Glossary
Yurtdışı borçlanması — meaning and English translation
Yurtdışı borçlanması is the SGK scheme that lets Turkish citizens count years worked or spent abroad towards a Turkish pension by paying contributions for them retrospectively.
Under Law 3201 a Turkish citizen who worked abroad, or a housewife who lived abroad, can pay SGK a daily amount for those periods and have them treated as insured service in Türkiye. In 2026 the daily rate lies between 495.45 and 4,459.05 TL, chosen by the applicant within that band, and the total buys pension entitlement that would otherwise be missing. The application needs proof of the periods: a UK National Insurance record, employer letters or P60s with a certified Turkish translation, or a hizmet belgesi obtained through the Labour Attaché's office in London.
We render the term as “purchase of overseas service periods (yurtdışı borçlanması)”, and in plain contexts “buying back years abroad”. “Debt” is avoided although borç means debt, because nothing is owed until the application is made.
HMRC's National Insurance record is the document UK residents most often need translated for it. See SGK: buying back your years abroad.