Residence Permit in Izmir, Turkey

Non-Turkish citizens who intend to stay in Turkey over the time limit that has been set out by their visa, or they intend to stay for more than ninety days, has to obtain a residence permit in Izmir, Turkey (ikamet) to make their stay legitimate under Turkish law. 

Applications shall be lodged to the Provincial Directorate of Immigration Administration (Göç İdaresi) located at the applicant’s domicile, in which the evalulation of the documents are carried out by the state officers.  

Residence Permit Types

According to purpose of the stay, residence permit in Izmir, Turkey could be listed under 6 (six) main categories; 

1. Short-Term Residence Permit
2. Long-Term Residence Permit
3.  Family Residence Permit
4. Student Residence Permit
5. Humanitarian (Asylum Seeker) Residence Permit
6. Residence Permit for Victims of Human Trafficking

Considering the high number of application based on touristic purpose, that would be more useful to share the list of documents for tourism purpose residence permit that are required by the public authority.  

Residence Permit for Touristic Purpose

• Application Form 
• Copy of the first two page and other stamped pages of the passport.
• Four (4) passport size pictures
• Declaration of financial status (documents which proves that applicant has sufficient financial income during the residence permit in Izmir, Turkey) 
• Rental contract or title of deed as a proof of your residency address
• Valid health insurance (obtained in Turkey)

It is important to remind that as of May 2015, the application procedure for all of the above mentioned residence permits have been updated under the regulation.

Previously, all application were lodged to the Security General Directorate and were processed by the local Police Authorities. However, as of May, 2015, a new state authority has been introduced, namely the General Directorate of Immigration Administration, and they took over the work and started to welcome all of the applications regarding residence permit in Izmir, Turkey. 

What steps need to be taken for the residence permit application? 

• Firstly, an online application to the  Immigration Administration of General Directorate is to be lodged and an appointment date is to set through the office where the applicant plans to stay.
• Applicant shall fill in the form with information of name, birthdate, birth place, mother’s and father’s name, health insurance policy (that has been obtained in Turkey), proof of documents (generally bank account reports) which state that during your stay in Turkey you have sufficient funds etc. 
•  Once the online application has been filed, you will be given an appointment date which you will be required to be present by the Immigration Administration at such date along with all the requested documents. 
• Should if the legal authority finds your application valid and the documents you have provided has meet the conditions, then residnce permit (ikamet) is usually granted within 1-2 weeks after the interview. Residence permit card will be sent to your designated address via courier. 

Attention: According to the newly introduced Immigration Law of 6458 Art.31-1 (e)(Touristic residence permit), Non-Turkish citizens who already obtained their residence permit for 1 year on tourist reason, will not be able to extend their residence permit as of 01.01.2020, unless they change the status of their residency purpose. It implies that, 

What are the acceptable grounds for extending the residence permit in Izmir, Turkey?

• Being married with a Turkish citizen
• Having 80,000 USD or its equivelant deposited in one of the Turkish banks
• Owning a property in Turkey
• Having mutual child with a Turkish citizen (applicable even if there is no official marriage)
• Being a parent to child who is younger than 18 and studying in Turkey
• Those who continue medical treatment in Turkey
• Those who applied to the Turkish citizenship but the application is pending
• Those who is the family member of a Turkish citizen (citizenship through naturalization is also accepted)

For more information about applying to residence permit in Izmir, Turkey,  please feel free to contact us.

Company formation in Izmir Turkey

The pecularities of commercial life render some rules of civil law insufficient for the regulation of commercial transactions, creating a need for special rules. For instance, the rules of the Civil Code applicable to the associations in general but do not apply to various types of other business associations (LLC, Corp. etc). Thus, company formation procedures has been set out under Commercial Code #6102. As E&G Law Firm, we, advise and represent international clients with respect to company formation in Izmir, Turkey.

Commercial law is the body of rules applicable to commercial relations and organizations. Fundamental source of Turkish commercial law is the Commercial Code, #6102, which came into force 1st of July 2012. Commercial Code covers and regulates such matters as the status of merchants, commercial titles, commercial undertakings, business associations and negotiable instruments. Maritime law and insurance law are considered parts of the Turkish commercial law in its broader framework, and the legal rules in these ares are incorporated into the Commercial Code. Customary law is also of particular importance in the field of company formation in Izmir, Turkey.

A) Commercial Partnerships- (Company formation in Izmir Turkey)

Commercial partnerships (business associations, companies) play an important role in economic relations. Individuals come together to create partnerships of various types. Partnerships are governed by the specific legal rules that regulate the company types and company formation in Izmir, Turkey. Following types of partnerships are provided for by the Turkish Commercial Code;

1) Corporation Company, Joint Stock Companies (“Anonim Şirket”)

This partnership structure creates an entirely separate legal entity or corporate legal personality which is able to conduct business in its own name independently of the individuals who created it. Because of this legal separation the individual partners do not have any personal liability for the corporation’s debts and obligations. In corporations it is the capital and not the partners (shareholders) that is the dominant factor.

In order to form a corporation, 1 shareholder (irrespective of he/she a Turkish citizen) would be sufficient to represent a corporation, unlike the previous Commercial Code which requires the presence of at least 5 shareholders who have shares in the company. The minimum capital investment of a corporation must be 50,000.00 TRY. Legal entities may join corporations as incorporatiors, two or more corporations merge and create a new body, called “holding company”. Such companies usually supervise the management of the corporations which formed the “holding”.

Ownership in a corporation is distributed by legal instruments called shares. A share represents the monetary value of the ownership that the corporation assign to each share. The person who holds the share – the shareholder- is an owner of the corporation.

An important characteristic of a corporate entity is that the shareholders have no personal liability for the acts of the corporation, unless they represent the company as a board member.

2) Limited Liability, LLC (“Limited Şirket”)

Limited liability partnerships are very similar to corporations. The liability of limited partnerships is also limited by the amount of its capital. The formation of a limited partnership also requires virtually the same formalities as the creation of a corporation. 

Limited liability company (“LLC”) is one of the most preferred company formation in Izmir, Turkey. Investors who intend to form an LLC in Turkey, need to have knowledge about the registration procedure, costs and documents requested by the Trade Registry Office.

Furthermore, LLC could be incorporated by at least one shareholder which could be a person or an entity. Non-turkish investors are allowed to own %100 of the shares and trade as other Turkish citizens without any restriction. General rule set out that LLC’s shareholder is responsible to the extent of the subscribed capital. However,  shareholder’s responsibility to the state, which take form as public debt (so called, tax, social security premiums etc.) can exceed the subscibed capital. 

One of the key element is that an LLC has a minimum share capital of 10,000 TRY. LLC is directed by one or more managers which at least one of them shall be appointed as the chairman. 

For more information about company formation in Izmir, Turkey or other commercial law related questions regarding your business investment, please feel free to contact us. 

Law of succession is a law area which regulates the terms and conditions after the person dies. Turkish inheritance law, as all other modern law systems, is the body of rules applied to determine who will inherit the assets of the deceased and how the assets will be distributed.

The totality of the property belonging to a person is called their assets. Under Turkish inheritance law, upon the death of a person, his/her entire assets passes to the heirs. The only question how this is effected- by operation of law or by the will of the deceased?

Turkish inheritance law recognizes two types of heir; statutory heir and the appointed heir.

Statutory heirs and their respective inheritance rights are expressly derived from the Turkish Civil Code, i.e. by statute. Accordingly, the heirs who are first in line are deemed to be the descendants of the deceased person. If the deceased person left no descendants, the Civil Code set out that the parents, as the second-in-line heirs, will inherit the asset. Moreover, the Code recognizes full equality between male and female statutory heirs, unlike most of other Middle Eastern countries. The inheritance rights of descendants will devolve onto their own descendants if any of the former is no longer alive when the inheritance takes effect.

Appointed heirs (successors) are those heirs expressly and specificly designated by the deceased in a will (testament). The Civil Code, which governs the Turkish inheritance law, recognizes that all persons having the requisite capacity, exercising sound judgment and who have completed their fifteenth year could be the beneficiary of the inheritance. The person would be entitled to write a will and determine the name of the heirs and the method of the distribution during his/her lifetime.

Does Turkish Inheritance Law recognize “will” ?

Under some some jurisdictions, testamentary (will) capacity is absolute, for instance, in the United States there are very few limitations on how much of the assets can be distributed by a will, and how this can be done. For example, it is not uncommon for people to leave their assets to a favourite pet.

However, Turkish inheritance law imposes certain restrictions on freedom of will. The rights of statutory heirs are protected by the applicable law to the extent of statutory heir’s reserved shares. For instance, according to the Code, descendants are entitled to half of the deceased’s assets and that cannot be disinherited of this share by any act of the deceased (inc. will). This is known as the reserved share of the statutory heir. As a result of that, the will freedom is limited by law to only half of his/her assets (Turkish Civil Code Art. 506)

Another important concept of the law of succession is the inheritance agreement. This is an agreement whereby a person promises to leave upon his/her death, the entire asset, or a specific part of it (for e.g, a house), to the other party. Such an agreement could be concluded, for instance, between a person and his long-time servant. Turkish law recognizes such agreements, which can therefore be enforced if not otherwise invalid. In any case, reserved shares of the descendants are to be kept safe.

For any specific Turkish inheritance law questions/queries, E&G law firm lawyers would be happy to assist you.