Social Security Employment Record Translation

For those living abroad the document usually has to do with pensions. Its uses are not confined to that, however: it also serves as proof of professional experience in work permit applications, as documentation of the past in residence files, and as proof of length of service in compensation claims.

Categories of insurance: 4a, 4b, 4c

The statement shows the category of insurance by code. Those working under an employment contract, the self-employed and public officials are registered under different statuses; by their former names these are also known as SSK, Bağ-Kur and Emekli Sandığı. The three statuses are subject to different contribution structures and different pension conditions.

For a foreign social security institution the distinction is decisive, because the equivalents in its own system are different. The translation has to keep the statuses under their Turkish names and explain them in the target language. Mapping them straight onto the status names of the destination country can lead to entitlements being calculated wrongly.

In some periods a person may appear registered under more than one status, being both an employee and a company shareholder, for instance. However these overlaps appear on the statement, they are conveyed exactly and not simplified. Overlapping periods are subject to special rules in a pension calculation, and the decision rests with the institution.

Social security agreements and the aggregation of periods

Türkiye has signed bilateral social security agreements with a good many countries. The essential function of these agreements is to allow periods of work spent in two countries to be aggregated for pension entitlement. The mechanism is used widely in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium and other countries that have received heavy migration from Türkiye.

In an aggregation application the employment record is the centrepiece of the file; the institution in the other country examines this statement and takes the periods spent in Türkiye into account. The statement therefore has to be translated in full, without a break, covering every period. Skipping an intervening period means a straightforward loss of entitlement.

A related subject is the buy-back of periods spent abroad, an application made so that time spent outside Türkiye is taken into account here. The direction is reversed: the foreign institution’s documents are brought to Türkiye, authenticated in the country of origin and translated here by a sworn translator. The document sets for the two directions must not be muddled together.

Contribution days, gaps and termination codes

The column most closely examined is the number of contribution days. Beside it stand the start and end dates, the employer’s name and the workplace registration number. None of these numerical fields is recalculated; the translator may check the totals but cannot correct them, and whatever the document says is what is conveyed.

The termination codes form a language of their own. Resignation, dismissal by the employer, expiry of a fixed term, retirement and similar grounds are shown as numerical codes. These codes have no counterpart in the destination country; the translation keeps the code and explains what it means. The meaning of a code can be decisive in assessments of unemployment benefit and severance.

The reasons for missing days are coded in the same way: sick leave, unpaid leave, part-time work. Leaving those lines out creates unexplained gaps in the person’s working history. Employer trade names, by contrast, are proper names and are not translated; they are expected to keep the spelling used in the trade registry.

Documents that complete the statement

The employment record shows the past but says nothing about the nature of the work. Where professional experience has to be proved abroad, an employer’s letter is added; that letter sets out the job description, the responsibilities and the unit worked in. The number of contribution days alone does not show what work was done, and so falls short in assessments of professional recognition.

Employment commencement and termination notifications are frequently requested attachments as well. These notifications carry an occupation code showing the occupational group the person is registered under, which is a recognisable reference point for foreign institutions. Keeping that code in the translation can do more work than the text around it.

Pension files also call for a civil registry extract, an identity document and, where they exist, records of military service buy-back. Counting a period of military service towards insurance is a separate procedure and may appear as a separate line on the statement; explaining that line has a direct effect on the receiving institution’s calculation.

Across all these documents the employer trade names, the dates and the person’s name have to appear with the same spelling. A single employer name written differently on one document may lead the receiving institution to think there were two separate workplaces and to assess the periods separately.

Official standing and verifiability of the document

An employment record obtained through e-Devlet carries a barcode and a verification code; it bears no wet signature. Foreign social security institutions usually accept this printout, though they may seek confirmation from institution to institution through official correspondence.

Where an apostille is needed, a wet-signed and sealed copy has to be obtained from the institution. Since social security documents count as administrative in nature, the apostille is obtained from the governor’s office or the district governor’s office. The barcode, the verification number and the date the document was issued must all be visible in the translation.

These statements can run long; records extending over dozens of pages are a common sight. Preserving the page numbers and the order of the lines means that, when the receiving institution refers to a particular period, the two texts line up.

The date range the statement covers is also written at its head and must be clearly visible in the translation. When a statement covering only a particular period is presented as though it showed the whole history, the receiving institution queries the missing periods and the file is put on hold.

Purpose and level of approval

Purpose of use	Scope	Level of approval
Aggregation of pension periods	Entire insurance history	Notarisation + apostille
Work permit abroad	Periods in the relevant occupation	Notarised
Residence and settlement file	Recent years	Sworn translation
Compensation and employment claim	Period with the employer concerned	Notarisation + apostille
Credit and financial assessment	Current employment position	Sworn translation

Differences by country

In Germany the pension institutions assess periods spent in Türkiye within the framework of the bilateral agreement and expect the translation to come from a translator sworn before a court. In the Netherlands the translator must be entered in the official register, and the immigration service and the social security institution may ask for separate sets of documents. In Austria the list of sworn translators is official and a translation from outside that list is not accepted. Look at our countries page for a comparison.

Mistakes peculiar to this document

• Having only the recent years of the statement translated and leaving the early periods out.
• Mapping the insurance statuses straight onto the concepts of the destination country.
• Leaving the termination codes unexplained.
• Adding up the contribution days and producing a summary table; that is interpretation, not translation.
• Translating employer trade names and putting them out of step with the registry records.
• Trying to obtain an apostille on a barcoded printout.

Build your pension file without gaps

Applications to aggregate periods can run for years, and one missing period turns into a loss that is hard to make good afterwards. Send us your statement and we go through together which periods need to be covered, what the destination country requires of the translator, and which level of approval applies. Language options are on our languages page and our working principles on our pricing page; you can send your document through the quote form.

This page is for general information; the level of approval required is set by the institution making the request. It is worth checking the current conditions with an official source.