Living and Working in Turkey Today
Published on 28 November 2006
Home » Living Abroad » Living in Turkey
Whether Turkey joins the EU or not, as it stands at the moment the changes the government has made to align policies, strategies and the overall economic and political situation in Turkey with that which is acceptable in Europe means that Turkey has a dynamic economy, that the nation’s many entrepreneurs are participating in the world economy already and that Turkey is a force to be reckoned with on an international scale!
The fact that the nation is becoming so dynamic and so strong has suddenly awoken the rest of the world from its reverie and all of a sudden Turkey has a thriving tourism market, an equally thriving property market and more and more people are considering living and working in Turkey and starting a new life in this beautiful, diverse, welcoming, stable and exciting country.
The only downside for Europeans is that because Turkey is not a member of the EU (yet?), those with European passports used to the concept of borderless travel and the ability to go and live, work, study or retire in any one of the many European Union counties without the need for visas and permits have to apply for residence and work permissions in Turkey. For those who come from Australasia or North America for example and who are used to having to apply for permission to access other countries this will not deter them!
To get residence permission, those who enter on a typical 3 month tourism visa need to go as soon as possible after entry into Turkey to the foreigner’s section of the local police headquarters. In the main cities and resorts it’s easy to find the offices – in rural Turkey it’s wise to travel the nearest city to make your application for residency. You will need copies of all important documentation and if you own property in Turkey take proof of purchase as well. Expect to wait a few weeks to have your permissions grated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and if you’re getting close to the end of your tourism visa consider leaving the country for 24 hours and reentering and then applying. This is because if you go over the number of days allowable on your current visa you could be fined daily – even if it’s the ‘fault’ of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for not returning your permission to become resident quickly enough!
If you’re planning on living and working in Turkey you need to bear in mind that despite the fact it now has a thriving economy, the economy is only thriving in the metropolises and main residential areas – there are swathes of the nation that have high unemployment and many Turkish nationals travel from rural areas to live in the main towns and cities to take up any job available. This means it can be hard to find work. But – if you have a professional skill, you want to start a business or you’re prepared to work as a waiter or bar person in the holiday resorts or as a teacher of English as a foreign language for not much money but the chance to live life under the Mediterranean sun in Turkey then you’ll get a job.
Many expats living in Turkey work in various fairly low paying jobs without getting permission – while this is technically against the law there are so many gray areas and so much paperwork involved in getting permission that it goes on a lot! If you want to be legal then it is easier to get a work permit with a job offer and to get a job offer and permit before you move to live in Turkey full time! If you have a professional skill and your employer can prove that no local person can do the job he’s hiring you for you’ll easily get permission to work in Turkey – your employer will need to apply for permission to hire you and you will need to apply for permission to work at the same time, therefore good employers often take on the complicated task of form filling and making applications for their foreign employees.
In Istanbul and Ankara there are professional jobs available in all sorts of industry sectors from banking and finance, insurance and real estate to medical, media, public relations and IT/communications – but elsewhere employment is limited to teaching English, servicing the tourism market or working in the emerging property market at the moment but the country is developing and expanding all the time and who knows what the future will bring.
Page 1 of 1