Law 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection, Article 75 provides that a personal interview should be conducted within thirty days after registration, and Article 78 provides that the first instance decision should be issued within six months from registration, with an obligation to inform the applicant where a decision cannot be taken within that period.

Law 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection, Article 79 provides for an accelerated procedure on specified grounds. Article 79(2) provides that, under accelerated procedure, the personal interview is to take place within three days of the application and the decision is to be issued within five days of the interview. Article 79(3), read together with the Implementing Regulation on the Law on Foreigners and International Protection, Article 80(3), provides that where it becomes apparent that examination of the application will take longer the application may be removed from accelerated procedure and processed under the regular procedure.

In formal terms, these provisions establish a first instance procedure designed to be efficient, through clear interview and decision timelines and a mechanism for prioritized accelerated processing in specified cases.

In practice, however, the regular procedure timelines are often not met. Stakeholders report severe delays and capacity shortages at provincial directorates, with applicants waiting for years, in some cases five to eight years, for a decision at first instance, and with significant variation in processing speed and quality across provinces. Practice reports also indicate limited transparency on outcomes, including the absence of publicly available breakdown data on positive and negative first instance decisions, which makes it difficult to assess system wide efficiency and consistency..1

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   European Council on Refugees and Exiles, Asylum Information Database, ‘Regular procedure’ (Türkiye country report, last updated 29 July 2025) available at https://asylumineurope.org/reports/country/turkiye/asylum-procedure/procedures/regular-procedure/.