Hiring Employees in Turkey: A Legal Guide to the Recruitment Process

To hire an employee in Turkey, a foreign company first needs a Turkish legal entity to act as the employer, a written contract under Labour Law No. 4857, and a social security (SGK) entry filing made at least one day before the start date; hiring a non-Turkish national also requires a work permit under Law No. 6735. This guide walks foreign employers through each legal step, the real costs, and the traps that lead to fines, from drafting a compliant contract to onboarding a foreign hire and budgeting for severance.

The Legal Framework Governing Hiring in Turkey

Recruitment in Turkey is not a single procedure. It is a set of overlapping obligations that start before you interview a candidate and continue past the first working day. For a foreign company opening operations here, knowing which statute governs which stage is the difference between a clean onboarding and an avoidable fine.

The instruments that matter most:

• Labour Law No. 4857 — employment contracts, probation, working time, equal treatment, severance and termination.
• Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510 — mandatory registration of every worker with the Social Security Institution (SGK).
• International Labour Force Law No. 6735 — the work-permit regime for non-Turkish employees, together with its implementing Work Permit Regulation.
• Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (KVKK) — handling candidate and employee data during recruitment.
• Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331 — pre-employment medical screening and safety training.
• Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 (TBK) — contract formation, pre-contractual liability and damages.

One sequencing rule sits above all of this: the entity that signs the contract is the legal employer and carries the SGK and work-permit liability. If you have not yet incorporated, hire after you set up the company, not before. Our guide to setting up a Turkish entity explains how the corporate structure decides who signs as the legal employer, and our employment and labour law team handles the hiring documents that follow.

Step 1: Choose the Right Employment Contract

Labour Law No. 4857 recognises several contract types, and the choice drives job security and the cost of ending the relationship later.

Under Article 8 of Law No. 4857, any contract intended to last longer than one year must be in writing. Even where writing is not strictly mandatory, a written bilingual contract is strongly advisable for foreign employers, because the Turkish-language text will generally control if there is a dispute. Electronic signatures under Law No. 5070 carry the same legal weight as a wet-ink signature, but where the law requires a formal written contract a secure (qualified) electronic signature, not a simple scanned image, is the safe route.

Getting the contract wording right at the start is far cheaper than fixing it in a labour court. For sector-specific clauses, confidentiality and post-termination restrictions, see how we approach drafting a compliant employment contract.

Step 2: Probation, Working Time, Wages and Leave

Probation period (deneme süresi)

Under Article 15 of Law No. 4857, probation may run up to two months, extendable to four months only by a collective bargaining agreement. It must be stated in the written contract. During probation either side may terminate without notice or severance, but the equal-treatment rules in Article 5 still apply, so a dismissal driven by, for example, pregnancy or union activity remains actionable.

Working time and overtime

The statutory maximum is 45 hours per week. Hours above that are overtime and attract a premium of at least 50 percent on the hourly wage (or, at the worker's choice, compensatory free time). Annual overtime is capped at 270 hours per worker, and the worker's written consent is required. Mandatory daily and weekly rest periods apply.

Wages and payroll

You may not pay below the gross statutory minimum wage, which is reviewed periodically. For 2026 the gross minimum wage is widely reported at 33,030 TL per month, but always confirm the current figure before you set a salary, because it changes roughly once a year. Under Articles 32 to 37 of Law No. 4857 you must keep payroll records (bordro) and withhold income tax under Income Tax Law No. 193.

Annual leave and public holidays

Paid annual leave under Article 53 of Law No. 4857 accrues by seniority: 14 working days for one to five years of service, 20 days for five to fifteen years, and 26 days for more than fifteen years. Workers aged 18 or under and 50 or over get at least 20 days regardless of seniority. These minimums are on top of national public holidays. Build them into your cost and staffing plan from day one.

Step 3: Register the Employee With SGK Before Day One

This is the deadline foreign employers miss most often. Under Law No. 5510, the employer must file the employee entry notification (sigortalı işe giriş bildirgesi) with the SGK at least one day before the employee starts work, through the e-Bildirge system. The notification records identity, position, start date, the declared wage, the workplace code and the contribution category.

So the routine penalty for a late or missed filing is one minimum wage per worker, not two. The two- and five-times tiers apply when the state, rather than the employer, finds the gap. Either way the cleanest protection is simple: confirm the entry filing is complete before the first working day.

Step 4: Anti-Discrimination, Data Protection and Health Screening

Equal treatment in recruitment

Article 5 of Law No. 4857, the equal-treatment principle, prohibits differential treatment based on language, race, colour, sex, disability, political opinion, philosophical belief, religion or sect. For an existing employee, a proven violation allows a discrimination payment of up to four months' wages (calculated on the basic wage), plus any withheld monetary rights, and moral damages may be claimed under Article 58 of the TBK.

Either way the practical defence is the same: keep contemporaneous records — job description, scored criteria, interview notes — that show selection was objective and role-related.

Candidate data (KVKK)

Under Law No. 6698, candidate data must rest on a lawful basis, typically explicit consent or pre-contractual necessity. Sensitive data such as criminal records or health information needs explicit consent. You must give a privacy notice before collecting data, conclude a data-subject request within 30 days, and delete or anonymise unsuccessful candidates' data once no lawful basis remains. Our KVKK compliance guidance covers recruitment privacy notices and retention rules.

Pre-employment medical examination

Article 15 of Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331 requires a pre-employment medical examination by a licensed occupational physician before the employee starts, with periodic screening afterwards according to the workplace hazard class.

Hiring a Non-Turkish Employee: Work Permits

Employing a non-Turkish national requires a work permit under International Labour Force Law No. 6735. There is no "hire first, paperwork later" option: working without a valid permit exposes both employer and employee to penalties.

• Two application routes. A worker abroad applies through a Turkish consulate in their home country while the employer files in parallel via the e-İzin system. A worker already in Turkey holding a residence permit valid for at least six months may apply directly through e-İzin.
• The Turkish-staff ratio. As a general rule the workplace must employ five Turkish citizens for each foreign worker. This ratio is set by the Work Permit Regulation's evaluation criteria, not by Law No. 6735 itself, and it comes with real exemptions (see the callout below).
• Duration and renewal. An initial permit is usually granted for up to one year, with longer renewals. File the renewal starting 60 days before expiry and in any event before the current permit lapses; while a timely renewal is pending, the worker may keep working for up to 90 days, counted as lawful work.
• Turquoise Card. Under Article 11 of Law No. 6735, highly qualified professionals, investors and scientists may obtain a Turquoise Card. The first three years are a transition period; if it is not cancelled, the transition annotation is removed on application (which can be filed from 180 days before the transition ends) and an indefinite card issues.

Permit approval is tied to how the company is set up: share capital, sector and Turkish-staff headcount all affect the decision. Coordinate hiring with the team that handles who signs as the legal employer, and get work and residence permit guidance for foreign staff before you extend the offer.

The Real Cost of Hiring: Taxes, Premiums and Severance

Foreign employers searching for the cost of hiring in Turkey often find only the legal steps and none of the numbers. Budget for three layers on top of gross salary.

Employer social security and payroll burden

The employer pays SGK premiums on top of the worker's gross wage. The employer's share of social security and unemployment-insurance premiums is roughly 22.5 percent of gross pay, taking the total payroll burden (worker plus employer share, before incentives) to around 37.5 percent. A widely used five-point premium reduction can lower the employer share for compliant employers. Stamp tax and graduated income-tax withholding also apply. Treat these percentages as planning figures and confirm the current rates, because incentives and brackets change yearly.

Severance and notice — the biggest exit cost

For most foreign employers the largest planning question is what it costs to end the relationship, not to start it.

• Severance pay (kıdem tazminatı). An employee with at least one year of service who is dismissed without a valid just cause (or who resigns for a qualifying reason) is generally entitled to roughly 30 days' gross wage for each full year of service, subforming to a statutory ceiling per year that is updated periodically.
• Notice pay (ihbar tazminatı). Statutory notice runs from two to eight weeks depending on seniority (two weeks under six months, up to eight weeks over three years). An employer who does not give notice pays in lieu.

Annual leave not taken must be paid out on termination, and an invalid dismissal of a worker covered by job security can trigger reinstatement or compensation through the labour courts. For how those claims are decided, see our overview of Turkish labour court jurisdiction and process.

A Practical Hiring Checklist and Timeline

A clean sequence keeps you on the right side of every deadline above:

• Before the offer. Confirm the legal entity exists and will sign as employer. For a foreign hire, check the Turkish-staff ratio and any exemption, and start the work-permit track.
• Offer and contract. Issue a written, ideally bilingual, contract; state the probation clause in writing; pick the correct contract type.
• Data and screening. Give the KVKK privacy notice; arrange the pre-employment medical under Law No. 6331.
• SGK entry. File the işe giriş bildirgesi through e-Bildirge at least one day before the start date, with the true declared wage.
• First day. Deliver occupational health and safety training; set up bank-account payroll if you have three or more employees.
• Ongoing. Keep bordro records, track leave accrual, and file the work-permit renewal from 60 days before expiry.

Disputes, Mediation and Documentation

If a recruitment or employment dispute arises, most claims must first go through mandatory mediation (zorunlu arabuluculuk) before a case can be filed. From there the route runs to the specialised labour court, with appeals to the regional court of appeal and ultimately the Court of Cassation's employment chamber. Common claims include severance and notice disputes, equal-treatment claims by current staff, pre-contractual liability for withdrawn offers under the TBK, and SGK back-contribution claims for late registration.

The single most effective defensive measure is documentation. Job descriptions, scored evaluation criteria, interview notes and clear offer terms turn a he-said-she-said dispute into a documented, objective process, which materially strengthens the employer's position. Because the rules, thresholds and figures in this guide change periodically, have a Turkish employment lawyer review your specific recruitment workflow before it goes live. For what changed recently, see our note on key updates in Turkish employment law.

Frequently asked questions