Resources for employers in the Republic of Türkiye
Resources for employers in the Republic of Türkiye
We use "refugees" to encompass forcibly displaced people with different legal statuses, such as asylum-seekers (international protection applicants), refugees, (including conditional refugees) subsidiary protection beneficiaries, and temporary protection beneficiaries.
In cases where differentiating information relating to each status is essential (i.e. regarding the right to work), this is clearly indicated.
Why hire refugees and stateless people in Türkiye?
Türkiye is one of the primary refugee-hosting countries in the world and a global leader in managing large-scale programs for refugee inclusion. While refugees are motivated to contribute to the economy, many still face barriers to formal participation. Employers play a pivotal role by enabling refugees to obtain work permits, enter formal employment, access social insurance, and build on their skills and professional backgrounds.
This dynamic represents a strategic opportunity to bridge what is often called the ‘refugee gap.’ for talent, refugees and stateless people remain a vital, yet underutilized, talent pool in Türkiye. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Refugee Employment Alliance 2024 insights, enabling legal and timely access to the labour market strengthens refugees’ pathways to self-reliance while driving sustainable growth and productivity for the private sector.
Read more: World Economic Forum Briefing Paper “Accelerating Support for Refugee Employment” (2024) and the Future of Jobs Report 2025.
In 2020, H&M Türkiye launched a special program with its partners and suppliers to employ refugees. Since then, it has helped more than 400 refugees to earn a living and aims to reach 2000 by 2025. They have work permits, are socially insured, work in a safe work environment, and are paid according to Turkish law. The program also includes work mentorship to help recruits transition into the new job. Learn more about the program here.
How many refugees and stateless people are there in Türkiye?
As of January 2026, there are 2,371,412 Syrians under temporary protection. At the end of 2025, there were approximately 166,000 persons under international protection, mostly from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran and 420 recorded stateless people and people of undetermined nationality in Türkiye.
Visit the Refugee Data Finder to learn more
How many of them are working?
In 2023, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security reported that 108 520 Syrian nationals had been granted work permits. However, the legal status of these individuals was not specified, making it difficult to confirm exactly how many were refugees. The Ministry has since confirmed that in 2024 a total of 109,370 work permits were issued for Syrians holding temporary protection status (announced in February 2025).
A significant number of Syrians under temporary protection are believed to be engaged in informal employment. By 2020, approximately one million refugees were estimated to be working without official registration.
Read more from AIDA's country report for Türkiye.
What are the main challenges?
Access to employment for forcibly displaced people in Türkiye varies by city and sector. Commonly reported challenges include low wages and informal work, language barriers, limited awareness of procedures and rights, and difficulties in having skills and qualifications recognized.
Although the 2024 work permit exemption for individuals under temporary protection has resulted in significant cost savings and simplified procedures, limited awareness of the new legislation among both refugees and employers continues to pose challenges. The exemption process is initiated by refugees and does not include the initiation of social insurance registration, which remains the responsibility of employers.
In addition to the work permit exemption, which is available only to beneficiaries of temporary protection, the regular work permit procedure is open to individuals under both international protection and temporary protection. Unlike the exemption mechanism, the regular work permit process is employer-led and requires an application for both initial issuance and subsequent renewals. While compliance costs are relatively limited and procedures are not overly complex, the process entails administrative requirements. Work permits are issued for a specific job and workplace; extensions of time-limited permits require a formal extension application and are typically tied to the same employer, while a change of employer is generally treated as a new application.
Work permits issued to international protection applicants and persons under temporary protection do not substitute for residence or status documentation. In addition, for people under temporary protection and international protection, eligibility and procedures for formal work are closely linked to registration and the province of residence, which can limit job opportunities outside the registered province. Mobility-related requirements—such as cases where inter-provincial travel permission may be needed—can further affect job-search and hiring. Stateless people in Türkiye face significant challenges in accessing legal employment as they must first receive official confirmation of their status before being able to apply for a work permit.
Read more in the Türkiye Country Chapter 2023 – 2025 report by the Regional Refugee Response and Resilience Plan
Refugees in Türkiye are hard-working and highly entrepreneurial, having established over 6000 new businesses in Türkiye. They can also bring business connections between Turkish and Syrian businesses and help Turkish companies access Arabic-speaking markets. Learn more in the Building Markets report here.
| Status | Who it applies to | Right to work? | Process |
| International protection applicant status (asylum-seeker) | Individuals who have arrived in the country and applied for international protection, pending processing of their application. | May apply for a work permit after 6 months following the lodging date of their international protection application. | Employers apply for a work permit from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security through an online system (E-Devlet).
For independent work, the person may apply for work permit through the online system (E-Devlet). |
| Refugee status | Individuals who sought asylum in Türkiye due to the events occurred in Europe, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion in their country of origin. | They have full access to dependent and independent employment with their International Protection status holder ID, and there are no restrictions on the types of work they can engage in, except for professions that can only be performed by Turkish citizens (see below). | The same hiring process applies to refugees as to Turkish nationals, with no other requirements. |
| Conditional refugee | Individuals who fled due to events that occurred outside of Europe (for example, Afghanistan or Iraq) and who are granted international protection in Türkiye for reasons similar to those mentioned above. | May apply for a work permit after 6 months following the lodging date of their international protection application. | Employers may apply for a work permit through an electronic system (E-Devlet) to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
For independent work, the person may apply for work permit through the online system (E-Devlet). |
| Subsidiary protection | Individuals who face individualized risk of indiscriminate violence, death sentence or execution of the death penalty, or torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. | They have full access to dependent and independent employment with their International Protection status holder ID, without restrictions on the types of work they can engage in, except for professions that can only be performed by Turkish citizens (see below). | The same hiring process applies to subsidiary protection holders as Turkish nationals, with no other requirements. |
| Temporary protection | Currently, for citizens of the Syrian Arab Republic, stateless people and refugees who have arrived from Syria as of April 2011, Türkiye implements a temporary protection regime. | Temporary protection may apply for a work permit six months after their registration date. | Primary route: Effective as of 15 October 2024, Syrian nationals under temporary protection, who are registered in the system by the Presidency of Migration Management (PMM), are exempted from the work permit requirement. They can apply independently through the official online system at https://randevu.goc.gov.tr/. The evaluation process is completed on the same day, and successful applicants receive a work permit exemption free of charge.
Second option: Work permits are typically employer-led and issued for a specific job or workplace. Renewals require an application, and a change of employer is generally handled through a new application process. |
| Foreigner residence permit for Ukrainians | Individuals fleeing the war in Ukraine who enter Türkiye with a passport or their national ID may stay in the country legally with a visa exemption for up to 90 days. After that, they can apply for a residence permit for a short—or long-term stay through a simplified procedure. | May apply for a work permit for the right to work. | Applicants apply to the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services for a work permit through an online system (E-Devlet). |
| Stateless person | A person who does not hold the citizenship of any state and who is considered as foreigner. | Stateless persons with ID cards can apply for a work permit and are exempted from some conditions and bureaucratic steps required of other foreigners. Persons pending determination of their stateless status cannot apply for a work permit. | Employers apply for a work permit from the Ministry of Labour through an online system (E-Devlet). For independent work, the person may apply for work permit through the online system (E-Devlet). |
Bear in mind
Work permit exemption applications for temporary protection beneficiaries are submitted online, can be completed by the individual, and are free of charge. Applications are typically assessed on the same day jointly with the Presidency of Migration Management (PMM) and the Ministry of Labour Social Policies (MoLSS). If approved, the exemption may be granted for up to three years and is generally limited to the applicant’s registered province.
Work permit applications are submitted online by the employer and are free of charge at the application stage. Applications are typically assessed within 30 days by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MoLSS), and—when required—in consultation with the Ministry of Interior. Once the exemption is approved, the employer must pay the one-time applicable work permit fee; MoLSS then issues the work permit and sends it to the workplace. The permit issued is valid only for the same employer and the same workplace.
The number of temporary protection beneficiaries who can be formally employed in a workplace may comprise at most 10% of the workforce. In workplaces employing fewer than 10 people, at most one temporary protection beneficiaries may be employed. This quota may be waived if the employer can demonstrate through official documentation that no suitably qualified Turkish citizen could be found for the same position during the relevant period.
The number of international protection applicants and conditional refugees who can be formally employed in a workplace may comprise at most 20% of the workforce (in practice, this means the workplace should employ at least five Turkish citizen employees for each international protection applicant/conditional refugee), unless the employer can demonstrate through official documentation that no suitably qualified Turkish citizen could be found for the same position during the relevant period.
Applications for work permits must be made in the international protection applicant’s and conditional refugee's province of registration. If a refugee is registered in another province, they need to apply with their employer at the Provincial Directorate of Migration Management to change their place of registration.
An exemption from the obligation to obtain a work permit is available for seasonal agriculture and livestock works sectors in the case of international protection applicants, conditional refugees, and temporary protection beneficiaries. In these cases, however, the applicant must apply for an exemption to the relevant Provincial Directorates of Labour and Employment Agency (ISKUR)
In Türkiye, there are 29 professions/services that cannot be performed/offered by foreigners, such as dentists, chemists, veterinarians, lawyers, private guards, custom auditors, and tourist guides, among others.
People who will work in health and education typically need preliminary permission (pre-approval) from the relevant authority before a work permit application is submitted (e.g., Ministry of National Education / Council of Higher Education (YÖK) processes for education roles; Ministry of Health processes for regulated health professions).
A work permit is an official authorization issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security that allows a foreign national to work in Turkiye within its validity period. For most foreign nationals, a valid work permit also serves as a residence permit during its validity. However, work permits issued specifically to temporary protection beneficiaries, international protection applicants, and conditional refugees do not replace their protection-based stay/registration documents and do not function as a residence permit under the protection framework.
Any sectoral or geographical restriction on access to employment cannot be imposed on refugees or beneficiaries of subsidiary protection who have resided in Türkiye for 3 years, are married to a Turkish citizen, or have a Turkish child.
Employers and foreign workers must comply with labour and social security obligations. For temporary protection beneficiaries and for international protection applicants/conditional refugees with permits, wages cannot be paid below the minimum wage, and failure to fulfill social security obligations can trigger administrative sanctions under the social security framework.
Individuals who wish to work independently (self-employed) should apply through the relevant independent work permit channels (where eligible) and must also obtain any required municipal licences and sector-specific authorizations depending on the business activity.
How do I connect with refugee and stateless talent?
In Turkiye, employers typically connect with refugee and stateless jobseekers through the same recruitment ecosystem used for the national labour market. Additionally, many NGOs and other organizations working with refugee communities can support employers in sourcing, recruiting, and completing necessary paperwork, such as work permits and other required documents for hiring refugees.
İŞKUR (Turkish Employment Agency): Register as an employer, post vacancies, and use matching and employer services through İŞKUR provincial directorates/service centres.
Municipal employment/career platforms: Many municipalities run career platforms and employment centres that collect CVs and support job matching.
Industry associations & Chambers of Commerce/Industry: Use sector networks to circulate vacancies, join job fairs, and reach employer-linked talent pipelines.
Licensed private recruitment agencies and standard job platforms: Useful for targeted sourcing and screening.
NGOs: Many NGOs and organizations working with refugee communities support employers with recruitment and administrative processes, including work permits.
If you would like general guidance on pathways, common bottlenecks, and coordination with relevant stakeholders (public and institutional), you can contact the UNHCR Turkiye Development Unit at: [email protected]. (Please note: UNHCR does not recruit candidates on behalf of employers and does not process work permits; employers remain responsible for recruitment decisions and legal compliance.)
What can I do to support refugee and stateless employees?
One of the most effective steps employers can take is to ensure the employment relationship is fully formalized and documented, including appropriate contracts and the required work authorization (work permit or exemption, as applicable). Clear job descriptions, fair and timely wages, and registration with the social security system can further strengthen workplace stability and support integration. While administrative procedures may take time, formal employment provides predictability and protection for employees and helps employers build a more stable and sustainable workforce.
Candidate matching:
The Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR) supports employers in filling labour demand through its job and vocational counselling and job-matching services for jobseekers registered with İŞKUR. In addition to regular services, İŞKUR has implemented project-based employability support aimed at improving employability and access to active labour market programmes for Syrians under temporary protection and Turkish citizens. Employers can engage with İŞKUR provincial directorates/service centres to post vacancies and request candidate referrals/matching, subject to eligibility and registration conditions.
Employers may also seek information from İŞKUR on applicable public employment incentives (e.g., incentives targeting youth, women, or registered unemployed), noting that eligibility depends on the specific incentive scheme and conditions.
Capacity development for employers
The Facility for Refugees in Türkiye, one of the main mechanisms for EU aid, provides capacity-development activities aimed at stimulating the employment of refugees. These activities cover topics such as work permit application processes, exports to Arabic-speaking countries, and the benefits of cooperation with Syrian entrepreneurs.
Incentives for formal employment
The Transition to Formality Program (KIGEP) implemented by the International Labour Organization, aims to increase formal employment levels for refugees through incentives provided to employers. For six months, the program covers the costs of work permits and social security payments for enterprises that hire Turkish and Syrian workers in accordance with labour and social security legislation.
The AIDA Türkiye country report provides more in-depth information on the asylum and international protection regimes in Türkiye.
An FAQ document by 'Refugee Rights Turkey' about the process of acquiring a work permit for a temporary protection holder.
A report by ILO on the Transition to Formality program and the results of an employer survey conducted among participants.