Ç-149 (C-149) Restriction Code: Public Security Entry Ban

The Ç-149 restriction code (C-149) is an entry-ban code imposed when a foreigner is assessed as a risk to public security. It is associated with a five-year period and is often recorded at the border gate on the assessment of risk analysis units. For this reason Ç-149 is a code frequently seen in cases where a foreigner is turned back at the airport without ever entering the country.

🔎 What Does the Ç-149 Restriction Code Mean?

Ç-149 rests not on a specific criminal conviction or a concrete violation, but on the administration's assessment that the foreigner's presence in the country poses a risk to public security. Travel patterns, contradictions with statements made on earlier entries, suspicious connections or law-enforcement records can trigger this assessment. That an assessment is framed as a "risk" does not mean the administration is given wide discretion under judicial review; the assessment must rest on concrete facts.

🛂 Being Turned Back at the Border

Article 7/1-c of Law No. 6458 provides that foreigners listed in Article 15/1 who are considered objectionable on grounds of public order or public security are treated as inadmissible passengers and turned back, even if they are visa-exempt. For a foreigner who is turned back:

• The decision is notified; the notification sets out how the right to object can be exercised effectively and the other legal rights and obligations (Art. 7/2).
• The foreigner waits in the area designated at the border gate until the procedures are completed (Art. 7/3).
• The refusal document is the main record showing the date and grounds of the decision in any later case.

If Ç-149 has been entered in the record together with the refusal, the foreigner meets the same obstacle on later journeys. In visa applications the result is also a refusal under Article 15/1-c. The relationship between visas and entry is covered separately in the article on visas with an endorsement (meşruhatlı vize).

🔀 How It Differs from Other Security Codes

An assessment relating to public security can also be recorded under different codes. G-87 indicates a general security risk, and Ç-141 (C-141) indicates a prior-permission requirement arising from international security. Ç-149, by contrast, stands out for its basis in a border-gate risk assessment and operates directly as an entry ban. The type of code determines which documents the administration has to submit in court and the focus of the dispute.

⚖️ Objection and Court Action

• An action can be brought before the administrative court within sixty days of notification or of learning of the ban (Art. 7 of the Administrative Procedure Law No. 2577, İYUK). An application to the administration under Art. 11 of İYUK may also be made before filing.
• If the ban was imposed by the Presidency of Migration Management, the competent court is the Ankara administrative court (Art. 32 of İYUK).
• In the case, the claimant typically asks the court to call for the case file and the information note underlying the risk assessment, and relies on the principle that a confidential document not disclosed to the parties cannot alone be the basis of a judgment (Art. 20 of İYUK).
• The foreigner's residence history in Türkiye, family, investments and clean record are taken into account in the proportionality review.

Related codes and articles: Ç-118 (C-118) Restriction Code, G-82 restriction code.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions