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UK employment contract translation into Turkish
Turkish translation of a UK employment contract or written statement of particulars, notarised in Ankara, for SGK offices, Turkish courts, banks and the Göç İdaresi. From £6.50 per page; solicitor certification and FCDO apostille only where the receiving office asks.
What the receiving body requires
“An employer must give employees and workers a document stating the main conditions of employment when they start work.” … “The employer must provide the principal statement on the first day of employment”.
Source:
· checked 29 August 2026Contract, written statement or offer letter?
Most people in the UK do not hold a single signed document called a contract. GOV.UK sets out the minimum: an employer must give employees and workers a document stating the main conditions of employment when they start work, and the principal statement is due on the first day. That written statement of employment particulars (iş sözleşmesi, çalışma şartları belgesi) names the employer, the job title, the start date, pay and pay frequency, hours and place of work. Larger employers issue a fuller contract with notice periods, pension, sick pay and restrictive covenants; agencies issue a contract for services; NHS trusts and universities use standard national terms that run to twenty pages or more.
Before you order, ask the Turkish office which document it needs. In practice it is one of three things: the signed contract, the written statement, or a short employer letter confirming current employment. For the letter, which is what the consulate wants for military deferment and dövizle askerlik, see employer letter translation. This page is about the contract itself.
Turkish offices that read the contract
- SGK il müdürlüğü. In a yurtdışı borçlanması application the insurance record from HMRC is the core evidence, but an SGK officer sometimes asks for the contract to confirm a start date, the employer's identity or whether work was full-time. See SGK yurtdışı borçlanması.
- Family courts. A maintenance (nafaka) or divorce case in Türkiye where your UK salary is in dispute; the judge reads the contract alongside payslips.
- Labour courts. A claim against a Turkish employer with a UK-based contract, or a secondment dispute.
- Göç İdaresi. A British spouse applying for a residence permit on the strength of UK income.
- Turkish banks. A mortgage or loan application by a UK resident; banks ask for proof of income in Turkish.
The consulates themselves read English and do not send a contract out for translation; a Turkish translation matters once the document is filed with an office inside Türkiye.
Does a contract need an apostille?
A contract is a private document signed by you and your employer, so the FCDO cannot legalise it as it stands. GOV.UK gives the rule: other documents can be legalised as long as a UK notary or solicitor has certified them, and it lists a contract among its examples. The sequence, if the receiving office insists on legalisation, is: solicitor or notary certifies the contract, the FCDO attaches an apostille (the e-Apostille at £35 within two working days is available for solicitor-certified documents; the paper service is £45), and we then translate the contract together with the certification and the apostille.
Courts and banks usually accept the contract with a notarised translation alone. SGK practice varies between provinces. Ask before you pay for an apostille; if the answer is no, send us the signed contract as a clear scan and the translator sworn before an Ankara notary certifies the translation, which the notary binds to a copy of the contract.
How we handle the legal wording
UK contracts are written in a style Turkish employment law does not share: zero-hours clauses, garden leave, PILON, statutory sick pay, auto-enrolment, TUPE. We translate each with the closest Turkish labour-law term and a short translator's note where no equivalent exists, and we keep the English term in brackets on first use so that an SGK officer or judge can match it to the original. Salary figures stay in pounds; we do not convert currency. See legal translation for the terminology policy we follow.
Price for a contract
A written statement is 2 to 3 pages of 1,000 characters, so £13.00 to £19.50. A full contract runs to 6 to 15 pages, £39 to £97.50; a national NHS or university contract can reach 25 pages, and for those the economy option at 20 per cent less with double the turnaround is usually the sensible choice. Notarisation adds the Ankara tariff of about £13.50 per page plus £5 handling; the notary charges for every page, so a long contract is where the tariff matters most. An apostille of the translation is £15 when asked for. No UK VAT is charged. Standard turnaround is 2 to 4 working days for a full contract; the fast option halves that for 60 per cent more. You receive a PDF by e-mail, and the wet-sealed notarised original, which SGK and the courts keep on file, by courier for £30. There is no collection point in the UK.
What you receive
- Turkish translation of the contract or written statement, with schedules, signatures and any solicitor's certification and apostille
- Translator's notes on UK employment terms that have no Turkish equivalent
- Notarial certificate from an Ankara notary attached to a copy of the contract
- PDF by e-mail; wet-sealed original by courier to the UK or to Türkiye
Frequently asked questions
The consulate asked for a çalışma belgesi for my askerlik file. Is that the contract?
No. A çalışma belgesi is a short letter from your employer on headed paper confirming your job, start date and that you are still employed. The consulate reads it in English. Our page on employer letter translation covers the cases where that letter does need translating.
My contract is 30 pages. Can you translate only the pages the court needs?
Yes, if the receiving office agrees to a partial translation. We mark it clearly as an extract translation and list the pages omitted. Courts usually accept an extract of the pay, hours and duration clauses; SGK usually wants the whole document.
Do you need my employer to sign anything?
No. We work from the signed contract you already hold. If the office wants an apostille, a UK solicitor certifies the copy; your employer is not involved.
Will SGK accept the contract instead of the HMRC record?
Not on its own. SGK's rule for agreement countries asks for the document issued by the foreign insurance institution showing the insured periods. The contract can support that record but does not replace it. See HMRC tax documents translation.
Can you convert my salary into lira?
We do not convert figures. Turkish courts and SGK apply their own exchange rate on the relevant date, so the translation shows pounds exactly as the contract does.