For a foreign national who has applied to the administration seeking to acquire Turkish citizenship, the most dispiriting outcome is the negative decision that reaches them after a long wait. It is a widespread misconception that such a decision is final and unalterable; the legal order affords both administrative and judicial review against a refusal.
These possibilities fall under two headings. The first is the objection route operating within the administrative mechanism that gave the decision; the second is the action for annulment to be brought before the administrative court. Each route has its own time limits, addressees and strategic consequences. Choosing the wrong authority, or missing the time limit, may leave even a substantively well-founded request without result.
In this briefing note we address the grounds on which citizenship applications are refused, the objection mechanism to be pursued against a refusal decision, the procedure for the action for annulment, and the possibility of making a fresh application after a refusal. The course to be followed against the refusal of a request to renounce citizenship, and against decisions annulling citizenship already acquired, is also considered separately.
The Process from Receipt of the Application to the Final Decision
A request for Turkish citizenship is submitted, for those present within the borders of Türkiye, to the provincial civil registry directorates attached to the governorships. Those living abroad submit their request through the mission of the Republic of Türkiye in the country where they are located. Whether the application can proceed soundly depends on all the conditions laid down for the relevant route to citizenship being satisfied and on the documents proving those conditions being submitted in full.
The governorship unit that receives the file first carries out a preliminary examination and checks whether any document is missing. Once this stage has been passed without difficulty, the file is transferred to the police directorate; archive screening is conducted in respect of the applicant. The conclusion reached by the police is put into a report and placed on the file, and the file as a whole is forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior.
The final assessment belongs to the commission formed within the Directorate General of Civil Registration and Citizenship Affairs. The commission examines the entire content of the file, invites the applicant to an interview, and reaches its decision by weighing together the data gathered throughout the process and the impression formed at the interview.
Whether the decision given is positive or negative, it must be notified to the applicant. For a person receiving a negative decision, the routes of objection and legal action are open. How those routes are to be framed, however, becomes clear only in the light of the ground on which the refusal is based; the reasoning of the refusal decision is therefore the most critical piece of information in the process.
The Grounds on Which a Citizenship Request Is Refused
The grounds of refusal do not fit into a single list; since each route to citizenship has its own conditions, the reasons leading to a negative decision also differ according to the route. The Turkish Citizenship Act No. 5901 lays down the routes to citizenship and their conditions separately. An applicant must possess the qualities required by whichever route has been chosen; failing that, the request will not be granted.
There is a further ground of refusal common to all routes: the finding that the applicant presents a circumstance giving rise to an objection in terms of national security or public order. In addition, the failure to complete documents missing from the file within the period allowed by the administration is also relied on as a basis for a negative decision.
Set out below are the principal routes permitting the acquisition of Turkish citizenship and, for each of them, the shortcomings that give rise to a refusal.
Conditions Required Under the Five-Year Residence Route
Art. 11 of the Turkish Citizenship Act No. 5901 governs the conditions for acquiring citizenship on the basis of five years of residence. The absence of even one of these conditions suffices for the application to be refused. The qualities required by the Act are as follows:
- Not giving rise to any objection in terms of national security and public order,
- Having an income sufficient to maintain oneself and one’s dependants,
- Being able to speak Turkish to a sufficient standard,
- Not carrying an illness that poses a danger to public health,
- Being of good moral character,
- Demonstrating by one’s conduct the intention to settle in Türkiye,
- Having resided in Türkiye for at least 5 years as at the date of application,
- Being of full age and having the capacity to discern under one’s own national law and, for stateless persons, under Turkish law.
The content of each of these conditions, and its counterpart in practice, is examined in detail in the note titled “acquiring citizenship through 5 years of residence”.
Grounds of Refusal in Acquisition by the Exceptional Route
The circumstances in which citizenship may be acquired by the exceptional route are set out in Article 12 of the Turkish Citizenship Act No. 5901. Persons falling within the groups defined in that article may become Turkish citizens by decision of the President; an application made through the exceptional route by those falling outside those definitions is unsuccessful.
Those groups may be listed as follows:
- Persons whose admission to citizenship is considered necessary,
- Those accepted by the Ministry as having immigrant status,
- Foreign nationals holding a Turquoise Card, together with their foreign spouses and their own or their spouses’ dependent or non-adult children,
- Those making an investment of the scope and amount determined by the President, together with their foreign spouses and their own and their spouses’ non-adult or dependent foreign children,
- Persons who bring an industrial facility to Türkiye, or who have rendered or are foreseen to render extraordinary service in the scientific, technological, economic, social, sporting, cultural or artistic fields, and who are made the subject of a reasoned proposal by the relevant ministries.
Applications made without falling within any of these categories are not granted. Furthermore, a refusal decision is also given in respect of applicants who, although falling within one of the categories, present a circumstance giving rise to an objection in terms of national security or public order.
The details of the criteria listed may be found in the notes titled “Turkish citizenship through investment” and “Turkish citizenship by purchasing real estate for USD 400,000”.
Grounds of Refusal in Reacquisition Without a Residence Requirement
The reacquisition of citizenship without a residence requirement is regulated in Article 13 of the Act. Only two groups may benefit from this route:
- Those who lost Turkish citizenship as a dependant of their mother or father and who did not request transfer to citizenship within 3 years of attaining full age,
- Those who left Turkish citizenship by way of a permission to renounce.
The applications of foreign nationals who make a request without falling within these two groups are not granted. The existence of a circumstance constituting an impediment in terms of national security or public order produces the same result.
For an extended assessment of the subject, the note titled “the return of Blue Card holders to Turkish citizenship” may be consulted.
Grounds of Refusal in Reacquisition Subject to a Residence Requirement
Article 14 of the Act governs the reacquisition of citizenship subject to a residence requirement. Two possibilities are provided for within the scope of that article:
- Those who left citizenship as a dependant of their mother and father by exercising the right of option may regain citizenship by decision of the Ministry of the Interior, provided that they reside in Türkiye for 3 years.
- Those whose citizenship has been forfeited by decision of the President pursuant to Art. 29 of the Turkish Citizenship Act No. 5901 may again become Turkish citizens by decision of the President, on condition that they reside in Türkiye for 3 years.
Applications made without belonging to one of these two groups are refused. The requests of persons who present a problem in terms of national security and public order meet the same fate.
Grounds of Refusal in Acquisition Through Marriage
The conditions for acquiring citizenship on the basis of marriage are laid down in Article 16 of the Turkish Citizenship Act No. 5901. The failure of any one of the conditions to materialise leads to the refusal of the application. The matters required are as follows:
- Not engaging in any activity incompatible with the union of marriage,
- The spouses continuing to live within the union of marriage,
- Having been married to a Turkish citizen for 3 years, and the marriage still subsisting.
Alongside these conditions, the existence of a circumstance on the applicant’s part giving rise to a problem in terms of national security or public order is also relied on as a basis for a negative decision. The subject is addressed in all its detail in the note titled “becoming a Turkish citizen through marriage”.
Grounds of Refusal in Acquisition Through Adoption
A person who is not of full age and who is adopted by a Turkish citizen is afforded the opportunity to acquire citizenship. Whether that opportunity may be used depends on the absence of any circumstance constituting an impediment in terms of national security and public order.
Accordingly, where the adopted person is of full age, or where their acquisition of citizenship gives rise to an objection in terms of security, the application is unsuccessful.
As will be seen, the conditions, the procedure to be followed and the grounds of refusal vary according to the legal basis on which the application rests. Following current amendments to the legislation closely is decisive for framing the process correctly. In order to avoid a loss of rights, it is advisable to obtain support from a lawyer experienced in the field.
The Administrative Objection Route Against a Refusal Decision
An applicant who receives a negative decision may object to that decision. The objection is addressed to the Directorate General of Civil Registration and Citizenship Affairs. The period allowed for the objection is 60 days, running from the day following the day on which the decision was notified to the person. The period within which the Directorate General must determine the objection is 30 days.
The Directorate General reaches a conclusion by assessing whether the objection put forward is well founded. Three different situations may arise following that assessment:
- The request is found to be well founded and the objection is upheld.
- The request is not found to be well founded and the objection is dismissed.
- For 30 days no reply of any kind is given; that silence means that the objection has been dismissed.
Where no positive outcome is obtained from the administrative objection, the possibility arises of bringing the dispute before the administrative court.
The Action for Annulment to Be Brought Before the Administrative Court
A person whose citizenship request has been refused may bring an action for annulment directly before the administrative court. It is not necessary to object to the administration before bringing the action; the applicant may, if they wish, pass over the objection stage and proceed to litigation, or may object first and bring an action if no result is obtained there.
The action is brought by way of a petition, and the Ministry of the Interior is shown as the respondent party. The petition must explain in concrete terms the respects in which the refusal is contrary to law; the evidence, information and documents supporting those assertions must be annexed to the petition.
The period for bringing the action is 60 days from the day following the notification of the refusal decision to the foreign national. If an objection is made to the administration while that period is running, the period for bringing the action is suspended. Where the objection is dismissed, or where the administration gives no reply, the period begins to run again from the point at which it was suspended.
It is helpful to make this mechanism concrete. Suppose that an objection is made to the administration on the 18th day of the 60-day period; at that moment the period for bringing the action is suspended. If the administration dismisses the objection, or remains silent for 30 days, the remaining 42 days begin to run again, and the action for annulment may be brought within those 42 days.
Where the court of first instance dismisses the action, the appeal route may be used. A foreign national whose request is not granted may apply to the regional administrative court within 30 days of notification of the decision. Where the appeal is also dismissed, there is no possibility of an appeal on points of law before the Council of State.
Determining the Court with Subject-Matter and Territorial Jurisdiction
In these disputes, subject-matter and territorial jurisdiction lie with the Ankara administrative courts. Bringing the action before a court lacking territorial jurisdiction not only gives rise to additional cost but also causes a serious loss of time. For that reason, the court must be identified correctly when the statement of claim is prepared.
Making a Fresh Application After a Refusal Decision
There is no impediment to making a fresh application after a negative decision. However, whether the new application can be meaningful depends on the shortcoming on which the first refusal was based having been remedied; otherwise the second request will likewise not be granted, on the same ground.
The applicant may also have the possibility of acquiring citizenship by a legal route different from the one first attempted. The note titled “how to obtain Turkish citizenship”, in which all the possibilities permitting the acquisition of citizenship are assessed together, may be instructive in this respect.
NOTE: It is not necessary for an action to have been brought previously in order to make a fresh application. A person whose action for annulment has been dismissed also has the right to make a new application. In some files, completing the shortcoming and applying again, rather than resorting to litigation, both produces a result within a shorter time and increases the likelihood of a positive outcome.
Remedies Against the Refusal of a Request to Renounce Citizenship
A request to renounce Turkish citizenship is refused where there is no credible indication that the person will acquire the citizenship of another State. In addition, the administrative process not being conducted in accordance with the proper procedure, or the existence of shortcomings in the documents submitted, also forms a basis for a negative decision.
Both the objection route and the action for annulment may be pursued against the refusal of a request to renounce. The procedure and operation of those routes do not differ from the principles explained above. Extended explanations on the subject are contained in the note titled “renunciation of Turkish citizenship”.
Remedies Against a Decision Annulling Citizenship
A person whose citizenship has been annulled may likewise use the routes of objection and of an action for annulment against that act. The process to be followed is subject to the principles applicable to the refusal of a citizenship application. Those who consider that their citizenship has been brought to an end contrary to law may benefit from these possibilities.
The annulment of citizenship may rest on many different grounds. Details of the circumstances in which this route is taken are examined in the note titled “annulment of Turkish citizenship”.
Independent Legal Assessment
In the processes conducted against citizenship refusal decisions, the factor determining success is, more often than the technical quality of the statement of claim, the correct reading of the ground of refusal. A refusal resting on a national security assessment and a refusal arising from a missing document require entirely different strategies. In the first, the limits of the administration’s discretionary power are in issue, whereas in the second it is frequently quicker to complete the shortcoming and apply again.
Moreover, the suspension of the 60-day period upon objection and its resumption thereafter is the point at which loss of rights most frequently occurs in practice. Where the day on which the objection was made, and the date on which the administration’s 30-day period expires, are not followed meticulously, the right to bring an action may be exhausted without being noticed.
When a road map is drawn up in a concrete file, the following headings should be addressed as a matter of priority:
- Documenting the date of notification of the refusal decision and calculating the 60-day period day by day
- Extracting clearly from the notification documents the statutory condition on which the refusal was based
- Weighing from the outset whether use of the objection route will add value to the file
- Not overlooking that the action is to be brought before the Ankara administrative courts
- Taking into account the 30-day period allowed for appeal and the fact that the route of appeal on points of law is closed
- Assessing in advance those cases in which a fresh application is more advantageous than litigation
Independent Legal provides advisory services and conducts litigation in the field of the law on foreigners, from the preparation of citizenship applications through to the objection and annulment proceedings to be pursued against refusal decisions.