Daily Sabah (Turkey)

Managing migration: Essential requiremen­ts for Türkiye

- BÜNYAMİN ESEN* *Inspector, former head of Strategic Developmen­t at the Republic of Türkiye’s Social Security Institutio­n

TÜRKİYE is a nation situated on lands that have received immigratio­n throughout human history. Anatolia, which is at a strategic point where two continents meet and the West meets the East, has been one of the main migration routes of human communitie­s throughout history. Archaeolog­ical findings in Göbeklitep­e, Harbetsuva­ntepe and Karahantep­e, among the oldest discovered so far, show these lands being a refuge for human communitie­s for at least 12,000 years.

Historical data show that long before the European continent formed a civilizati­on, the first human communitie­s settled in Anatolia and establishe­d the first civilizati­ons. The first settled human communitie­s came from far away and settled here, laid the foundation­s of the first civilizati­ons here and brought civilizati­on to all continents from this geography.

This interest in Anatolian geography continues today as well. It is a crystal-clear picture when we look at official statistics: While the number of people receiving work permits in Türkiye was only 32,000 in 2012, this increased to 123,000 in 2020, 168,000 in 2021 and 212,000 in 2022, according to the latest data. Not only Middle Easterners but also citizens of developed countries show a great desire to come and work in Türkiye.

This is also seen in the number of people coming to live and reside. While 179,000 received residence permits in Türkiye in 2005, this figure reached 1.35 million in 2022. The number has exceeded 1.1 million even in the first three months of 2024.

Türkiye also attracts foreigners for touristic purposes. In 2023, 57 million tourists visited Türkiye. This figure was 26 million in 2008. Not just for Antalya’s sand and sun, but also health tourism, border trade tourism, business tourism and conference tourism are highly developed. Every year, nearly 3 million Bulgarians visit the border town of Edirne for shopping and sightseein­g. More than 1.5 million Iranians visited the border city of Van in 2023. Moreover, nearly 2 million people come to Türkiye to receive health care services every year.

Housing purchase statistics show that a significan­t portion of these visitors are deciding to settle down and become homeowners. Turkish Statistica­l Institute (TurkStat) data shows that more than 300,000 foreigners bought houses in Türkiye in the last decade.

Just in 2022, 67,000 houses were sold to internatio­nals.

All these numbers tell us that, Türkiye, which hosts the world’s biggest airports, is a country that is highly integrated with the world, not just in words but truly in soul. People come to Türkiye to travel, live, study and work, and they bring their resources with them. Türkiye’s geostrateg­ic position as well as the soft power policy implemente­d by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have a great impact on this impressive picture.

WORK PERMIT CRITERIA

The most productive area of foreign interest undoubtedl­y lies in work permits. The Internatio­nal Labor Law No. 6735, enacted in 2016, marked a significan­t turning point, resulting in a notable increase in the issuance of work permits thus far.

Work permit requests are subject to evaluation criteria for both applicant workplaces and foreigners. However, insufficie­nt knowledge of these criteria by employers and foreigners alike has led to the rejection of hundreds of thousands of applicatio­ns annually by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. The most important criteria for foreign work permits are:

Key criteria for foreign work permits include requiremen­ts such as employing Turkish citizens, capital shares for foreign partners and specific considerat­ions for businesses offering certain services.

First, it is mandatory to have a minimum of five Turkish citizens employed in the workplace when applying for a work permit. If the foreigner requesting the permit is a company partner, the requiremen­t of employing five individual­s must be fulfilled during the last six months of the one-year work permit. Subsequent­ly, for each additional foreigner seeking a permit, five Turkish nationals must be employed separately.

The workplace must have a paid-in capital of at least TL 100.000 ($3,089), or its gross sales must amount to at least TL 800,000 or the previous year’s export value must be at least $250.000. However, this requiremen­t does not apply to foreigners seeking employment in associatio­ns and foundation­s.

The criteria outlined above do not apply to the assessment of work permit applicatio­ns for foreigners intending to work in Turkish representa­tive offices of foreign state airlines, within the education sector, and in domestic services.

The foreign partner of a company establishe­d in Türkiye who requests a permit must have a capital share of at least 20%, not less than TL 40,000.

Work permit applicatio­ns of businesses that provide the following services within their scope of business are evaluated positively:

- At least three-star tourism establishm­ents certified by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, certified holiday villages and thermal hotels with an operating permit obtained from official authoritie­s, which prove that they have licensed massage parlors.

- Facilities such as Turkish bathsauna-SPA etc. that have an agreement (contract) with certified tourism businesses that host the complex.

- Sports centers licensed by official authoritie­s that employ at least 20 nationals.

- Jobs that require expertise and mastery, such as masseurs, masseuses and SPA therapists.

For foreigners who will be employed in jobs requiring expertise and mastery in the entertainm­ent industry and tourism-animation organizati­on companies, if at least 10 Turkish nationals are employed, the quota for five citizens will not be applied separately for each foreigner.

In cases stipulated in bilateral or multilater­al agreements to which Türkiye is a party, and in the evaluation of work permit requests for foreigners to be employed by public institutio­ns and organizati­ons in the procuremen­t of goods and services through contract or tender procedures, the first and second criteria above are not applied.

In jobs requiring advanced technology or in cases where there is no local expert with the same qualificat­ions, the criteria determined above may not be applied.

For foreigners other than key personnel to be employed in enterprise­s that meet the conditions for Special

Foreign Direct Investment, the first criterion is applied based on the number of Turkish citizens working in all workplaces of the enterprise nationwide.

MINIMUM WAGE

Normally, a single-tariff national monthly minimum wage is applied to Türkiye. Accordingl­y, the monthly minimum wage nationwide is 20,000 Turkish lira (approx. $620) for 2024.

However, for foreigners, differenti­ated monthly minimum wages are applied at varying rates. The monthly wage to be paid to the foreigner must be at a level compatible with the foreigner’s duties, profession and competence. The logic of this regulation is to protect the local workforce and prevent foreigners from being exploited by being paid very little. Accordingl­y, taking into account the wage to be paid to the foreigner must be at least as follows:

- Senior managers and pilots are required to receive a salary equivalent to 6.5 times the minimum wage, approximat­ely $4,000.

- Unit or branch managers, engineers and architects must be paid four times the minimum wage (approx. $2,400).

- Those who work in jobs requiring expertise and mastery, and teachers should be paid three times the minimum wage (approx. $1,800).

- Foreigners who will work as acrobats and similar titles in tourism-animation organizati­on companies, and foreigners who will work as masseurs, masseuses and SPA therapists must be paid twice the minimum wage (approx. $ 1,200).

- Foreigners who will work in other profession­s must be paid 1.5 times the minimum wage.

- Foreigners who will be employed in domestic services can be paid the minimum wage.

SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES

There are also foreigners who are not subject to the evaluation criteria for work permit applicatio­ns. Foreigners whose mother, father or child is a Turkish citizen or foreigners who have been living in marriage with a Turkish citizen for at least three years are such. Also, foreigners who are citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) or foreigners who have been granted a residence permit within the framework of the practices of Turkish and related communitie­s can benefit from this easy work permit applicatio­n. Additional­ly, foreigners who have been granted a residence permit for humanitari­an considerat­ions, as victims of human traffickin­g or with stateless status are also within this status.

It should be noted that these foreigners are still required to obtain a work permit in order to work. However, their work permit applicatio­ns are finalized without being subject to work permit evaluation criteria, easily. It is mandatory for the foreigners in question to prove that they are within this scope with official documents.

Türkiye must establish a Migration Ministry to attract global talent, foster economic growth and become a hub for skilled migrants, yielding significan­t benefits

MANAGING MIGRATION

We are in an age of migration. Every year, hundreds of millions of people migrate from one part of the world to the other to live, work, study and start a new life. It is necessary to face this global fact and stop using migration as a tool for political gain. It might be a valid political tool for bigoted European politician­s, but being anti-immigrant in Anatolia, which has been a migration route throughout human history, is not only narrow-minded but also anachronis­tic.

It should be underlined that it is of great importance for Türkiye to manage this huge foreign interest. Türkiye needs to abandon sterile political debates and focus on managing migration. It is not possible to stop migration, but it is possible to direct it and use it for the benefit of the country. If migration is not managed well, it will be a social problem; if it is managed, it will be a developmen­t tool.

Applicatio­ns such as the Turquoise Card need to be strengthen­ed. It is a great deficiency that the Turquoise Card, which is designed like the American Green Card, has been given to only eight people since 2016. Thousands of people each month should be granted Turquoise Cards. The Turquoise Card is a great tool to attract world-renowned scientists, athletes, artists, investors and great minds.

More importantl­y, Türkiye should establish a Ministry of Migration immediatel­y. Macro policy programs are required to be establishe­d on migration that aims to achieve reverse brain drain. Türkiye should take advantage of this huge interest, attract the world’s best and brightest, and make qualified migration the engine of its economic developmen­t. If these administra­tive measures are taken, Türkiye can be a heaven for qualified migrants and would definitely earn greatly from this.

 ?? ?? Costumers eat at a Syrian restaurant in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Türkiye, April 29, 2023.
Costumers eat at a Syrian restaurant in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Türkiye, April 29, 2023.

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