How Does a Foreign Company Hire Employees in Turkey? (2026)

The Employment Contract — and What Turkish Law Requires in It

The framework is set by the Labour Law No. 4857 (working conditions), the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510 (registration and contributions) and, for foreign staff, the International Labour Force Law No. 6735 — the source of the sponsorship rules discussed below, including the five-Turkish-employees practice. Turkish employment relationships are governed by the 4857 sayılı İş Kanunu (Labour Law), and the contract is where compliance starts. As a rule, an employment contract is not required to be in writing — but any contract of one year or more must be. In practice, a foreign employer should put every hire in writing regardless, because the written contract is also what protects the company when a relationship later goes wrong, and because a Turkish hire made without a clear written record invites disputes over terms that were never documented. Where no written contract is used, the employer is in any event obliged to give the employee a written document setting out the core terms — working hours, pay, pay period, and the rules on termination — within two months.

The contract can be open-ended or fixed-term, full-time or part-time, and structured to fit the role, but it cannot contract out of the mandatory protections of the Labour Law. A contract that waives statutory severance, sets pay below the minimum wage, or imposes working hours beyond the legal ceiling is not clever drafting — it is a contract the courts, and in the case of a foreign hire the Ministry reviewing the work permit, will simply disregard or reject.

Probation and Working Hours — the Defaults You Are Hiring Into

Two defaults shape every Turkish hire and are worth knowing before you draft. A probation period is permitted, but it is capped: at most two months, extendable to four only through a collective bargaining agreement. During probation either side can end the relationship without notice or severance — but the employee is still paid for the days worked and, critically, is still fully insured from day one. Probation is not a period of informal or off-the-books employment; treating it that way is one of the more expensive misunderstandings a new employer can have.

Working hours are likewise fixed by law. The standard working week is forty-five hours, and work beyond that engages overtime rules. A foreign employer used to a different norm cannot simply write a longer week into the contract; the statutory ceiling governs, and hours above it carry premium pay. These are not terms to negotiate — they are the floor the contract is built on.

Social Security Registration — the Obligation Employers Miss Most

Here is the single requirement that catches new employers more than any other, and the one with the least forgiving timing. Every employee must be registered with the Social Security Institution (SGK) under the 5510 sayılı Sosyal Sigortalar ve Genel Sağlık Sigortası Kanunu — and the registration, the işe giriş bildirgesi, must be filed before the employee starts work, not after. Not at the end of the first week, not once probation is passed. Before the first hour. The purpose is to ensure the employee is covered against workplace accidents and illness from the moment they begin, and the deadline is absolute: an employee found working before their SGK registration exposes the employer to administrative fines, and the fines rise on repetition.

This trips up foreign employers in particular, because in many home jurisdictions social security enrolment is a payroll formality that can follow the hire by days or weeks. In Turkey it precedes the hire. A company setting up payroll in Turkey should treat SGK registration not as an onboarding step but as a precondition to the employee walking in the door.

Occupational Health and Safety — a Duty From the First Employee

The moment a company has an employee, the 6331 sayılı İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği Kanunu (Occupational Health and Safety Law) applies. This means the employer owes duties that begin at hiring: providing occupational health and safety training, arranging health surveillance appropriate to the work, and taking the safety measures the workplace requires. The scale of what is required varies with the size and risk class of the business, but the principle does not: health and safety is not a concern only for factories and construction sites. An office employer has obligations too, and they attach from the first hire, not from some later headcount threshold.

Hiring a Foreign National — the Extra Layer, and the 5:1 Trap

Everything above applies to any hire. When the person you are hiring is a foreign national, a second regime sits on top of it: the 6735 sayılı Uluslararası İşgücü Kanunu (International Labour Force Law) and the work permit it governs. The permit is applied for jointly by the employer and the employee, and the employment contract is part of the application — which is exactly why a contract that fails to meet Labour Law requirements gets a work permit rejected, not just a lawsuit lost.

The condition that blindsides foreign companies most is the ratio rule. As a general requirement, a company must employ five Turkish citizens for each foreign employee whose permit it sponsors. The arithmetic is where new foreign investors get caught: a company that incorporates in Turkey specifically to bring in one or two foreign staff cannot, on its own, sponsor their permits until it also employs five or ten Turkish citizens. There are exceptions and category-specific rules, and the ratio does not apply uniformly to every situation, but a foreign company building its Turkish team around foreign hires needs to plan for this ceiling from the outset rather than discover it when the first permit is refused. Alongside the ratio, the company must generally meet a paid-in capital threshold and demonstrate the financial standing to justify the foreign hire, and the foreign employee's salary must meet the applicable threshold for their permit category — higher for managerial and specialist roles than the statutory minimum wage.

There is also a sequencing point that matters for anyone hired from outside Turkey: the work permit process, and where the employee is abroad, a consular work visa stage, run on their own timeline. Our guide to the Turkish work permit covers that process in full from the applicant's side; the point for the employer is that a foreign hire cannot simply start on an agreed date the way a Turkish hire can — the permit governs when lawful work begins.

What Ongoing Compliance Looks Like

Hiring is not a one-time event but the start of a continuing set of duties. Monthly, the employer runs payroll, withholds income tax and the employee's social security contributions, and declares and pays them to the authorities. Changes to the relationship — a salary change, a change of position, and for foreign employees a change of employer — carry their own reporting and, for foreign hires, often a fresh permit step. And when the relationship ends, a separate body of law on notice, severance, and unfair dismissal takes over: our guide to termination and foreign employees in Turkey covers that end of the relationship, which for a foreign hire also interacts with their residence and permit status. For the employer, the lesson is that the obligations do not stop at onboarding; they run for the life of the employment.

The Mistakes That Cost Foreign Employers

A handful of errors account for most of the avoidable exposure. Letting an employee start before the SGK registration is filed, and drawing a fine for undeclared work. Treating probation as an off-the-books trial period rather than fully insured employment. Writing a contract that breaches the Labour Law's mandatory floor — below-minimum pay, excessive hours, waived severance — and finding it unenforceable or, for a foreign hire, permit-rejecting. Building a Turkish team around foreign hires without planning for the 5:1 ratio. And assuming a foreign employee can start on a chosen date, when the work permit dictates when lawful work can begin. None of these is about whether the hire was a good one. They are about sequence and compliance, which is the part an employer controls.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a foreign company need a Turkish entity to hire employees in Turkey? To employ someone directly on its own payroll and sponsor work permits, a company generally needs a Turkish presence. Some foreign companies hire through an employer-of-record arrangement instead, where a local entity is the legal employer. Which route fits depends on the company's plans in Turkey.

Does the employment contract have to be in writing? A contract of one year or more must be in writing. For shorter arrangements it is not strictly required, but the employer must still give the employee a written statement of core terms within two months. In practice a written contract is advisable for every hire.

What must a Turkish employment contract contain? It must respect the mandatory rules of the Labour Law — at least the statutory minimum wage, working hours within the legal ceiling, and statutory severance and notice rights. A contract that waives these is unenforceable, and for a foreign hire it will cause the work permit to be rejected.

How long can a probation period be? Up to two months, extendable to four only through a collective bargaining agreement. During probation either party can terminate without notice or severance, but the employee is still paid for days worked and must be insured from day one.

When must I register an employee with SGK? Before the employee starts work — not after. The social security registration (işe giriş bildirgesi) must be filed before the first hour of work, including during any probation period. Late registration exposes the employer to fines.

What are the standard working hours? The standard working week is forty-five hours. Work beyond that engages overtime rules and premium pay; the statutory ceiling cannot be contracted away.

Do occupational health and safety rules apply to a small office? Yes. The Occupational Health and Safety Law applies from the first employee. The specific measures scale with the size and risk class of the business, but training, health surveillance, and basic safety duties attach at hiring, not at a later headcount.

What extra steps apply when hiring a foreign national? A work permit under the International Labour Force Law, applied for jointly by employer and employee, with the employment contract as part of the application. The company must generally meet a capital threshold, satisfy the 5:1 ratio, and offer a salary meeting the permit-category threshold.

What is the 5:1 rule? As a general requirement, a company must employ five Turkish citizens for each foreign employee whose work permit it sponsors. A company that incorporates just to hire one or two foreign staff cannot sponsor their permits until it also employs enough Turkish citizens to satisfy the ratio.

Can a foreign hire start work on an agreed date like a Turkish hire? No. Lawful work begins only once the work permit is granted, and where the employee is abroad, after a consular work visa stage. The permit, not the agreed start date, governs when work can lawfully begin.

What are my ongoing obligations after hiring? Running monthly payroll, withholding and paying income tax and social security contributions, reporting changes to the relationship, and — for foreign employees — handling permit steps on changes of employer or role.

What happens when the employment ends? A separate body of law on notice, severance, and unfair dismissal applies. For a foreign employee, termination also affects their residence and permit status. Our guide to termination and foreign employees covers this in detail.

Can you handle hiring compliance for a foreign company remotely? Yes. The contract, SGK registration, work permit application, and ongoing compliance can be coordinated on the company's behalf, with the bilingual contract and any required sworn translations handled in one place.