Turkey gives working permits to 38,000 foreigners in six months

ANKARA

Turkey issued nearly 38,000 working permits to foreigners between January and June 2016, Anadolu Agency reported on July 8. 

Some 38,261 foreigners out of 45,375 applicants were given permission to work in Turkey by the Labor and Social Security Ministry.

Syrians, Georgians and Ukrainians were the top three nationals given permission, with 5,502 Syrians earning work permits in Turkey. Syrians were followed by 3,793 Georgians and 3,712 Ukrainians. China took fourth place on the list with 2,041 citizens. Turkmens, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Indonesians and Russians were also on the list.

Some 1,989 Kyrgyz, 1,756 Turkmens, 1,293 Indonesians, 1,221 Uzbeks and 1,213 Russians started work in Turkey after receiving their permits. 

Up to 19,900 that were permitted to work in Turkey were women.

Syrians also made the greatest number of applications at 6,586, followed by Georgians at 4,450, Ukrainians at 4,100, Kyrgyz at 2,355, Turkmens at 2,220, Chinese at 2,101, Uzbeks at 1,644, Indonesians at 1,530 and Russians at 1,455.

Some 4,447 applications were returned and 1,272 applications are still being evaluated, while 1,395 foreigners were rejected for several reasons. 

The number of Syrians given permits increased from 4,049 from last year with a new regulation on the work permits of foreigners granted temporary protection, meaning Syrians supplanted Georgians as the nationality with the highest number of work permits.

Some 3,429 Georgian women were allowed to work in Turkey, while 364 Georgian men were given permits. Georgian women were mostly issued work permits to work in home services and the care of the elderly and children. 

The number of Chinese citizens granted permission also increased. Some 3,882 Chinese citizens were given permits in the course of 12 months last year, while 2,041 Chinese citizens were given permits in the first six months of 2016.

The ministry issued permits to 14,201 foreigners in 2010; 17,467 in 2011; 32,277 in 2012; 45,834 in 2013; 52,304 in 2014 and 64,833 in 2015.