04.02.2021

According to the social security laws in our country, people who have foreign employment whether in a contracted or non-contracted country have the opportunity to credit their services abroad and the periods as a housewife in a foreign country for the consideration of these periods as completed in Turkey in cases of retirement, invalidity, old age and death.

Creditable periods are:

  • Insurance periods completed abroad
  • Periods of unemployment up to one year at the end or between these periods
  • Periods spent as a housewife
  • Conditions for crediting foreign services:
  • Being a Turkish citizen during the creditable periods and on the date of application for crediting (these two conditions need to be met simultaneously)
  • Certifying the periods or services completed as a housewife
  • Making a written application

Foreign insurance periods and periods as a housewife abroad are not creditable if they are not completed as a Turkish citizen. Also if the claimant is not a Turkish citizen at the time of application his/her claim for crediting shall be disallowed.
If the person has a foreign citizenship besides Turkish citizenship, he/she can benefit from this regulation brought about by the mentioned law.
For the persons having natural born citizenship of Turkey and acquiring another country’s citizenship through a declaration of alienage; they cannot avail themselves from this right of crediting because of not being a Turkish citizen at the time of application, even though they have had Turkish citizenship during the creditable periods in question.
What shall I do first for crediting of services abroad?

In order to credit the services abroad, the Application Form for Crediting of Services Abroad shall be filled in. (link)
Apart from this document, a written application regarding the claim for crediting can also be accepted. However, in case the information given in the written application is not enough, claimant may be asked to fill in the Application Form for Crediting of Services Abroad.
Samples of the Application Form for Crediting of Services Abroad can be obtained from either Social Security Provincial Directorates/Social Security Centres or from Social Security Institution’s website:
(http://www.sgk.gov.tr/wps/portal/tr/sigortalılık/form_ve_dilekceler/formlar).
Apart from the Application Form for Crediting of Services Abroad, which documents are required for the application?
For crediting the periods completed abroad, it is compulsory to certify the periods in question at the time of application. In the enclosure of the Application Form for Crediting of Services Abroad, a document indicating the foreign services is also required at the time of application for crediting.
The documents necessary for the application for crediting are as follows:
1.For insurance periods completed in contracted countries;

  1. Service record or insurance card to be taken from the insurance authority in the country of employment,
  2. In case the workplace of the insured is a property of a public enterprise or governed by a public enterprise or a governmental body, the following documents are not subject to a separate authentication:
    • Service documents issued by the municipality to which the workplace is subject in the country of employment,
    • Documents indicating the periods of employment issued by tax offices,
    • Documents indicating unemployment periods issued by employment agencies,
    • Service document issued by relevant professional organizations or associations or other public enterprises,
  3. Service document issued for self-employed persons abroad by tax offices, relevant professional organizations or associations or other public enterprises to which these people are subject,
  4. Service documents issued by foreign representative offices of Turkey (such as consulates, labour and social security consultancies or attaché’s offices), with a statement of “for the purpose of crediting” on it.

2. For insurance periods completed in non-contracted countries;

  • Service documents which are stated to be used for crediting and issued by foreign representative offices of Turkey such as consulates, labour and social security consultancies or attaché’s offices, with a statement of “for the purpose of crediting” on it,
  • References indicating the periods of service, which can be taken from their workplaces abroad, and translation of their work permits stated in their passports,
  • For the seamen, service documents to be taken from representation offices such as Turkish consulates, labour and social security consultancies or attaché’s offices in the country the flag of which is carried on the ships, or references, indicating their insurance periods, which can be taken from their workplaces and also translation of their work permits, registered on the documents regarding their employment on the ships or samples of the pages on the passports, which show the entrance and exit dates which coincides with their employment periods.

3. For periods completed as a housewife shall be certified with one of the following documents;

  • Translation of the residence permit indicating their residence abroad and which is issued by certified translation offices in Turkey or by translators, who are accredited by Turkish representation offices abroad and which is approved by the relevant representation office,
  • Document to be issued on the base of residence permit by Turkish representation offices including labour and social security consultancy or attaché’s offices,
  • In the absence of such a document of residence, a copy of the passport pages indicating the entrance and exit dates, photo and identity information or entrance-exit table which can be taken from the police offices.

The written applications for crediting which do not include enough documents for the acceptance of the application, are not rejected but claimants are required to enclose missing documents.Administrative assistance can be provided for certification, when necessary, by the competent authorities of contracted countries. In accordance with this purpose, our provincial directorates can request our General Directorate (Foreign Services Department) to make a correspondence with the relevant country for determination of foreign employments of the persons who have missing documents for the application of crediting.

I have filled in the application form for crediting services abroad and obtained all the necessary documents. What shall I do now?

You are required to make an application to our Institution together with the Application Form for Crediting of Services Abroad and other necessary documents.

  1. The processing of the claims for crediting made after the date of 08/05/2008 by the persons who have employment abroad after or before this date shall be dealt with by
    • Social Security Provincial Directorates/Social Security Centres in the place of residence in Turkey – for persons who have employment in Turkey subject to Social Security Institution for the last time before the date of application.
    • Relevant funds – for persons who have employment in Turkey subject to one of the funds subject to the provisional article 20 of the Law no 506 for the last time before the date of application.
  2. The processing of the claims for crediting of the persons who do not have employment subject to any social security institution and of the persons who have periods abroad completed as a housewife shall be dealt with by Social Security Provincial Directorates/Social Security Centres in the place of residence of the claimant in Turkey.
  3. The processing of the claims for crediting of the persons who are entitled to pension under social security agreement -themselves or their survivors- (excluding Germany) and of the persons who worked for the last time subject to letter (c) Article 4 of the Law no 5510 shall be dealt with by General Directorate of Pension Services/Foreign Services Department.

I have made my application to your Institution for crediting. What shall I do now?

For the applications made after the date of 08/05/2008;
You are required to make payment within three months from the announcement of the accrued amount for the processing of your claim. If the payment is not made within the specified time, the application has to be renewed.

  1. If the full payment of accrued debt is made in Turkey as from the date of announcement, it shall be paid within three months in Turkish Lira.
  2. If the payment is made from abroad, the corresponding amount shall be paid in foreign currency. It will be based on buying rate of exchange of Central Bank of the Turkish Republic on the date of payment of the debt.
  3. Applications of those who do not make payment within three month’s period shall be deemed invalid.
  4. In case the debt is partially paid within the mentioned three month’s period, only proportion of the service periods corresponding to the paid amount shall be taken into account and validity of the remaining service periods shall be subject to a new application.
  5. For the amounts that have been paid out of the three months’ period and not reimbursed, the clients shall be informed and the mentioned, amount which was kept in a deposit account, can be used for the accrued amounts arising from new crediting applications.

For the applications made before the date of 08/05/2008;

If your accrual transactions are in progress or completed and if you have not paid the accrued amount in full, you can pay your debt as 3,5 USD per day.
As there is not a time limit for the payment of these debts, payments made after 08/05/2008 are regarded as valid.
How the credited periods will be evaluated?
If the period to be credited has been stated by the client on the Application Form for Crediting of Services Abroad, this specified period will be taken into account; but if the period is not specified, the number of days to be credited will be taken into account from the last date on the evidencing documents backwards. In this calculation 1 year is equal to 360 days; 1 month is equal to 30 days.
The number of days credited are added to the number of days for which contribution is paid or to the service periods of those who have employment subject to Social Security Laws. If the periods before commencement date of the insurance are credited, the starting date of insurance period shall be traced back as much as the number of credited days.
Likewise, the commencement date of insurance periods of clients who do not have employment subject to social security agencies in Turkey, shall be determined by tracing back as much as the number of credited days, starting from the date on which a full payment has been made. In case there is more than one crediting of foreign services, the commencement date of insurance period shall be determined by tracing back as much as the total number of credited days starting from the last payment date of debt.
First day of employment in a contracted country shall not be taken into account as the commencement date of service in crediting the services, completed in countries with which a social security agreement has been concluded, pursuant to the Law No 3201.
For the determination of type of insurance pursuant to the Law No 5510 in crediting of services abroad; if there is insurance period in Turkey, insurance type of the last employment on the date of application is taken into account but, if there is not any insurance period, it is regarded as service period completed under letter (b) of the first paragraph of Article 4 of the Law No 5510.
I want to renounce the process of crediting. What shall I do?

  1. If you submit a written notice of renouncement before the announcement or within three months after the announcement of the debt, your application for crediting foreign services shall be regarded as invalid and total paid amount shall be reimbursed in Turkish Lira without charging interest.
  2. If your credited services are not enough for the entitlement to invalidity and old age pensions, total paid amount shall be reimbursed in Turkish Lira without charging interest upon a written application.
  3. If you are already receiving a pension based on your credited periods, the paid amount cannot be reimbursed as it is not possible to renounce the application and related process of crediting.

Source: Social Security Institution (SGK)
Legal Notice: The information in this article is intended for information purposes only. It is not intended for professional information purposes specific to a person or an institution. Every institution has different requirements because of its own circumstances even though they bear a resemblance to each other. Consequently, it is your interest to consult on an expert before taking a decision based on information stated in this article and putting into practice. Neither Karen Audit nor related person or institutions are not responsible for any damages or losses that might occur in consequence of the use of the information in this article by private or formal, real or legal person and institutions.