Persons who have left Turkish citizenship but retain Blue Card status may in time wish to re-establish that tie. The motive behind the request generally falls under two headings: opening the way to dual citizenship, and the wish to benefit from certain rights and opportunities reserved to Turkish nationals alone.
In this briefing note we examine, from a practical perspective, the legal content of Blue Card status, the condition sought for the return to citizenship, the authorities before which the application is conducted and how it proceeds, the documents that must be submitted, the position of family members and the legal routes to be followed where an application is refused.
What Does Blue Card Status Mean?
The Blue Card is a document issued, upon request, to persons who acquired Turkish citizenship by birth but subsequently left that status. The opportunities the document affords are not confined to the card holder; the holder’s descendants, up to and including the third degree, may likewise benefit from the rights granted to Turkish nationals, save for a limited number of exceptions. The resulting picture is a status of its own kind, distinguishing the card holder from other foreigners.
The rights left outside the scope of that benefit are those tied directly to the bond of citizenship. The principal rights and obligations that cannot arise for Blue Card holders are as follows:
- Appointment to public office in the capacity of a civil servant,
- Voting and standing as a candidate in elections,
- Obligations relating to military service,
- The practice of professions that may be carried on only by Turkish nationals, such as law and the notarial profession,
- Bringing in goods or vehicles by benefiting from customs exemption.
Beyond those listed, there is no distinction between a Blue Card holder and a Turkish national across the greater part of everyday and economic life. The purchase and sale of immovable property and vehicles, engaging in commercial activity, entering into employment contracts and employment relations may be cited as examples in this respect.
The Condition Sought for Reacquiring Citizenship
For the return of Blue Card holders to citizenship, a single substantive condition is sought within the framework of Art. 13 of the Turkish Citizenship Act No. 5901: that the applicant present no impediment as regards national security and public order. Criteria such as the period of residence encountered in general citizenship applications do not apply along this route; where the said impediment is absent, citizenship may be reacquired.
The existence of such an impediment is determined not according to the discretion of the administration but according to the outcome of an archive search. That search is conducted by the General Directorate of Security, and the result reached forms the basis of the decision the administration will give.
How Is the Application Conducted?
A request to return to citizenship begins with an application to the competent administrative authorities. Within Türkiye this task falls to the governorships and abroad to Türkiye’s diplomatic missions. Once the applicant has completed the necessary documents, the file may be submitted in person or the transaction may be carried out through a representative.
The governorship that receives the file transmits the documents to the Ministry of the Interior. If missing information or documents are identified during the Ministry’s examination, the applicant is asked to remedy them. Once the file is complete, the documents are sent by the Ministry to the General Directorate of Security.
The General Directorate of Security investigates whether there exists in respect of the applicant any circumstance giving rise to an objection on grounds of national security and public order, and notifies its finding to the Ministry. The stage of final assessment and decision then returns to the Ministry.
Refusal of the request arises in two situations. The first is the failure to remedy, within the period allowed, deficiencies or errors in the information and documents submitted. The second is the emergence of a circumstance constituting an impediment to citizenship on grounds of national security or public order.
Documents to Be Submitted with the Application File
Art. 23 of the Regulation sets out the documents to be required in an application for the return from Blue Card status to Turkish citizenship:
- The standard-form petition setting out the request,
- The civil registry record obtained through the system by the authority to which the application is made,
- 2 photographs of biometric quality,
- A passport or equivalent document establishing which state’s citizenship is currently held; in the case of statelessness, a document showing that position, if one can be obtained,
- A document relating to marital status,
- Where a change in marital status has occurred since the loss of Turkish citizenship, a document relating to that change,
- Where there is a marriage, a civil registry record or similar document establishing the family tie with the spouse and children,
- Where a change has occurred in identity details since the loss of citizenship, a document proving that change,
- A receipt showing that the service fee has been paid into the Treasury cash office.
Passports and similar official documents obtained abroad must be added to the file together with their translation into Turkish, and the translation must also be certified by a notary. For certain foreign documents to take effect in Türkiye, an apostille is additionally required.
Preparing the documents in full from the outset is decisive for the course of the process. An incomplete file may prolong the application because additional time is allowed for completion, and may equally produce a refusal where the deficiencies are not remedied.
The Position of the Spouse and Children
The return of a Blue Card holder to citizenship may also produce consequences for family members; those consequences, however, operate differently for the spouse and for the children.
As regards the spouse, the picture should be made clear at the outset: the Blue Card holder’s becoming a Turkish national again does not affect the spouse’s status. The spouse’s citizenship position continues exactly as it stood before the application. As regards children, the Ministry of the Interior introduced significant facilities as of 29 April 2022.
Children who lost Turkish citizenship as dependants of their mother or father and who hold a Blue Card may return to citizenship by exercising the right of option within 3 years following their attainment of full age. Those who allow that period to pass without exercising the right of option must subsequently proceed by way of application; with the innovation introduced, no residence condition is sought from such persons.
As regards children who are not of full age, citizenship may be acquired where the application of the mother or father and the consent of the other parent are sought together. Where one of the parents is a Turkish national, the minor child acquires citizenship directly.
There may be many different bases and grounds for the acquisition of Turkish citizenship. A detailed assessment of all these routes is contained in our note entitled “how Turkish citizenship is acquired”.
Refusal of the Application
A Blue Card holder’s ability to return to citizenship depends on the absence of any circumstance constituting an impediment on grounds of national security and public order. That assessment takes shape according to the outcome of the archive searches carried out by the General Directorate of Security.
Connection with terrorist organisations, participation in terrorist activities and acts aimed at overthrowing the constitutional order are the principal circumstances capable of producing an adverse outcome under the national security criterion. Alongside these, the incompleteness or inaccuracy of the documents in the application file is on its own a ground for refusal.
Objection to the Refusal Decision and Action for Annulment
Blue Card holders whose request is refused have two legal routes before them: administrative objection and an action for annulment. The objection is directed to the Ministry of the Interior; the action for annulment is heard before the administrative courts.
The period provided for both routes is 60 days from notification of the refusal decision. The person concerned may choose to bring an action directly, or may first pursue the objection route and, depending on its outcome, then have recourse to the courts.
An objection lodged against the refusal decision suspends the period for bringing administrative proceedings. The authority that will examine the objection is the General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs; that authority reviews whether the refusal decision given was well founded.
Where the objection is rejected, or where the administration fails to reply for a period of 30 days, the remaining part of the suspended 60-day period begins to run again, and an action for annulment may be brought within that period. If, for instance, the objection was lodged fifteen days after notification of the refusal decision and no favourable outcome was obtained from it, the remaining forty-five-day period for bringing an action continues to run.
The administrative court examines the request before it, reviews the lawfulness of the Ministry’s decision and determines the outcome. Objections and actions for annulment are technical processes containing a great many procedural details. Our note entitled “objection to the refusal of a Turkish citizenship application and the action for annulment”, in which the subject is addressed comprehensively, may be of guidance in this respect.
How Long Does an Action for Annulment Take?
The average time taken to hear actions seeking the annulment of a refusal decision is in the region of 1 year.
That period is nonetheless variable. Factors such as the workload of the courts, the conduct displayed by the administration and the claimant during the proceedings, and whether there are deficiencies in the procedural steps may cause the proceedings to take longer or less time than expected.
Independent Legal Assessment
The return from Blue Card status to citizenship appears straightforward in comparison with other routes of acquiring citizenship, because it is tied to a single substantive condition. The points at which matters become blocked in practice are, however, mostly not that condition itself but deficiencies in the preparation of the file and a failure to read correctly the outcome of the archive search. Correctly identifying the ground of the refusal decision determines whether the route to be followed is objection or a direct action.
When a particular application is being planned, it is useful to review the following headings from the outset:
- Completing the notarised translation of documents originating abroad, and where necessary the apostille, before the application
- Assessing, before the file is submitted, any records capable of giving rise to a risk on grounds of national security and public order
- Calculating, as regards children, whether the period for exercising the right of option has expired, and choosing the route accordingly
- Documenting the date of notification of the refusal decision and correctly calculating the part of the 60-day period suspended by the objection
- Not missing the additional time allowed on account of missing documents
Independent Legal provides advisory services and conducts proceedings throughout the process, from preparation of the file in applications by Blue Card holders to return to citizenship, to actions for annulment brought against refusal decisions.