Turkey entry ban removal starts from two facts in the statute. A Turkish entry ban lasts at most five years, and the Presidency of Migration Management (Göç İdaresi) may extend it by at most ten more years only where there is a serious threat to public order or public security (Law No. 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection, article 9/3). The same Presidency may lift the ban, or keep it on the record and still allow you to enter for a defined period (article 9/6). Waiting for the ban to run out is therefore only one of three routes, and often the slowest.
Who imposes a Turkish entry ban, and on what ground?
Article 9 of Law No. 6458 gives two grounds. The Presidency of Migration Management may ban the entry of a foreigner whose entry is objectionable on grounds of public order, public security or public health, after taking the views of the public bodies concerned where needed (article 9/1). And a foreigner deported from Türkiye is banned from entry by the Presidency or by the governorate (article 9/2). The ban is recorded against the person as a restriction, the tahdit, with an internal code; the code tells the border what kind of restriction it is, and the ground behind it is read from the file.
Two situations need not end in a ban at all. A foreigner whose visa or residence period ran out and who applied to the governorate to leave before the authorities found the overstay may be spared a ban, provided the administrative fine was paid and the overstay stayed inside the periods the Ministry sets (article 9/4). A foreigner invited to leave under article 56 who leaves within the period given may also be spared (article 9/5).
How long does a Turkish entry ban last?
At most five years (article 9/3). Only where there is a serious threat to public order or public security may the Presidency extend it, and then by at most ten further years. A ban that the border presents as open-ended is read against that ceiling and against the ground in the file.
Can I enter Türkiye while the ban still stands?
Yes, where the Presidency allows it. Article 9/6 lets it keep the ban and permit entry for a defined period, and in practice that permission takes the form of an annotated visa (meşruhatlı vize): the ban stays on the record, and the person enters for the stated period and purpose. We obtain it for clients under an entry ban, and they do enter. It is the instrument the statute itself provides, not a favour, and it is often the right answer for a family event, a court date, a property sale or a business that cannot wait for the ban to expire.
How is an entry ban lifted?
The Presidency of Migration Management may lift the ban (article 9/6). The application rests on the file: the ground of the ban, the circumstances of the overstay or the deportation behind it, the fines paid, the family, work and property ties in Türkiye, and the reasons the restriction no longer serves its purpose. Where the Presidency refuses, the refusal is an administrative act that can be taken to the administrative court.
What if a deportation decision sits behind the ban?
Then the deportation decision is the first document to read. Under article 53/3 the foreigner, his legal representative or his lawyer may apply to the administrative court within seven days of service of the deportation decision; while the time to apply runs, and while the case is pending, the person is not removed unless he consents, and the court decides within fifteen days. The seven days run from service, not from the removal. Where service was defective, which the administrative courts find often in these files, the period never began to run, and a deportation two or three years old can still be taken to court. What was served, on whom, in which language and against whose signature decides it, so we read the service record before anyone says the door is shut.
An entry ban the court annulled
A furniture-fair organiser was turned back at Istanbul Atatürk Airport after a risk-analysis interview on 5 January 2018, recorded as an inadmissible passenger and barred on public order and security grounds, and was turned back again when he came for a fair that October. We filed in January 2019 before an Istanbul administrative court, which sent the case to Ankara because the ban had been entered by the General Directorate of Security, and on 30 October 2019 the Ankara administrative court annulled the ban: the power to bar entry is discretionary, but it has to rest on concrete information and documents, and the interview record named none. The forum follows the authority that entered the code, so the code and the body behind it are read before the petition is written.
Can the matter be handled without travelling to Türkiye?
Yes. With a power of attorney given before a Turkish consulate, or before a notary abroad with an apostille, we read the record behind the ban, file the application to the Presidency, bring the case before the administrative court and apply for the annotated visa, while you stay where you are. Your only act is the signature on the power of attorney.
Have your ban read
Which of the three routes fits your file, lifting, entry with an annotated visa or a court case, is decided by the ground of the ban, the deportation or overstay file behind it and the service record. Send us the ban code if you know it, the date you left Turkey and any decision you were served, on WhatsApp at +90 530 127 59 35 or at info@serkalaw.com.
Related: deportation orders and entry bans and how to appeal a deportation decision in Turkey.
This page reports Law No. 6458 as read on the consolidated text of mevzuat.gov.tr. It is general information about Turkish law and not advice on a particular file; representation begins only under a signed engagement.