C-116 Restriction Code Turkey: Illegitimate Livelihood Ban

The Ç-116 restriction code (also written C-116 in searches) shows that a foreign national has been deported on the assessment that they earned their living by illegitimate means while in Türkiye, together with the entry ban that follows. In practice its duration is generally known to be five years.

🔎 What Does the Ç-116 (C-116) Restriction Code Mean?

Among the entry ban codes of the "Ç" group, Ç-116 rests on the assessment that a foreign national's source of income in Türkiye is not legitimate. In practice this code is mostly imposed on grounds of prostitution or other unlawful income-generating activity; however, the wording of the Law is not limited to these. The decisive element of the code is the finding that the person earned their living from an unlawful activity.

📜 Legal Basis: Article 54/1-ç of Law No. 6458

Sub-paragraph (ç) of the first paragraph of Article 54 of the Law provides that a deportation decision is taken against "those who earn their living by illegitimate means during their stay in Türkiye". Under Article 9/2, the entry of a deported foreign national is banned. In addition, one of the conditions for a short-term residence permit is having sufficient and regular financial means during the stay; failing to show a legitimate source of income also creates a problem for the residence permit.

⚖️ How It Differs from Illegal Work

Ç-116 and illegal work are often confused, yet the Law regulates them in separate sub-paragraphs:

• Article 54/1-ç (Ç-116): Earning a living by illegitimate means; the activity itself is unlawful.
• Article 54/1-ğ: Those found to be working without a work permit; the activity may be legitimate, but it was carried out without permission. In practice this is recorded under a different Ç code.

The distinction matters in practice: if a foreign national who worked without a permit in a legitimate job is recorded under Ç-116, this shows that the sub-paragraphs have been confused and forms a strong argument in an objection.

⏳ Duration and Consequences

• In practice the entry ban is generally known to last five years; this corresponds to the basic five-year upper limit in the Law (Article 9/3).
• No visa is issued during the ban (Article 15/1-b) and the person is turned back at the border gate.
• A Ç-116 record means that, in later residence and visa applications, a legitimate source of income has to be documented separately and thoroughly.

⚖️ Legal Remedies and Evidence

An application can be made to the administrative court within seven days of notification against a deportation decision (Article 53/3); against an entry ban, the general sixty-day period applies (Article 7 of the Administrative Procedure Law, İYUK). In Ç-116 cases the court generally looks at the following points:

• The content and date of the law enforcement report on which the code is based, and whether the person's statement was taken,
• Whether the finding rests on a concrete fact or on an assumption,
• Whether the legitimate sources of the person's living in Türkiye (bank transactions, transfers from abroad, the income of a supporting family member, work permit and insurance record) are documented,
• The outcome of any criminal investigation opened over the same incident.

An application to the Presidency of Migration Management for the ban to be lifted under Article 9/6 is also possible. For the general framework, readers may look at our articles on entry bans and restriction codesTR and, for the deportation process, deportation and objectionTR.

Related codes: Ç-152 (C-152) restriction code, V-71 restriction code, V-69 restriction code, re-entry after deportationTR.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions