Immigration
Law No. 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection
Law No. 6458 of 2013 consolidated Turkish immigration and asylum law and created the Directorate General of Migration Management. It provides for short-term, family, student and long-term residence permits, and establishes the temporary protection regime under which Syrians are registered.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — National. Administered by the Presidency of Migration Management.
- Deadline — Residence permit applications should be filed at least 60 days before expiry of the current permit
- Deadline — Short-term residence permits are generally issued for up to two years and are renewable
Governing law
- Law No. 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection2013
- Temporary Protection Regulation (2014) — the regime applied to Syrian nationals
- Law No. 4817 on Work Permits for Foreigners, now largely within the International Labour Force Law No. 67352016
In practice
Law No. 6458 was Turkey's first comprehensive migration statute and created a civilian migration administration in place of police-led control. Work permits are issued under Law No. 6735 by the Ministry of Labour and are tied to an employer. The temporary protection regime is the most significant feature in practice: it is a group-based status created by regulation rather than individual refugee determination, and Turkey maintains a geographical limitation to the 1951 Refugee Convention under which Convention refugee status is confined to persons displaced by events in Europe. Residence in certain districts is closed to new foreign registration where saturation thresholds are met.