compensation inventory should therefore include home and host salary, bonuses, allowances, housing, school fees, tax payments, insurance, pension, equity, relocation and benefits paid by another group company. Each item needs a payer, currency, payment date, valuation method, service period and decision on Turkish reporting.
For domestic wage-tax duties, the person or entity hiring and directing service personnel is an employer under Article 62, and a payer treated as employer must perform the assigned tax duties for covered payments. This test should be applied to the operating facts and payroll flows. A foreign payroll or EOR arrangement does not by itself remove Turkish employer obligations. The legal analysis should identify who directs the services, who makes or funds the payment and whether the Turkish host has reporting or withholding duties.
Withheld wage tax must be shown in the wage ledger or equivalent record, and covered payments and tax must be reported under the current filing rules. Dynamic deadlines should be checked on the actual payroll date. These domestic rules define remuneration and employer duties but do not themselves determine the outcome under a particular tax treaty. Payroll should preserve the domestic computation, the treaty analysis and any relief mechanism as separate, reconcilable records. A treaty position should never appear only as an unexplained zero in a payroll file.
Recharge documentation should match the assignment agreement and actual accounting. The allocation may affect payroll, permanent establishment, corporate deduction and transfer pricing, so it should be reviewed before the first invoice. Equity and annual bonuses need a process for later events, including awards made before arrival or paid after departure. A final reconciliation should identify corrections required in Türkiye and the home country and retain the exchange rates and allocation assumptions used.
11. Plan termination, permit cessation and departure together
A work permit or exemption can cease when its term ends or when an Article 15 cancellation or invalidity ground arises. A refusal, cancellation or termination decision may be challenged by an interested executive or employer within thirty days after service, followed by administrative judicial review if the objection is rejected. The deadline must be calculated from the actual decision and service evidence. The business should obtain legal advice before assuming that an objection suspends consequences or authorises continued work.
A substantial change to employment conditions requires written notice and does not bind the employee without written acceptance within six working days. For an indefinite-term employee with at least six months’ service at a workplace meeting the statutory thirty-employee threshold, termination generally requires a valid reason connected with capacity, conduct or operational needs, subject to statutory exceptions. These protections should be considered before changing the assignment, remuneration or reporting line. A corporate decision to repatriate an executive is not automatically the complete Turkish employment analysis.
When an Article 4(a) service contract ends, the local employer must submit the insured-exit notification within ten days after termination. The exit plan should also address final payroll, accrued entitlements, return of property, powers of attorney, board or trade-registry appointments, permit cessation notifications, residence consequences and the executive’s departure or new lawful basis. The dates used across termination notice, work-permit action, SGK exit and payroll should be reconciled. A release should not be treated as a substitute for mandatory payments or filings.
An orderly closeout retains signed notices, service evidence, calculations, payment records, portal receipts, travel evidence and confirmation of continuing obligations. It also assigns responsibility for later bonus, equity or tax-return events. If the executive moves to another Turkish employer, the new permit route should be completed rather than attempting to carry the former employer’s permission across. If the individual remains in Türkiye for another purpose, the residence basis should be reviewed before the work basis ends.
12. Use an evidence-led decision file
Before mobilisation, collect the executive’s nationality and passport, full travel history, home and host contracts, assignment letter, job description, reporting chart, board and signing powers, remuneration schedule, benefit inventory, payroll instructions, intercompany agreement, recharge method, social-security history and family information. Record the intended employer, work location, start and end dates, residence route and each filing owner. A single controlled chronology should be used by immigration, HR, payroll, tax, finance and company secretarial teams.
Twelve questions remain matter-specific in the research record: the nationality and exemptions; the actual employer and cost bearer; the signed contract set; current Ministry criteria; entry and registration dates; the exact social-security agreement and certificate; all payroll and benefit components; domestic and treaty residence by year; the treaty employment-income tests; corporate tax and transfer-pricing exposure; termination and exit filings; and every dynamic threshold, form and deadline. These are open issues to resolve, not blanks to fill with assumptions.
The file should include a dated legal analysis, source copies, publication-day or filing-day currentness checks, approvals and a change-control process. Any material change in entity, job, workplace, remuneration, duration, travel or family circumstances should trigger review. The safest operational sequence is to map the facts, select each legal route, obtain the necessary permissions and certificates, configure payroll and SGK, verify onboarding evidence, monitor changes and prepare exit well before the planned last day.
13. Frequently asked questions
An application is not itself permission to begin work. A narrowly framed continuation rule may apply to a timely extension for the same job and workplace for no more than the statutory period, but a first application or employer change should not be treated the same way. Confirm the individual route and the current record before any productive work starts.
No. Residence permission and work authorisation are separate. A valid work permit commonly operates as the residence basis during its validity, subject to exceptions, but a residence permit alone does not authorise employment. The employer should verify the work permit or documented exemption and the permitted employer, job, workplace and dates.
No. The provider may perform employment, sponsorship or payroll functions, but the legal analysis still considers the actual contract, control, workplace, payment and cost-bearing facts. The client’s daily direction and corporate authority can remain relevant. The provider agreement, operating model, permit filing, payroll and intercompany charges should tell a consistent story.
No. Domestic rules and any bilateral social-security agreement must be applied to the specific assignment. A treaty posting usually requires the agreement’s conditions and a valid country-specific certificate. The permitted period and extension procedure vary. Immigration permission and social-security coverage must be analysed separately.
No stand-alone day-count answer is reliable. Domestic residence, Turkish-source income and the exact tax treaty must be considered. A treaty employment-income exception normally has multiple cumulative conditions, including employer and cost-bearing questions. Travel days, workdays, payroll, recharge and residence evidence should be reviewed for each tax year.
Review salary, bonuses, allowances, housing, schooling, insurance, pension, equity, relocation support, tax payments and other benefits, including amounts paid abroad or by another group company. Turkish wage rules look to the substance of remuneration, not merely its label or payment location. The inventory should reconcile with contracts, SGK reporting and intercompany charges.
They may make a governing-law choice in a contract with a foreign element, but that choice cannot remove the minimum protection of mandatory rules at the habitual workplace. Directly applicable Turkish rules and public policy may also matter. The home contract, host terms and assignment letter should be reviewed together against the actual work pattern.
A dependent work permit is employer specific. A move to a different legal employer is treated as a new application rather than an extension with the same employer. The former permit should not be used for the new role. Contract termination, SGK exit, the new permit and any residence consequences should be coordinated.
Begin before the termination or repatriation decision is implemented. The plan should coordinate notice and mandatory employment rights, final payroll, work-permit cessation, SGK exit, board or signing powers, residence status, departure and later bonus or tax events. Actual service and filing dates should be preserved because they can control rights and deadlines.
Recheck current Ministry criteria, wage and financial thresholds, portal instructions, forms, permit and exemption conditions, SGK processes, bilateral-agreement status, posting certificates, tax treaty text and reporting deadlines. Also refresh the person-specific chronology and corporate structure. This guide records a source review date and does not freeze dynamic rules.
Official sources and scope boundaries
The sources below were archived and hash-verified in the controlling research package. Dynamic criteria, forms, thresholds, agreement status and portal instructions require a fresh check for the filing and publication dates.
- Law No. 6735 on International Labour Force.
- Implementing Regulation of Law No. 6735 (2 February 2022).
- 2024 amendment to the Implementing Regulation.
- Current work permit evaluation criteria.
- Official work permit FAQ.
- Law No. 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection.
- Law No. 5510 on Social Insurance and Universal Health Insurance.
- Social security agreements.
- Temporary assignment under social security agreements.
- Income Tax Law No. 193.
- Official double tax agreement portal.
- Law No. 5718 on Private International Law and Procedural Law.
- Labour Act No. 4857.
- Employer obligations.
