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Hiring a captain for your yacht in Turkey involves several steps to ensure compliance with legal regulations . Here’s a guide on how to do it from a legal perspective:

Define your requirements: Determine the qualifications and experience you expect from the captain. Consider their certifications, licenses, language proficiency, experience in Turkish waters, and any specific skills you may require.

Check qualifications and certifications: Look for captains who hold valid certifications and licenses recognized by the Turkish authorities. The captain should possess a valid “Yacht Master” license issued by the Turkish Maritime Authority or an internationally recognized equivalent.

Conduct interviews: Interview potential captains to assess their skills, knowledge, and communication abilities. During the interview, discuss your expectations, itinerary, and any specific needs you have for your yacht. Make sure that your captain matches your needs.

Employment contract: Once you’ve selected a captain, draft a formal employment contract that outlines the terms and conditions of the engagement. This contract should cover salary, responsibilities, working hours, leave, and any other relevant details. It’s essential to have a clear understanding of employment laws and regulations in Turkey to ensure the contract complies with them.

Obtain necessary work permits: If the captain is a foreign national and not already authorized to work in Turkey, you may need to apply for a work permit on their behalf. Work permit requirements can change over time, so it’s essential to check the latest regulations with the Turkish Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

Crew and yacht documentation: Ensure that the captain and the crew have all the necessary documentation and visas to operate and work on the yacht in Turkish waters. This includes verifying passports, visas, and other relevant papers.

Insurance: Ensure that the captain has appropriate liability insurance coverage, which is often required for yacht captains operating in Turkish waters.

Follow tax and social security regulations: If the captain is considered an employee, make sure you comply with tax and social security obligations as per Turkish laws.

Please note that regulations and procedures might change over time, so it’s crucial to seek advice from legal experts in Turkey to ensure full compliance with the current laws and requirements.

Foreigners may appy for residence permit in Turkey for various reasons. The most common one is tourism purposes, although some specific reasons are also applicable, depending on the applicants’ supporting documents.

Tourism purposes
The statement on matters concerning travel plans for tourism purpose will be taken into consideration. The documents and information may be required to submit if it is necessary.

This type of residence may be issued for 6 months in the first application and can be renewed (extended) for 1 year each time.

Conditions For Short-Term Residence Permit Applications (for tourism purposes)

• To submit supporting documents regarding the reason of stay in Turkey
• Proof of sufficient income during the residence
• Health insurance
• Proof of accommodation (rental contract or a title deed)
• Passport and photographs
• Upon request, to present criminal record certificate issued by the competent authorities in their country of citizenship or legal residence,

Under the following cases a short-term residence permit shall not be granted, shall be cancelled if has been issued, and shall not be renewed in case:

• One or more of the conditions provided for short-term residence permit are not met or no longer apply,
• The residence permit is used outside the purposes
• There is a current removal decision or an entry ban to Turkey in respect to the foreigner,
• Violation of the allowed period lived outside of Turkey

Other purposes for residence permit applications are:

Scientific research
Foreigners applying for a residence permit for this purpose are required to obtain a license from relevant institutions and organizations (The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Energy, universities etc.) if the scientific research is subject to permission. If it is not subject to a permission, it is required to present a statement concerning to the research subject.

Acquiring an immovable property in Turkey
If foreigners who own immovable property demand residence permit, the immovable property must be house and used for this purpose. Moreover, immovable property used as house in shared or cooperated property covering family members gives residence permit application right also to the family members.

Business or commercial connections
If the foreigners demand residence permit more than three months for this purpose, invitation letter or similar documents will be requested from the persons or companies to be contacted.

On-the-job training programmes
The residence permit which is granted on this purpose will be issued covering the duration of training based on the documents showing the content, duration and place of training provided by the state institutions and organizations.

Education
Foreigners who will arrive to attend educational or similar programmes as part of student exchange programmes or agreements to which the Republic of Turkey is a party;

Residence permit duration cannot be longer than the educational and similar purposes.

Students in the scope of exchange programs (Erasmus, Mevlana, Farabi vb.) will not be required to submit an additional health insurance as long as they are registered to the Social Security Institution (SGK), general health insurance within three months from the date of enrollment. However, they are required to take out a private health policy unless they are registered to the Social Security Institution (SGK) and fail to take advantage of being covered by the Social Security Institution (SGK) general health insurance.

Foreigners in need of health care
Foreigners who intend to receive medical treatment, provided that they do not have a disease posing a public health threat;
Foreigners coming in order to receive treatment must be admitted to public or private hospitals. Valid health insurance condition is not required for foreigners who certify that treatment expenses are paid.

Residence permit will be issued pursuant to duration of treatment.

Foreigners whose expenses of accommodation, subsistence and health are covered by public institutions and agencies during treatment, will not be required to submit determination of financial possibility and health insurance.

Documents and information regarding treatment might be required from related public institutions and agencies if it is necessary.

The residence permit procedures of care takers of the foreigners under the scope of existing “Health Cooperation Agreements” (unless there is an additional general provision regarding care takers) are carried out based on general provisions.

Furthermore, valid health insurance is not required for residence permit applications of care takers of the foreigners not exceeding two persons

Request or a decision of judicial or administrative authorities
The duration of the residence permit for this purpose is issued by taking into consideration duration stated on the decision and demand.

Attending a Turkish language course
Residence permit can be issued maximum twice for this purpose to the foreigners who enroll to institution authorized to provide language course (must have permission by Ministry of National Education) in Turkish.

If the period of the course is less than a year residence permit duration cannot be longer than the period of the course.

The institution providing the course is responsible with reporting the commencement and attendance of the foreigners registered to the Turkish course to the Provincial Directorate.

Education programme, research, internship or, a course by way of a public agency
The residence permit duration cannot be longer than a year for this purpose. The valid health insurance and determination of financial possibility are not required from the foreigners whose expenses of accommodation, subsistence and health are covered by public institutions. Documents and information might be required from the relevant institutions.

Higher education programme in Turkey
If the foreigners apply within six months upon graduation for this purpose, the residence permit is issued only once. It can be issued maximum for one year

Investment
Foreigners who do not work in Turkey but will make an investment within the scope and amount that shall be determined by the Council of Ministers, and their foreign spouses, his and her foreign minor children or foreign dependent children;

The residence permit based on this purpose is issued for five years at most.

With changes brought on in 2012, the reciprocity principle has been lifted. Therefore, any eligible foreign individual can now purchase property in Turkey, subject to legal restrictions.

These restrictions vary depending on the buyer’s nationality and the location of the property. For instance, if you are a national of a country bordering Turkey, you cannot acquire property in on of the cities neighbouring that country. So, if, for example, you are a Greek national, you cannot but property in Bodrum but you can in Antalya. However, if you are a U.K. national, you can buy property anywhere apart from within a prohibited military zone due to the fact that the U.K. does not share any borders with Turkey.

If you are considering buying property in Turkey, it is highly advisable that you conduct a preliminary survey. For this, it would be sufficient to provide your nationality and the details of the title deeds of the property you are planning to buy to the surveyor. This should include the location of the property as follows: city/district/quarter/village/block/plot. This information can be found on the title deeds of the property you are planning to purchase. Therefore, you should ask your seller for a copy of the title deeds. If you are the national of more than one country, you must disclose this information.

Here are the documents that are needed for the Deed Office when buying property in Turkey

1. The title deeds (or the details) of the property – The property must not be in a military zone or restricted areas. The Deed Office asks for approval from the authorised command. For some cities, this obligation has been lifted as there are no restricted areas in that city.
2. Power of Attorney
3. The passport of the buyer (with sworn translation) and the passport or national ID card of the seller

This process is quite complex and if the warrant of attorney is invalid, it will lead to  a loss of time and money.

The power of attorney needs to include the buyer’s photograph and the details of the property. If it is being issued in Turkey, it must be authorised by the notary. If it is being issued abroad, it must be authorised by the Turkish consulate. The power of attorney can also be issued by the notary of a foreign country. If that country is a member of the Hague convention, it must include an apostille. This document will then need to be translated and approved by a notary in Turkey. This is the only way it can be accepted by the deed office in Turkey.

If the power of attorney is issued by the notary of a country that is not a member of the Hague convention, then it must be authorised by the Turkish consulate or Embassy in that country in order to be accepted by the deed office in Turkey.

You should have a meeting with your attorney in Turkey and clarify how a valid power of attorney should be issued. The power of attorney must be issued in the official language of the country in which it is being issued. In other words, a power of attorney issued in the U.K. must be in English (even Turkish is not accepted), one issued in Germany must be in German and so on. The power of attorney must include your personal details as on your national ID card or passport. In case the details on the power of attorney and your passport do not match, the document is not valid. Your name should appear exactly in the same way as on your passport.

• The buyer’s photograph
• Th current market value of the property obtained from the municipality
• Earthquake insurance (DASK) (For real estates only, not for lands)
• The Property Valuation Report (From a SPK registered audit company) valid for three months. If there has been a change that affected the property’s value (change from being a construction servitude to a flat ownership, renunciation for a road, constitution of servitude, land use conversion, etc., the report becomes invalid and must be renewed. The title deeds fee is calculated based on the value that the buyer and seller have agreed based on the property’s market value, not the value stated on the report. Remember that if you would like to apply for citizenship in Turkey, the PVR value must be above $250.000. I will be talking about citizenship applications through property acquisition in another video.
• A recognisance. If the total area of the properties owned by a foreign national is bigger than 40 Ha, or larger than 10% of the total area of a district, they will be repossessed following the payment of the surplus area fee (?). You must sign a recognisance accepting these terms and conditions in advance.

Costs

1. Title deeds fee (4% of the value of the property?). Normally this is shared between the buyer and the seller but it is subject to negotiation.
2. Floating capital (this is a fixed fee for every year. For 2021, it is fixed at 194,75 TL).
3. For transactions having a foreign element, the deed office charges a handling fee of around 650 TL.

In Turkey, the transfer of property ownership can only be realised at deed offices. Because this procedure can be completed in a notary in certain countries, some foreigners wanting to acquire property in Turkey think that they can also do so in a notary here. Unfortunately, in some instances some malevolent people may use this lack of knowledge to their own benefit and “sell” the same property to more than one person. So please be aware of this point. The procedure taking place at the notary is a “preliminary contract for real estate sale”. With this contract, the parties establish a debtor-creditor relationship. However, this is not sufficient for the transfer of ownership of the property. The debtor will have to proceed legally against the creditor with this contract to gain ownership of the property. This procedure can be lengthy and difficult if you are dealing with a fraudulent party.

If a foreign national is planning to buy a land that does not have a construction on it, he or she must present any building project to the ministry and get an approval within two years of the purchase.

Foreign nationals must have a tax ID number at the time of application. If you are a foreign national with a residence permit in Turkey, you can use your ID number starting with 99 as you tax number. If you do not have such an ID number, you need to obtain a tax ID number from a tax office.

As a rule, your passport must have been issued by your country of citizenship. One exception is the state of Palestine. Citizens of the state of Palestine can acquire real estate following an application with an ID card or passport issued by a country other than their own together with a residence permit obtained from the directorate general of migration management.

The deed office does not accept ID cards or passports that have expired.

Once you’ve purchased a property in Turkey, you are a taxpayer. You must pay the council tax  for your property every year. If you are renting out your property, you must also pay income tax on your rental income.