What's the standard employment-ratio rule for work permits (5 Turks per foreigner)?
General information, not legal advice. For high-stakes decisions, confirm with the official institution in the next-step below, or consult a qualified Turkish lawyer.
Pending expert review. This fact is sourced but has not yet been reviewed by an independent legal expert. Treat as a starting point.
For workplaces subject to balance-sheet accounting (bilanço esası), the standard work-permit evaluation requires at least 5 Turkish citizens employed for each foreign worker at the specific workplace where the foreigner will work.
Exception. Workplaces with net annual sales of 50,000,000 TL or more are exempt from the 5:1 ratio for their first 5 foreign workers. Past that fifth foreign hire, the ratio applies again.
The ratio is calculated per workplace (işyeri), not per company. A multi-branch company is evaluated branch by branch — head office at 50:5 doesn't fix a branch at 0:1.
Watch-outs
- The 5:1 rule covers most ordinary employer applications. Sector exemptions exist for IT, education, tourism, healthcare, aviation, R&D centres, public projects, and several others — see work-17.
- "Workplace" and "company" are different units. Failing to hit 5:1 at one branch doesn't let you offset with another branch's headcount.
- Existing Turkish staff have to be actively employed and SGK-registered, not just on payroll for the application. Inactive employees don't count.
Next step
If you're a foreign job-seeker, ask the prospective employer directly: do you meet the 5:1 ratio at the specific branch where I'd work? If they don't, expect rejection unless they fall into an exempt sector.
All sources (1)
- CSGB — Çalışma İzni Başvurusu Değerlendirme Kriterleri — A Bölümü, Section 1 (İstihdam kriteri) ↗
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