When a foreign employee is dismissed in Türkiye, the employer must notify the Ministry of Labour within 15 days and the work permit is cancelled (Law No. 6735, Articles 15 and 22). Because the work permit also served as your residence permit, apply for a residence permit within 10 days or get a new work permit through a new employer. Claims under Law No. 4857 (notice pay, severance pay capped at 73,729.87 Turkish Lira per year for terminations from 1 July 2026, unpaid wages, overtime and leave) need mandatory mediation first: within one month for reinstatement, five years for money claims.
Most foreign employees in Türkiye hold a work permit that is tied to one employer, so losing the job is never only a question of money. The day the employment ends, the work permit is cancelled, the right to stay that came with it disappears, and a short period begins in which the employee must either secure a new legal status or prepare to leave. At the same time, the employee may be owed notice pay, severance pay, unpaid salary, overtime and annual leave pay, and some of these claims are lost if a one month deadline is missed. For terminations between 1 July and 31 December 2026 the annual severance pay ceiling stands at 73,729.87 Turkish Lira per year of service, which shows how much can be at stake. This article explains, step by step, what happens to a foreign employee who is fired, left unpaid or pushed to resign in Türkiye, which claims exist under the Labour Law, Law No. 4857, which deadlines apply, and how to protect both the residence position and the claims at the same time.
The work permit of an employed foreigner is issued under the International Labour Force Law, Law No. 6735. Under Article 10, a first work permit is granted for a specific job with a specific employer, for at most one year and never longer than the employment contract. Because the permit is linked to that employer, it cannot survive the end of the employment relationship.
Article 22 of Law No. 6735 obliges every employer of foreigners to notify the Ministry of Labour and Social Security within fifteen days when work under a work permit starts or ends, and of any circumstance that requires the permit to be cancelled. In practice the employer files a termination request through the Ministry's electronic permit system. Article 15 then provides that a work permit is cancelled when the foreigner ceases working for any reason. It makes no difference whether you resigned, were dismissed or simply stopped going to work because you were not paid: once the work ends and the Ministry is informed, the permit is cancelled. An employer that fails to notify faces an administrative fine under Article 23, but that does not keep your permit alive.
Under Article 27 of the Law on Foreigners and International Protection, Law No. 6458, and Article 12 of Law No. 6735, a valid work permit counts as a residence permit. Many foreign employees therefore never held a separate residence card. When the work permit is cancelled, that residence title ends with it. Article 54 of Law No. 6458 lists among the removal grounds a cancelled residence permit and an overstay of more than ten days after a permit expires without an acceptable reason, so the end of the job starts a real countdown.
The implementing regulation of Law No. 6458, published in the Official Gazette on 17 March 2016, provides in Article 21 that residence permit applications filed within ten days by foreigners whose work permit has been cancelled or has expired are handled as applications that may be made from within Türkiye under Article 22 of the Law. Where a work permit extension is refused, the ten days run from the date the refusal is served. In practice this means you should book a residence permit appointment through the e-ikamet system as soon as you learn that your employment has ended, ideally on the same day. The window is a filing deadline, not a guarantee: the permit you apply for must be one whose conditions you actually meet.
Which route is open depends on your family position, your finances and how long you have lived in Türkiye. The three realistic paths are a new work permit, a different residence permit, or an orderly departure while a lawyer pursues your claims.
A new employer must file a fresh application, because under Article 10 paragraph 2 of Law No. 6735 an application to work for a different employer is treated as a first application, again for up to one year. The Ministry's guidance states that applications from within Türkiye are accepted for foreigners holding a valid residence permit issued for at least six months, so where your only status was the cancelled work permit, the new employer may have to apply through a Turkish consulate abroad, or you may first need a separate residence permit. The Ministry decides complete applications within thirty days under Article 7. If the new application is refused, the reasons and objection routes are discussed in our article on what to do when a work permit application is denied under Article 9(a), and our team handles new applications through the work permit service for employees.
Article 22 of Law No. 6458 allows applications from within Türkiye for a residence permit suited to a new purpose of stay when the ground of the existing permit ends. Typical options are a family residence permit if your spouse holds a residence permit or is a Turkish citizen, a short term residence permit on one of the grounds in Article 31 (for example ownership of immovable property or establishing business connections), or a long term residence permit after at least eight years of uninterrupted stay with a residence permit (Article 42). There is no residence permit for the sole purpose of looking for a new job, so the application has to rest on a real ground. Foreigners who already hold a separate residence permit for another reason keep it; the cancellation of the work permit affects only the work permit. For the documents and timing of residence applications, see our guide to residence permit renewal in Türkiye.
Starting mediation or filing a labour lawsuit does not by itself give you a right to remain in Türkiye. Article 31 of Law No. 6458 lists a short term permit for persons required to stay upon the request or decision of judicial or administrative authorities, but this is narrow and is not granted simply because you have a claim against a former employer. Your claims can be pursued through a lawyer while you are abroad, as explained in section 10 below, so you should never overstay to protect a case.
The claims you can bring depend on who ended the contract and on what ground. Foreign employees often describe their situation as "I was fired" when, legally, they were pressured into resigning, or as "I quit" when they actually had just cause. The difference decides whether severance pay is owed.
If the employer ends an indefinite contract, it must give written notice and, where job security applies, state the reason clearly under Article 19 of Law No. 4857. An employer may dismiss without notice only on the grounds listed in Article 25, such as serious misconduct or, under Article 25(II)(g), unjustified absence for two consecutive working days or three working days in a month. Dismissal on any other basis entitles you to notice pay and, after one year of service, severance pay.
Article 32 requires wages to be paid at least once a month and, on termination, in full. Under Article 34, an employee whose wage is not paid within twenty days of the payment date, other than because of force majeure, may refuse to work; the employer may not dismiss the employee for this or replace the employee, and late wages carry the highest interest rate applied to deposits. Alternatively, Article 24(II)(e) allows the employee to terminate immediately when wages are not calculated or paid in accordance with the law or the contract. A foreign employee who stops working should do so in writing and with advice, because the work permit position changes the moment the employer reports the end of work.
Employers sometimes ask a foreign employee to sign a resignation letter, often in Turkish, in exchange for a promise to "process the papers". A genuine resignation normally ends the right to severance pay. However, if you leave because of unpaid wages, unpaid overtime, harassment, or misleading terms on hiring, your termination falls under Article 24 and Article 14 of Law No. 1475 grants severance pay. Article 26 sets a six working day limit from learning of the conduct for terminations based on conduct contrary to good faith, so do not wait for weeks. Send a written termination stating the reason, preferably as an ihtarname, a formal notice served through a notary.
A foreign employee with a work permit has the same statutory rights as a Turkish employee. The general rules are set out in our guide to employee rights in Türkiye for foreigners, and the typical court disputes are described in labour law disputes in Türkiye. What follows is the checklist of claims to calculate on the day you are dismissed.
Article 17 sets minimum notice periods for indefinite contracts of two, four, six or eight weeks depending on service. An employer that does not give notice owes ihbar tazminatı, compensation equal to the wages for that period. Employees outside job security whose contract is ended by abuse of the right of termination can also claim bad faith compensation of three times the notice period.
Severance pay, kıdem tazminatı, is governed by Article 14 of Law No. 1475, which remains in force. After at least one full year of service it equals 30 days' gross wage per year, including regular benefits such as meal and transport allowances, when the employer dismisses for a reason other than the misconduct grounds in Article 25(II) of Law No. 4857 or the employee terminates for just cause under Article 24. The yearly amount is capped at the ceiling on the termination date, which the Ministry of Labour and Social Security reports as 64,948.77 Turkish Lira for 1 January to 30 June 2026 and 73,729.87 Turkish Lira for 1 July to 31 December 2026.
All salary up to the last day is owed, together with overtime above 45 hours a week at 150 percent under Article 41 and pay for unused annual leave at the last wage under Article 59. A salary described in the contract as "including overtime" does not always cover the hours actually worked, which is a frequent dispute in foreign employee cases.
| Claim | Rule and Legal Basis |
|---|---|
| Notice pay | 2, 4, 6 or 8 weeks' wages depending on service (Law No. 4857, Article 17) |
| Severance pay | 30 days' gross wage per year after 1 year of service; ceiling 73,729.87 Turkish Lira per year for terminations 1 July to 31 December 2026 (Law No. 1475, Article 14) |
| Unpaid wages | Paid in full on termination; right to refuse work when wages are 20 days late (Articles 32 and 34) |
| Overtime | Hours above 45 per week at 150 percent (Article 41) |
| Unused annual leave | Paid at the last wage on termination (Articles 53 and 59) |
| Bad faith compensation | 3 times the notice period, only outside job security (Article 17) |
| Reinstatement compensation | 4 to 8 months' wages plus up to 4 months' idle wages (Article 21) |
Under Article 18 of Law No. 4857, an employee with an indefinite contract and at least six months' seniority in a workplace with 30 or more employees can be dismissed only for a valid reason relating to capacity, conduct or operational requirements, and the employer bears the burden of proof under Article 20. If the dismissal is found invalid, Article 21 gives the employer one month to take the employee back; otherwise it pays four to eight months' wages plus up to four months' wages for the idle period. After a final judgment, the employee must apply to return within ten working days.
The foreign element changes the practical picture. Reinstatement of a foreigner requires a new work permit that only the employer can apply for, and the employee may have left Türkiye in the meantime. For this reason many reinstatement claims by foreign employees end with the compensation, often agreed at mediation, rather than an actual return to work. The one month deadline still matters: if it passes, the reinstatement compensation and idle wages are lost, even though severance and notice pay remain claimable.
Because a first work permit is limited to one year and cannot exceed the contract, many employers give foreigners one year contracts and renew them together with the permit. Under Article 11 of Law No. 4857 a fixed term contract cannot be repeated in a chain without an essential reason, otherwise it is treated as indefinite from the start. Whether the work permit period counts as such an essential reason is a recurring question, and courts look at the circumstances of each case. The answer matters: if the contract is indefinite, notice pay and job security apply.
If an employer ends a genuine fixed term contract early without just cause, Article 438 of the Turkish Code of Obligations, Law No. 6098, entitles the employee to the wages for the remaining term, less what was saved or earned elsewhere. When a fixed term contract simply expires and is not renewed, there is no notice pay, but severance pay may still be due after one year of service, and the work permit ends with the contract, so the 10 day residence window in section 1.3 applies.
Under Article 3 of the Labour Courts Law, Law No. 7036, no lawsuit for wages, compensation or reinstatement can be filed without first applying to arabuluculuk, mandatory mediation. A lawsuit filed without it is dismissed on procedural grounds.
The application is made to the mediation office at the employer's domicile or the place where the work was performed. The mediator must conclude within three weeks of appointment, extendable by one week. You may attend in person or through your lawyer, which allows mediation to continue after you leave Türkiye. If no agreement is reached in meetings of less than two hours, the mediator's fee is paid from the Ministry of Justice budget. A party who skips the first meeting without a valid excuse bears half of the other side's litigation costs even if it later wins. If there is no agreement, the mediator issues the son tutanak, the final report, which must be attached to the lawsuit. Limitation periods are suspended while mediation is pending. A settlement signed before the mediator is binding, so check every figure before signing.
| Step | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Employer notifies the Ministry of the end of work | 15 days (Law No. 6735, Article 22) |
| Residence permit application after cancellation | 10 days (implementing regulation of Law No. 6458, Article 21) |
| Termination for just cause by the employee | 6 working days from learning of the conduct (Law No. 4857, Article 26) |
| Mediation for reinstatement | 1 month from service of the termination notice (Article 20) |
| Reinstatement lawsuit after failed mediation | 2 weeks from the final report (Article 20) |
| Return to work after final judgment | 10 working days (Article 21) |
| Wages, severance, notice, annual leave pay | 5 years (Article 32 and Additional Article 3) |
| Proving uninsured service | 5 years from the end of the year of service (Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law, Law No. 5510, Article 86) |
The labour court is competent at the employer's domicile or the place of work under Article 6 of Law No. 7036, and jurisdiction clauses to the contrary are invalid.
Article 22 of Law No. 6735 requires employers of foreigners to meet their social security obligations under Law No. 5510; the general rules on permits and registration are covered in our article on the employment law that applies to expats. Some employers register the foreigner at the minimum wage while paying the rest in cash, or do not register at all. Under Article 86 of Law No. 5510, an employee whose service was not declared can prove it by suing in the labour court within five years from the end of the year in which the work was performed. Cash payments make the real wage harder to prove, which is why the evidence in section 9 matters.
If you worked without a work permit, Article 23 of Law No. 6735 provides administrative fines for both you and the employer and requires the authorities to report the foreigner to the Ministry of Interior for removal; Article 54 of Law No. 6458 lists working without a permit as a removal ground. Your wage claims do not disappear: under Article 394 of Law No. 6098, an employment contract later found invalid produces the effects of a valid one until the relationship ends. Article 23 also makes the employer liable for the return travel costs of a foreigner employed without a permit. Before bringing such a claim, take advice on the immigration risk, because the lawsuit will reveal the unauthorised work.
Once your work permit is cancelled you may lose access to the office, company email and colleagues. Collect the following while you still can:
Do not sign blank papers, a resignation letter you did not write, or an ibraname, a release document. Under Article 420 of Law No. 6098, a release is void unless it is in writing, signed at least one month after termination, specifies each claim and amount, and is matched by full payment through a bank. A release that does not meet these conditions counts only as a receipt for the amount actually paid.
Many foreign employees cannot stay in Türkiye for the length of a labour case, and they do not need to. Mediation can be conducted through a lawyer under Article 3 of Law No. 7036, and a labour lawsuit can be filed and followed entirely by a lawyer. Before you leave, sign a power of attorney at a Turkish notary; if you have already left, a Turkish consulate can prepare one, or a foreign notarised power of attorney can be used with an apostille and sworn translation. Make sure the authority covers mediation, settlement and collection of money, and give your lawyer your bank details abroad.
Leave on time. A foreigner who applies to leave after the permit has expired may still face administrative fines, and Article 9 of Law No. 6458 allows an entry ban of up to five years for those who are removed, although paying the fines and staying within the Ministry's limits can avoid the ban. Leaving within the ten day period described in section 1.3, or while holding a valid residence permit, avoids these overstay problems and makes a later return for a new job much simpler.
Yes. Article 15 of Law No. 6735 provides that the permit is cancelled when the foreigner stops working for any reason, after the employer notifies the Ministry within 15 days.
You should apply for another residence permit within 10 days. Overstaying an expired permit by more than 10 days without an acceptable reason is a removal ground under Article 54 of Law No. 6458.
No. A work permit is tied to one employer, so a new employer must file a new application, which is treated as a first application for up to one year.
Yes, on the same terms as Turkish employees: 30 days' gross wage per year of service after at least one year, provided the dismissal was not for misconduct under Article 25(II) or you terminated for just cause.
It is 64,948.77 Turkish Lira per year of service for terminations from 1 January to 30 June 2026 and 73,729.87 Turkish Lira from 1 July to 31 December 2026.
Once a wage is 20 days overdue you may refuse to work under Article 34, or terminate immediately for just cause under Article 24(II)(e) and claim severance pay, unpaid wages and interest.
No. Unpaid wages, overtime and unused annual leave are always owed; you lose severance pay only if the resignation was not based on a just cause listed in Article 24.
No. Mediation under Article 3 of Law No. 7036 is a precondition, and a lawsuit filed without the mediator's final report is dismissed.
You must apply to mediation within one month of receiving the termination notice, and if mediation fails, sue within two weeks of the final report.
It applies if you have an indefinite contract, at least six months' seniority and the workplace has 30 or more employees, unless you are a senior manager with hiring and dismissal authority.
Wages, severance pay, notice pay and annual leave pay are subject to a five year limitation period, but evidence weakens over time, so act early.
Yes, if you can prove it with bank withdrawals, messages, witnesses or similar evidence; the court may also correct your social security record in a service determination case.
Yes. A lawyer holding your power of attorney can attend mediation, file the lawsuit, sign a settlement and collect the money on your behalf.
No. A claim against a former employer is not in itself a ground for a residence permit, so you need a separate legal basis to remain.
For a foreign employee in Türkiye, the end of a job triggers two clocks at once. The immigration clock starts with the employer's 15 day notification and the cancellation of the work permit, and leaves about 10 days to secure a residence permit or a new work permit. The labour law clock gives one month to start mediation for reinstatement and five years for wages, severance and notice pay, but evidence and leverage are strongest in the first weeks. Identifying correctly whether you were dismissed, left unpaid or pushed to resign decides which claims exist, and refusing to sign a release or resignation you do not understand protects them.
The safest course is to secure your residence position first, collect your documents before you lose access to the workplace, and start mediation with a clear calculation of what you are owed. If you have been dismissed or have not been paid and want both your claims and your status handled together, our labour law service acts for foreign employees in mediation and before the labour courts, including when the client has already left Türkiye. To discuss your case, contact our legal team.
