FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS June 2014

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1 TURKEY GLOBAL EMPLOYER SERVICES NEW IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS June 2014 About changes effective as of in accordance with the new Law on Foreigners and International Protection (no. 6458) This informative booklet has been prepared in the light of the latest legislations in force and the best practices as of June 2014 so that each case should be discussed with professionals for the best action plan.

2 Question 1: I ve been told that as of 11th April 2014, work permits that are issued by the Ministry of Labour in Turkey will substitute for a residence permit within its validity; is that correct? Yes, that s correct. The use of residence permit booklets is not applicable anymore with the new implementation. Instead of this, individuals will be provided with ID cards which will be directly issued by the Ministry of Labour. Question 2: Do I need to apply for residence permit at the local Security Office in Turkey once my work permit is approved? If no, what would I need to do instead? No, you do not need to apply at the local Security Office after the issuance of the work permit anymore. Instead of this, the first requirement once your work permit is approved would be realizing the work visa endorsement to your passport from the Turkish Consulate that you have previously applied to. Following your entry to the Turkish territory, within 20 working days your residency address in Turkey will need to be registered at the civil registry office. Please kindly note that the above procedure is applicable for those whose first work permit application is realized from the Turkish Consulate. Those individuals who are applying for a work permit with a previously obtained residency permit will not need to go to a Turkish Consulate abroad. Question 3: How is the address registration application? Do I have to be present at the registry office or can someone do it on my behalf? Are there any sanctions of not complying with the 20 days deadline? Once you move to a permanent residency address (apartment, flat etc.) provided that you do have a lease contract, your address registration can be realized. Please kindly note that with a valid notarized Power of Attorney someone can apply on your behalf for your address registration and your presence will not be requested in the registry office. We would like to take your attention to the fact that as of today address registrations are applicable for those who do have lease/rental agreement for a permanent flat/house/apartment. However, this is not applicable for those who are residing in hotels at the moment. Furthermore, although there is no clear statement at the respective regulations that describes the penalties for not fulfilling the 20 days rule, we believe that the authorities will announce the related sanctions in the nearest future. Nevertheless, we should not expect any retroactive penalties for those who did not previously complied with the 20 day s rule.

3 Question 4: Where will my work permit ID be sent to once the Ministry has approved my work permit application? Please kindly note that the work permits ID card will be directly sent to your office address by cargo. Question 5: How long does it take to receive the new work permit ID card? Once the work permit application is approved by the Ministry of Labour, the approval notification will be sent by and within approximately 7 working days the Work Permit ID card will be delivered to the office address. Question 6: What if I need to travel abroad until I receive my work permit ID? Which documents should I have with me during my departures from/arrivals to Turkey until then? In case your last work permit based residence permit is still valid until you receive your extended new work permit ID, you are able to travel with the copy of your last residence permit and your passport in general. Alternatively, you can enter to Turkey with your passport depending on your country of citizenship as some country s citizens are exempted from visa for their entries to Turkey within the prescribed limits. However, our suggestion is to schedule your calendar considering the delivery date of your new extended work permit ID in order to prevent any possible inconvenience during your travels. Question 7: What kind of sanctions can be implemented for the violation of work visa or touristic visa period? Please find below the important timelines to be considered during your travels until the work permit & residence permit ID is received and under the scenario that your work permit and touristic visa/exemption period is expired; 1-10 days violation of visa period; No entrance ban to Turkey but penalty amount in TL will be charged for each day of violation on the airport/borders days violation of visa period; 90 days entrance ban to Turkey (+) penalty amount for the total days of violation. The individual travel back to Turkey following the 90 days entrance ban in case the charged penalty amount is paid. If the penalty is not paid, the individual can be deported from Turkey for up to 5 years. More than 90 days of violation of visa period; 180 days of entrance ban to Turkey (+) penalty amount for the total days of violation (+) individual can be deported from Turkey for a longer period than 5 years in case the penalty amount is not paid within the deadline.

4 The penalty amount may vary from case to case depending on the individual s country of citizenship and total days of visa violation. Question 8: I received my work permit ID card but my Foreign ID number (FIN) is not indicated on it. I urgently need to take my furniture and other personal belongings from the customs and without FIN it is said to be not possible. What should I do? When can I expect to have my Foreign ID number? Please note that the Foreign ID numbers will be issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs following the issuance of the work permit approximately within 2 weeks. The FIN number for any individual can be checked from the below web link by indicating the below information once the work permit is issued. Doğum yılı: Year of Birth Çalışma İzin No: Work permit ID number (6 numbers indicated on the ID card) Question 9: Do I need to pay any work permit or residence permit fee at any instance of my immigration process? It depends. In case your work permit application has been processed through the Turkish Consulate abroad, you will be requested to pay the work visa fee to the Consulate (which will be your work permit & residence permit fee at the same time) once your work permit application is approved by the Ministry of Labour in Turkey. On the other hand, if you already hold a valid work permit & already residing in Turkey and your work permit extension application is approved, following the approval of the work permit the Ministry will also provide the details of the fees to be paid via . Question 10: Is there any opportunity to realize the work visa endorsement within Turkey? No. The work visa endorsement will be realized from the Turkish Consulate in your last resident location. This is crucial for your work permit to get effective once the application approved by the Ministry of Labour. Question 11: My family s dependent residence permits will expire soon. What action needs to be taken in order to extend their residence permits? Residence permit extension application will be realized to the local Security Office for each dependent family member once the work permit is issued. Question 12: What if my work permit extension is not yet issued and my dependent family members residence permit expires until then? Security Offices can grant temporary residence permits for 45 days for those cases once applied.

5 Then, once the work permit is issued, residence permit extension will be realized. The validity dates of the dependent residence permits will be the same as the individual s work permit ID validity. Question 13: I have heard that when having fixed an e-appointment for a residence permit application, my family can stay in Turkey until their residence permit is approved and endorsed even though their visit visa is expired? Yes. The date of appointment arranged through the e-appointment system is considered as the application date, the person will be considered to have applied even visa period or residence permit period terminates before the appointment date. In case the e-appointment for dependent residence permit application is obtained and the dependent individual intends to depart from Turkey until that date, visa regulations will be considered during the travels. However, individuals whose visa has expired or who did exceed the valid visa exemption period should not depart from Turkey until the appointment date and the obtained residence permit ID. Question 14: Does my family have to be physically present on the application/appointment date? What are the documents required from our side? Yes. The dependent family members and your physical presence is obligatory on the application date. The application cannot be processed with a Power of Attorney. Please note that necessary documentation list may vary from case to case although there are general documents to be presented. Further to this, below documents are the most important ones for new dependent residence permit applications; Proof of income: This document is requested as a proof that the individual will be able to cover the expenses of his/her dependent family members during their stay in Turkey. In case the individual is paid through the Turkish payroll, the print out of the payslips will be adequate. On the other hand, considering that the individual s work permit is recently issued, there may not be any payroll slip for an individual until the application date. In this case, bank account statements will be requested. There should be approximately TL for each dependent family member in the individual s bank account for a one year residence permit. General Health Insurance: Each dependent family member will be covered under a comprehensive health insurance for their medical expenses in Turkey. Please note that the security offices accept international health insurance policies in most cases provided that the provisions of the policy clearly mention that all

6 international (including Turkey) medical expenses of the individual are covered. Otherwise, local health insurance policy that is issued from an insurance company in Turkey is obligatory. Lease contract: The lease contract should clearly indicate the residency address and will be notarized. (Original document is requested.) Question 15: How will dependent applicants be provided with a residence permit once their applications are finalized? The residence permit ID will be sent to the individual s residency address once issued. The delivery date will differ from one location to another but it takes around 15 days in Istanbul and a little less in locations outside Istanbul. Question 16: We need to realize Social Security registration of the individual as the work permit is obtained. However, we are unable to do so as the foreign ID number is not indicated on the work permit ID. What should we do to realize the Social Security registration as foreign ID number is requested for it? Our suggestion is to realize the registrations to the Social Security Authority by hand as paper petition as there is 30 days in order to register the individual to the social security system following his/her entry to Turkey. (For those whose work permits application is processed through the Turkish Consulate abroad.) Therefore, in order to fulfil the social security liabilities from the employer s perspective and without being entitled to any possible penalties in the future, our suggestion is to realize the paper based registration as soon as the work permit gets effective. Question 17: We have received the work permit of the individual before the new regulations came into force on 11th April 2014, but we have been told that no work permit based residence permit application is required since then. What else we need to do? Please be kindly informed that for those whose work permit is issued before 11th April 2014, no further residence permit application is requested as their work permit documents will substitutes as residence permit provided that the residence permit fee is paid to the Security Office following the work permit approval. Furthermore, we have the impression that the Authorities intention is to issue new work permit IDs for these individuals in the following months once full guidance on the implementation of the new regulations are finally announced.