Entry ban to Turkey: how it is imposed, how long it lasts and how it can be lifted

Law No. 6458 deals with two different situations. Under art. 7, a foreigner who arrives without a passport or substitute document, visa, residence permit or work permit, or whose documents or permits were obtained by fraud or are found to be false, is treated as an inadmissible passenger and turned back at the border (Law No. 6458, art. 7(1)(a)). The same applies where the passport or substitute document is not valid for at least sixty days beyond the end of the visa, visa exemption or residence permit (art. 7(1)(b)).

Decisions taken under art. 7 are notified to the foreigner who is turned back, and the notice must explain how the foreigner can effectively exercise the right to object (art. 7(2)). Until the procedure is completed, the foreigner waits in an area designated at the border crossing (art. 7(3)).

An entry ban under art. 9 is a separate decision with its own duration (art. 9(3)). Foreigners who are banned from entering Turkey are among those who are not issued a visa (Law No. 6458, art. 15(1)(b)), and art. 7(1)(c) applies the grounds listed in art. 15(1) at the border even to travellers who are exempt from the visa requirement, subject to art. 15(2), under which a visa may still be issued with the Minister's approval where this is considered beneficial (Law No. 6458, art. 15(2)).

The Presidency of Migration Management (Göç İdaresi Başkanlığı) may ban the entry of foreigners whose entry is considered objectionable for reasons of public order, public security or public health, after obtaining the views of other public bodies where necessary (Law No. 6458, art. 9(1)). Law No. 6458 still calls this authority the Directorate General of Migration Management (“Genel Müdürlük”) in its definitions (art. 3(1)(ğ)), while later provisions of the Law use the name Göç İdaresi Başkanlığı (for example art. 121/A). This page calls it the Presidency.

The wording of the Law is mandatory: the entry of foreigners deported from Turkey is banned by the Presidency or by the governorships (valilik) (art. 9(2)). Within art. 9, the only cases in which the Law allows a ban not to be imposed are those in art. 9(4) and (5), described below. The Regulation on the Implementation of the Law on Foreigners and International Protection (the YUKK Regulation) words the rule as a power and describes its subject differently: for foreigners against whom a deportation decision was taken while they were in Turkey, the Presidency or the governorships may impose an entry ban (YUKK Regulation art. 8(1)). Deportation decisions themselves are covered on a separate page.

The law also allows admission to Turkey to be made subject to prior permission: by the Presidency for reasons of public order, public security or public health, and by the governorships because of administrative fines and public receivables (Law No. 6458, art. 9(7)). Under the YUKK Regulation, a foreigner shown in the system as subject to prior permission is not admitted without the positive opinion of the Presidency (YUKK Regulation art. 8(3)).

An entry ban lasts at most five years (Law No. 6458, art. 9(3)). Where there is a serious threat to public order or public security, the Presidency may extend it by up to ten years more (art. 9(3)).

The YUKK Regulation adds that, where a serious threat to public order or public security exists at the end of the five years, a five-year ban already imposed may be extended by ten years, at once or in separate steps, and that a ban based on the same ground cannot exceed fifteen years in total (YUKK Regulation art. 8(2)(d)). For a foreigner who is deported, the ban starts on the date the foreigner leaves Turkey (art. 8(2)(a)).

The law allows the authorities not to impose a ban in two situations: 1) a foreigner whose visa or residence permit has expired, who applies to the governorship to leave Turkey before the overstay is detected and is then made subject to a deportation decision, provided the administrative fines have been paid and the overstay does not exceed the periods set by the Ministry (art. 9(4)); 2) a foreigner invited to leave Turkey under art. 56 who leaves within the time given (art. 9(5)). Overstaying itself, and the length of ban the regulation allows in those cases, is covered on the overstay page.

A ban imposed under art. 9(1) is notified by the competent authority at the border crossing when the foreigner arrives to enter Turkey; a ban on a deported foreigner under art. 9(2) is notified by the governorship (Law No. 6458, art. 10). The notice must explain how the foreigner can effectively exercise the right to object to the decision, and the foreigner's other legal rights and obligations in the process (art. 10).

The regulation names who serves the notice: 1) consular officials, when a foreigner subject to an entry ban or a prior-permission requirement applies to a consulate for a visa, residence permit or work permit; 2) the governorship, where the foreigner is in Turkey; 3) the law enforcement unit responsible for entry and exit at the border crossing, when a foreigner subject to an entry ban leaves Turkey (YUKK Regulation art. 9(1)).

The date of written notification matters: the general sixty-day time limit for an annulment action runs from the day after it (Law No. 2577, art. 7(2)(a)), while a deportation decision can be challenged only within seven days of its service (Law No. 6458, art. 53(3)).

The Presidency may lift an entry ban, or, keeping the ban in place, allow the foreigner to enter Turkey for a specific period (Law No. 6458, art. 9(6)). The YUKK Regulation adds that it may do so, where it considers it necessary, without waiting for the ban to expire (YUKK Regulation art. 8(2)(e)).

The law and the YUKK Regulation do not set an application form, a list of documents or a time limit for a request to lift a ban or to be allowed in; they say only that the Presidency may do so.

A foreigner banned from entering Turkey is not issued a visa (Law No. 6458, art. 15(1)(b)), but a visa may still be issued with the Minister's approval to a person covered by that article where this is considered beneficial (art. 15(2)).

Separately, a foreigner whose travel costs on deportation were paid in whole or in part by the Presidency and who does not repay them may be refused entry (YUKK Regulation art. 8(2)(ç)).

Entering Turkey despite an entry ban is itself a ground for a deportation decision (Law No. 6458, art. 54(1)(ı)), and a valid entry ban is a ground for refusing, cancelling or not renewing a short-term residence permit (art. 33(1)(ç)).

Where the entry ban follows a deportation decision (Law No. 6458, art. 9(2)), the deportation decision itself can be challenged before the administrative court only within seven days of its service (art. 53(3)); the sixty-day period described below does not extend that time limit. Subject to the foreigner's consent, the foreigner is not deported during that period or, if a case is brought, until it is decided (art. 53(3)). Deportation decisions are covered in more detail on the deportation page.

Law No. 6458 does not say which time limit applies to an entry ban that is served together with a deportation decision, and it does not set a separate time limit or a separate court for an entry ban imposed under art. 9(1); art. 10 requires only that the notice explain how to object.

Where a special law sets no separate time limit, an action before the administrative courts must be brought within sixty days (Law No. 2577, art. 7(1)), counted from the day after the written notification (art. 7(2)(a)). Subject to the rules on subject-matter jurisdiction, and unless Law No. 2577 or a special law names the competent court, the competent administrative court is the one where the authority that took the decision is located (Law No. 2577, art. 32(1)); a ban under art. 9(1) is imposed by the Presidency, and a ban under art. 9(2) by the Presidency or a governorship (Law No. 6458, art. 9(1) and (2)).

Before going to court, the person concerned may ask the higher authority, or, if there is none, the authority that made the decision, to remove, withdraw or change it or to take a new decision, within the time limit for bringing the action; this application stops the time limit running (Law No. 2577, art. 11(1)). If no answer is given within thirty days, the request is deemed refused (art. 11(2)). After a refusal or deemed refusal the time limit starts running again, and the time that passed before the application is counted (art. 11(3)). Law No. 6458 does not say whether such an application has any effect on the seven-day time limit for challenging a deportation decision.

Foreigners often hear of a “restriction code” (tahdit kodu), written as a letter and a number such as G-87 or V-71. Neither Law No. 6458 nor its implementing regulation uses the words “restriction code” or “tahdit”, and neither contains a list of codes. This page therefore gives no list of codes and no meaning for any code.

The decisions the law does regulate are the entry ban (Law No. 6458, art. 9(1)-(3)), the prior-permission requirement (art. 9(7)) and their notification (art. 10). The routes described above for challenging an administrative decision apply to those decisions (Law No. 2577, arts. 7 and 11).