Work Permit Rejected in Turkey: The 30-Day Objection, Court Appeal and Reapplying

If a work permit application is rejected in Turkey (Türkiye), an objection can be filed with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security within 30 days of notification, and if the objection is rejected the decision can be taken to the administrative court. This is set out in Article 21 of the International Labour Force Law (No. 6735). The refusal is notified to the employer, not to the foreign employee, so the 30 days usually start running before the employee knows. Most refusals rest on one of ten grounds listed in Article 9, and many can be cured by a corrected new application.

This guide explains the grounds for refusal, how to read the decision, how the objection and the court case work, what happens to the foreigner's right to stay in the meantime, and how to avoid a second refusal.

• Who decides: the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Directorate General of International Labour Force.
• Time to decide: 30 days from a complete application (Art. 7(8)).
• Refusal grounds: ten grounds in Art. 9(1).
• Who is notified: the employer; for independent or indefinite permits and the Turquoise Card, the foreigner (Art. 21(1)).
• Objection: to the Ministry within 30 days of notification (Art. 21(2)).
• Court: administrative court, if the objection is rejected.
• Renewals: must be filed within the 60 days before expiry; late applications are rejected (Art. 7(3)).

Legal status of this guide. It reflects Law No. 6735 as currently in force. The evaluation criteria applied by the Ministry — staffing ratios, capital and turnover thresholds, minimum salaries — are set by secondary rules and are revised; confirm the current figures before applying. Last updated: October 2026.

In this guide

• How work permit applications are decided
• The ten statutory grounds for refusal
• The evaluation criteria behind most refusals
• Who is told, and when the clock starts
• The objection to the Ministry
• The court case
• Objection or new application?
• The foreigner's right to stay after a refusal
• Cancellation of an existing permit
• Applicants for whom the criteria are relaxed
• Common mistakes
• Frequently asked questions

How work permit applications are decided

Work permits are granted by the Ministry on the basis of the international labour force policy it determines (Art. 6(1)). Applications are made directly to the Ministry from inside Turkey — online, by the employer — or through Turkish embassies and consulates abroad, and may also be submitted by an authorised intermediary institution (Art. 7(1)–(2)).

The assessment proceeds as follows:

• the application is evaluated according to the international labour force policy (Art. 7(4));
• where the Ministry considers it necessary, the opinions of other public bodies and professional organisations are taken into account (Art. 7(5));
• the Ministry sets the criteria used in the assessment and in the points system (Art. 7(6));
• if information or documents are missing, the assessment is postponed until they are supplied; the postponement cannot exceed 30 days unless a force majeure is officially documented, and applications still incomplete at the end of that period are rejected (Art. 7(7));
• a properly made and complete application is assessed within 30 days (Art. 7(8)).

For certain professions a preliminary permit is required before the Ministry decides: from the Ministry of Health for health services, from the Ministry of National Education for education services, and from the Council of Higher Education for foreign academic staff (Art. 8). A missing preliminary permit means a refusal.

A first permit is granted for at most one year, for a specific workplace and job; the first renewal with the same employer for up to two years; later renewals for up to three years. An application to work for a different employer is treated as a first application (Art. 10(1)–(2)).

The ten statutory grounds for refusal

Under Article 9(1), applications are rejected where they:

Art. 9(1)	Ground	Typical cause
(a)	Are not in line with the international labour force policy	Sector, profession or region in which foreign employment is not being approved
(b)	Were made with false or misleading information or documents	Inflated salary or capital, fictitious employees, altered diplomas
(c)	Do not sufficiently justify the employment of a foreigner	No explanation of why this foreigner is needed for this role
(ç)	Concern jobs and professions reserved by other laws for Turkish citizens	Professions closed to foreigners
(d)	Concern foreigners found not to have the required qualifications and expertise	Diploma or experience does not match the position
(e)	Do not meet the evaluation criteria set by the Ministry	Staffing ratio, capital or turnover, or salary below the threshold
(f)	Concern foreigners notified by the Interior Ministry as falling within Articles 7, 15 or 54 of Law No. 6458	Entry ban, deportation ground, visa obstacle
(g)	Concern foreigners whose work in Turkey is considered objectionable on grounds of public order, public security or public health	Security assessment
(ğ)	Are made for nationals of countries Turkey does not recognise or has no diplomatic relations with, unless the Foreign Ministry approves	Nationality
(h)	Are not made within the statutory period, or whose deficiencies are not completed	Late renewal; missing documents not supplied within 30 days

The grounds fall into three groups, and the right response differs for each:

• Curable defects — (c), (d), (e), (h): the application can be improved and resubmitted.
• Policy and legal bars — (a), (ç), (ğ): the obstacle is the job or the nationality, not the file.
• Problems with the person's record — (f), (g): the obstacle is a migration or security record, which has to be addressed at its source; see Turkey restriction codes explained.

The evaluation criteria behind most refusals

In practice the majority of refusals are issued under ground (e). The criteria are not in the statute; they are set by the Ministry and published in its implementing rules and guidance. They concern, in broad terms:

• The ratio of Turkish to foreign employees at the workplace — as a general rule, a minimum number of Turkish citizens must be employed for each foreign worker, counted from social security records;
• The financial standing of the employer — a minimum paid-in capital, or alternatively a minimum annual turnover or export figure;
• The salary offered — at least a set multiple of the minimum wage depending on the position (higher for managers, engineers and specialists than for general staff);
• For foreign partners — a minimum share in the company's capital;
• Sector-specific rules — for example for tourism, domestic services, education and health.

The thresholds are updated from time to time, and different rules apply to different categories of applicant. Before applying — and certainly before re-applying after a refusal — compare the employer's actual social security records, balance sheet and the contract salary with the criteria in force on that date. A large share of refusals result from an employer who was one Turkish employee short on the day of assessment, or from a contract salary below the level required for the stated job title.

Who is told, and when the clock starts

Decisions refusing a work permit or a work permit exemption, and decisions cancelling them, are notified under the Notification Law to the employer; they are notified to the foreigner only where the foreigner holds or applied for an independent work permit, an indefinite work permit or a Turquoise Card (Art. 21(1)). In the online system the decision is delivered to the employer's registered electronic address.

The consequence is practical and serious: the 30-day period for objecting begins when the employer is notified. A foreign employee who is not told promptly may lose the objection — and may also lose track of their own residence status. If you are the employee, ask the employer in writing to send you the decision the day it arrives.

The objection to the Ministry

Those concerned may object to the Ministry's decisions within 30 days of notification (Art. 21(2)).

• Who files. The employer, through the same online system; the foreigner in the case of independent and indefinite permits. A lawyer can prepare and submit it.
• What to submit. A reasoned petition addressing the specific ground stated in the refusal, with documents: updated social security records, capital or turnover evidence, a corrected contract, a fuller explanation of the role and of why the foreigner is needed, proof of qualifications with translations, or evidence that a migration record has been resolved.
• New facts. An objection can rely on documents that were missing from the original application. It is assessed, however, on the legal position at the time; if the defect has been cured by a later change — for example, by hiring additional Turkish employees — a new application may be the cleaner route.
• Outcome. The Ministry either accepts the objection and grants the permit or rejects it. Rejection opens the way to court.

The statute says that judicial review may be sought "if the objection is rejected". To avoid any dispute about whether the court route is open, file the objection within the 30 days in every case where you intend to litigate.

The court case

1. Time limit. An annulment action must be brought within 60 days of notification of the decision rejecting the objection (Law No. 2577, Art. 7). If the Ministry does not answer the objection, the general rule is that silence for 30 days is treated as rejection, after which the litigation period runs (Art. 10–11); do not let the dates drift.
2. Court. The administrative court at the seat of the authority — as a rule, the Ankara administrative courts, since the decision is taken by the Ministry.
3. Claimant. The employer, as addressee of the decision, and the foreigner, whose interests are directly affected, may each bring the case.
4. Review. The Ministry has a wide margin of appreciation in labour force policy, and holding the application conditions gives no absolute right to a permit — the law says so expressly for indefinite permits (Art. 10(3)). The court does not substitute its own assessment of labour market needs. It examines whether the stated ground exists in fact, whether the criteria were applied correctly and consistently, whether the decision gives reasons that can be reviewed, and whether a relaxation that the law provides for the applicant's category was considered.
5. Interim relief. A stay of execution may be requested but is granted only where the decision is clearly unlawful and causes harm that is difficult to repair (Law No. 2577, Art. 27).
6. Result. Annulment obliges the Ministry to reassess the application in line with the judgment; it does not itself issue the permit.

Cases succeed mainly where the refusal rests on a factual mistake — the Ministry miscounted employees, overlooked a document that was in the file, or misclassified the position — or where an exceptional category was ignored.

Objection or new application?

Situation	Better route
The Ministry made a factual error on the file as submitted	Objection; then court if necessary
A document was missing or unclear	Objection with the document, or a new complete application
The employer did not meet the criteria at the time but does now	New application
Salary or job title in the contract was wrong	New application with a corrected contract
Renewal filed late	New first-time application; an objection cannot cure lateness
Refusal under Art. 9(1)(f) or (g) because of a migration or security record	Resolve the record with the migration authorities; objection and court in parallel
Profession reserved for Turkish citizens	No remedy; consider a different role

The two routes are not mutually exclusive. Where time allows, an objection preserves the right to litigate while a fresh application addresses the defect.

Work permit refused or cancelled? Send the decision, the date it reached the employer, and the foreigner's current residence status. Message Yayla Law on WhatsApp or use the contact form. Thirty days pass quickly, and the employee's right to stay may be running on a shorter clock.

The foreigner's right to stay after a refusal

A work permit counts as a residence permit (Law No. 6458, Art. 27; Law No. 6735, Art. 12(1)). What a refusal means for the foreigner's stay depends on what they held before:

• First application from abroad: no status in Turkey is affected; the person simply cannot come to work.
• First application from inside Turkey, with a valid residence permit: the residence permit continues on its own terms. The person may stay but may not work.
• Renewal refused, or permit cancelled, where the work permit was the only basis of stay: the basis of residence ends. The foreigner must obtain another status without delay — typically a short-term or family residence permit applied for in Turkey as a change of purpose (Law No. 6458, Art. 22(1)(ğ), Art. 29) — or leave. Remaining without status beyond the permitted period exposes the person to a deportation order.

An objection or lawsuit against the work permit refusal does not, in itself, authorise continued work or stay. Plan the residence position at the same time as the objection; see Residence Permit Rejected in Turkey.

Cancellation of an existing permit

Apart from cancellation at the request of the foreigner or the employer, a work permit or exemption is cancelled where the foreigner (Art. 15(2)):

• does not come to Turkey within six months of the permit's start date;
• does not extend the validity of their passport, unless the Interior or Foreign Ministry approves;
• is found to be working in breach of the law — for example, for a different employer;
• stops working for any reason;
• is later found to have applied with false or misleading information or documents;
• is notified by the Interior Ministry as falling within Articles 7, 15 or 54 of Law No. 6458;
• is reported as objectionable on grounds of public order, security or health;
• stays outside Turkey for more than six consecutive months on a fixed-term permit, or more than one year on an independent or indefinite permit, other than for force majeure such as health reasons or compulsory public service.

Employers must notify the Ministry within fifteen days when employment ends (Art. 22(1)). Cancellation decisions are notified and challenged in the same way as refusals.

Applicants for whom the criteria are relaxed

Article 16 allows exceptions to the application, refusal and duration rules (Articles 7, 9 and 10) for specified groups, in line with the labour force policy. They include:

• foreigners assessed as a qualified workforce on account of education, salary, experience or contribution to science and technology, and qualified investors;
• foreigners employed on a project in Turkey for a fixed period;
• persons notified as being of Turkish descent; citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus; nationals of EU member states;
• international protection applicants, conditional refugees, persons under temporary protection, stateless persons and victims of human trafficking in the support process;
• foreigners married to a Turkish citizen and living with their spouse in Turkey;
• foreigners working without diplomatic immunity at foreign missions and international organisations;
• persons of international distinction coming for scientific, cultural, artistic or sporting purposes;
• cross-border service providers.

If the foreigner belongs to one of these groups, the application and any objection should say so expressly and prove it. A refusal that applies the ordinary staffing or capital criteria to an applicant in an exceptional category, without considering the exception, is a strong candidate for objection and review.

Common mistakes

1. The employee learns of the refusal weeks late because only the employer was notified.
2. Re-submitting the same file without checking the criteria.
3. Filing the renewal after expiry or outside the 60-day window.
4. Stating a job title that triggers a higher salary threshold than the contract salary meets.
5. Ignoring the 30-day period for completing missing documents.
6. Continuing to work after a renewal refusal or cancellation.
7. Not claiming an exceptional category the foreigner belongs to.
8. Treating a record-based refusal as a document problem.

Frequently asked questions

Why was my Turkish work permit application rejected?

Under Article 9 of Law No. 6735, on one of ten grounds: inconsistency with labour force policy, false information, insufficient justification for hiring a foreigner, a profession reserved for Turkish citizens, lack of qualifications, failure to meet the Ministry's criteria, a migration-law obstacle, public order or security concerns, nationality, or a late or incomplete application.

How do I appeal a work permit refusal in Turkey?

By filing an objection with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security within 30 days of notification of the refusal. If the objection is rejected, an annulment action can be brought before the administrative court, generally within 60 days of that rejection.

Who receives the refusal decision?

The employer. Refusals are notified to the employer who made the application, and to the foreigner only in the case of independent or indefinite work permits and the Turquoise Card. The 30-day objection period runs from that notification.

How long does a work permit decision take?

The Ministry is to complete its assessment within 30 days, provided the application is complete. If documents are missing, the assessment is postponed for up to 30 days, after which an incomplete application is rejected.

Can I reapply after a work permit rejection?

Yes. There is no waiting period. A new application makes sense where the reason for the refusal has been corrected, for example where the employer now meets the staffing or financial criteria or the contract has been amended.

Can I stay in Turkey after my work permit is refused?

Only if you have another basis of stay. If the refused or cancelled work permit was your only residence basis, you must obtain a residence permit on another ground promptly or leave; an objection or lawsuit does not by itself extend your right to stay or work.

What happens if I apply for renewal late?

Renewal applications must be made within the 60 days before the permit expires and in any case before expiry. Applications made after that are rejected, and a new first-time application is then required.

Is it easier to get a work permit if I am married to a Turkish citizen?

The law allows exceptions to the ordinary criteria for foreigners married to a Turkish citizen and living with their spouse in Turkey. A work permit is still required, but requirements such as the staffing ratio may be applied more flexibly.

Can a work permit be cancelled after it is granted?

Yes, on the grounds in Article 15: not arriving within six months, an expired passport, working in breach of the law, the end of the employment, false documents, migration-law or security obstacles, or long absence from Turkey.

Legal basis and sources

• International Labour Force Law No. 6735, Articles 6–13, 15–16 and 21–22 — official consolidated text at mevzuat.gov.tr.
• Law No. 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection, Articles 7, 15, 22, 27, 29 and 54.
• Law No. 2577 on Administrative Procedure, Articles 7, 10, 11 and 27.
• Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Directorate General of International Labour Force — csgb.gov.tr/uigm.

This article provides general legal information on Turkish law as of October 2026. It is not legal advice. Work permit evaluation criteria are revised regularly; verify the thresholds in force on the date of your application.