In 2016, 73,584 out of 86,467 foreigners who applied for a work permit in Turkey attained permission to work from the Labor and Social Security Ministry. Considering the nationalities of those who were granted permits, foreigners of Syrian origin rank first, with 13,298 successful applications.

Last year, thousands of people from all over the world applied to the Labor and Social Security Ministry for permission to work in Turkey. The ministry, which has meticulously examined the applications, issued a work permit to 73,584 out of a total of 86, 467 applicants. Among these, 37,965 permits were granted to men and 35,619 to women.

The Labor and Social Security Ministry refused 2,483 applications and returned 9,432 application files for various reasons, while it has yet to make a decision for 968 further work permit applications.

With the permission of the ministry, 13,298 people from Syria, 7,635 from Georgia, 5,593 from Ukraine, 4,397 from China, 3,474 from Turkmenistan, 3,490 from Kyrgyzstan, 2,435 from Uzbekistan, 1,970 from India and 1,966 from Russia began to work last year in Turkey.

Furthermore, among the successful ones, there were 1,134 United States nationals, 1,191 British, 1,165 German, 888 Italian, and 725 French. Turkey also provided employment to people from different countries across the world, from Togo to Burundi, Zambia to Haiti, and Jamaica to Vietnam.

With the approval of Labor and Social Security Ministry, 17,467 people were given permission to work in 2011, followed by 32,277 people in 2012, 45,834 in 2013, 52,304 in 2014, and 64,833 in 2015.