Work Permit in Turkey for Company Owners/Shareholders (2025)

Legal basis: The Work Permit Evaluation Criteria annexed to the Regulation on the Implementation of the International Workforce Law (published in the Official Gazette dated 02.02.2022 and numbered 31738) have been updated pursuant to Article 22 of the Regulation.

This article summarizes the work permit in Turkey for company owners in 2025: general thresholds, sector-specific criteria, conditions for foreign owners/shareholders, and key exemptions.

1) General Evaluation Criteria & Capital Thresholds (Work permit in Turkey for company owners)

The updated criteria consider whether the employer is subject to balance-sheet accounting, whether it is newly established or active, whether there is an ordinary partnership, and the foreign national’s lawful stay history in Türkiye. For applications within the scope of the work permit in Turkey for company owners, new or active balance-sheet workplaces and their ordinary partnerships must meet at least one of the following:

• Paid-in capital: 500,000 TL

• Net sales: 8,000,000 TL

• Exports: 150,000 USD

Wage note: Wage criteria (multiples of the statutory minimum wage) apply by position.

2) Sector, Occupation, or Job-Based Special Criteria

Some sectors and job types are assessed under differentiated criteria:

• IT: Special assessment for software, data, security and other specialist roles.

• Education: Applications assessed in line with YÖK/MEB records and approvals.

• Domestic services: Higher likelihood of negative assessments for students and unsuitable job types.

• Aviation, healthcare, tourism: Pre-approvals by the competent authority and facility-type conditions may apply.

• High-tech / public projects: Flexibility and special assessment depending on project nature.

Students: Applications in entertainment and domestic services may be rejected; student status is verified through YÖK.

3) Criteria for Foreign Company Owners/Shareholders

Within the scope of the work permit in Turkey for company owners, when a foreigner establishes a new balance-sheet workplace or becomes a shareholder of an existing one:

(a) Financial criterion

• The workplace must have paid-in capital ≥ 500,000 TL.

  
  

(b) Shareholding criterion

• The foreigner must hold ≥ 20% share.

  
  

(c) 5:1 Employment Requirement 

• For each foreign employee, the same workplace must employ at least 5 Turkish citizens.

• For company owner/shareholder applications, this requirement does not apply during the first 6 months; it applies as of the 7th month of the work permit (tracked via the annotation on the permit card).

Critical Exemptions

1) 100,000 USD Exemption (foreign shareholder work permit)

If the foreign shareholder’s equity share ≥ 100,000 USD, both the financial criterion and the 5:1 EMPLOYMENT REQUIREMENT (including the 7th-month obligation) do not apply.

Wage criteria (minimum-wage multipliers) still apply.

2) “3/5-Year” In-Country Exemption (with quota)

For in-country applications filed on behalf of foreigners who have lawfully stayed in Türkiye (excluding student residence) for at least 3 years within the last 5 years, the 5:1 employment requirement and the financial criterion do not apply, limited to a maximum of 3 foreigners per workplace. 

Limits: The number of foreigners benefiting cannot exceed the number of Turkish employees at the same workplace. For the 4th and subsequent foreigners, the 5:1 and financial criteria reapply.

Wage criteria also apply under this exemption.

4) Transitional Rules (Extensions)

Extension applications are evaluated according to the financial criteria in force on the date of the initial application.

 In extensions, new financial thresholds are not applied directly.

IGA Law’s Contribution: How We Strengthen Your Application

• Eligibility & Strategy: We analyze the 100,000 USD exemption / 3–5-year in-country options for your file and produce a roadmap and risk analysis.

• Document Architecture & Pre-Approvals: We prepare TTSG, capital payment slips, financials, employment contract, passport etc., and coordinate YÖK/MEB/Health/EPDK/BDDK pre-approvals when needed.

• Wage & Role Validation: We check minimum-wage multipliers and SGK occupation codes, and align contracts/payroll accordingly.

• Filing–Tracking & Annotations: We manage UIGM e-filing, e-signature and uploads; we plan compliance for the 7th-month / 5 Turkish employees annotation.

• Extensions & Transition Management: We structure extensions based on the initial application date criteria.

• Appeals & Re-filing: If refused, we prepare an appeal and re-application strategy with alternative arguments.

Quick reminder: The “100,000 USD share” exemption removes the financial and 5:1 criteria (wage criteria remain).

The family-tie path is separate and often provides broader relief.