What is the işe giriş bildirgesi, Turkey's SGK new-hire declaration?
The işe giriş bildirgesi (SGK new-hire declaration) is the filing that registers a new employee with Turkey's Social Security Institution under Article 8 of Law No. 5510. As a rule the employer must submit it electronically before the employment start date. Construction, fishing and agriculture may file on the first day, and brand-new workplaces get one month.
The filing that makes employment legal in Turkey
Employment in Turkey is not fully legal until the employer has declared the hire to the Social Security Institution (SGK). The işe giriş bildirgesi carries the employee's identity number, occupation code, insurance branch and start date, and it is what opens the employee's insured record — pension, health coverage and unemployment insurance all hang off it. The duty sits entirely with the employer: the employee signs nothing at SGK and files nothing. Filing is electronic through the e-Sigorta channel of SGK's employer system, reached with the employer's credentials via e-Devlet. Paper filing survives only for narrow exceptional cases.
For a foreign company employing in Turkey — through a local entity or an employer-of-record — this declaration is the moment a hire becomes visible to the state. Running payroll without it is unregistered employment (kayıt dışı istihdam), which inspections target specifically. The declaration also anchors the personnel file: a copy of the submitted form belongs in the employee's özlük file alongside the employment contract and identity documents.
Deadlines: the day-before rule and its exceptions
The general rule in Article 8 of Law No. 5510 is that the declaration must reach SGK before the insurance start date — in practice, at the latest the day before the employee starts work. Two statutory exceptions relax this. In construction, fishing and agriculture workplaces the declaration may be filed on the day the employee is put to work. And when a workplace registers with SGK for the first time, employees hired within the first month of insured activity may be declared within one month of that first start date. Outside these cases, a declaration filed on the morning of day one is already late.
Penalties — and how employees can verify their own registration
Late or missing declarations draw administrative fines under Article 102/a of Law No. 5510, scaled per employee in multiples of the gross monthly minimum wage: one minimum wage per undeclared employee as the base fine, twice the minimum wage when the omission surfaces through a court ruling, an inspection or records from other public bodies or banks, and five times the minimum wage when the same workplace repeats the offence within a year of such a finding. Employees can check their own registration at any time through e-Devlet's SGK registration and service statement (4A hizmet dökümü), which lists every declared employment with its start date — a useful verification step in the first week of any new job.
The hiring paperwork collected alongside it
Turkish employers also assemble a personnel (özlük) file for every hire, required by Article 75 of Labor Law No. 4857. The customary set collected at hiring: the signed employment contract, a copy of the identity card, a residence record, diploma copies, a criminal-record extract, a health report where the work requires one, passport-size photographs, the military-service status document for male employees, and the submitted SGK new-hire declaration itself. Situational documents join as needed — a disability report, a work permit for foreign employees. Collecting the set at day one is far easier than reconstructing it at an inspection or a dispute.
| Legal basis | Article 8, Law No. 5510 |
| General deadline | Before the insurance start date — in practice, the day before work begins |
| Exception — construction, fishing, agriculture | May be filed on the day the employee starts work |
| Exception — newly registered workplace | One month for employees hired within the first month of activity |
| Filing channel | e-Sigorta, via SGK's employer system on e-Devlet |
| Fines (Art. 102/a, Law No. 5510) | Per employee: 1× gross minimum wage, 2× if found via court, inspection or third-party records, and 5× on repetition within a year |
Frequently asked
The employer files the işe giriş bildirgesi — never the employee. Submission is electronic through the e-Sigorta channel of SGK's employer system, accessed with the employer's credentials via e-Devlet. The form carries the employee's identity number, occupation code, insurance branch and start date. Employers of record handle it on behalf of foreign companies without a Turkish entity.
Under Article 8 of Law No. 5510 the declaration must reach SGK before the insurance start date — in practice, by the day before the employee begins work. Construction, fishing and agriculture workplaces may file on the first working day itself, and a workplace newly registered with SGK has one month to declare employees hired within its first month of insured activity.
Administrative fines under Article 102/a of Law No. 5510 apply per employee, in multiples of the gross monthly minimum wage: one minimum wage for a late or missing declaration, twice that when the omission is uncovered through a court decision, an inspection or records from other institutions, and five times when the workplace repeats the offence within a year. The employment itself remains valid — the sanction lands on the employer.
The customary hiring set feeds the mandatory personnel file (Article 75, Labor Law No. 4857): the signed employment contract, an identity-card copy, a residence record, diplomas, a criminal-record extract, a health report where the work requires one, photographs, the military-status document for men, and the submitted SGK new-hire declaration. A work permit is added for foreign employees.
Yes. Every declared employment appears in the employee's SGK service statement (4A hizmet dökümü) on e-Devlet, with the workplace and start date, shortly after the declaration is processed. Checking it in the first days of a new job is the simplest way for an employee to confirm they are registered — and for an employer to demonstrate compliance.