Marriage to a Turkish citizen is one of the routes through which a foreign spouse may acquire citizenship. It is not, however, an automatic acquisition attached to the mere existence of a marriage; the Turkish Citizenship Act No. 5901 requires a series of additional conditions alongside the marriage itself.
The most common misconception in practice is to treat the date of the marriage as decisive on its own. In reality, the administration examines separately the nature of the marriage, whether the spouses in fact live together, and whether the foreign national presents any impediment in terms of security. The documents on which the file is built and the way the interview stage is handled are factors that bear directly on the outcome.
In this briefing note we address, in practical terms, the conditions required for a citizenship application based on marriage, the authorities to which the application is made, the documents to be included in the file, the chain of examination that applies to applications made within Türkiye and from abroad, how long the process takes, and the legal remedies available in the event of an adverse decision.
Conditions Required for the Application
Article 16 of the Turkish Citizenship Act No. 5901 lays down five separate conditions for applications based on marriage. The first of these is that the marriage must have completed three years. To this are added the requirements that the marriage rest on a genuine intention to found a family, that the spouses live within a family union, that conduct incompatible with the marital union be avoided, and that there be no impediment concerning the foreign national in terms of national security and public order.
Even where all of these conditions are satisfied, citizenship does not arise of its own accord. The foreign national must make an application in due form, and that request must be determined favourably by the competent authorities. We examine each condition under a separate heading below.
A Marriage Subsisting for at Least Three Years
The first element required is that the parties have been married for at least three years. The spouse of the applicant foreign national must be a Turkish citizen; it is, by contrast, immaterial whether that spouse acquired citizenship by birth or subsequently.
Nor is it necessary for this three-year period to have been spent within the borders of Türkiye. The couple may have lived in Türkiye or abroad during that period; the Act imposes no residence condition in this respect.
The point that truly requires attention is a different one: the marriage must be legally subsisting at the moment the request is submitted. A marriage that has exceeded three uninterrupted years but has come to an end before the application through divorce or death is not regarded as satisfying this condition. Where, on the other hand, one of the spouses dies after the application has been filed, the request retains its validity.
A Genuine and Legally Valid Marriage
The most decisive element of this type of application is the genuineness of the marriage. Unions constructed solely for the purpose of obtaining citizenship are uncovered in the investigations and interviews conducted by the competent authorities, and the request is refused on that ground.
Applications resting on marriages that carry no intention to found a family, or that are fraudulent or a marriage of convenience, are not accepted. Moreover, a restriction code is entered against foreign nationals who act in this way and a five-year entry ban is applied. The details of this subject are addressed in our note titled “V-70 restriction code”.
As to validity, the marriage must be recognised under Turkish law. Persons living together following a religious ceremony or cultural rites are not regarded as married for the purposes of Turkish law; such a union cannot therefore form the basis of a citizenship request.
Where the marriage was contracted abroad, notification must be given to the Turkish consulate in the country in which the union took place. Alternatively, the marriage certificate obtained from the foreign authorities may be registered in Türkiye. The details of these procedures are set out in our note titled “marriage procedures with a foreign national”.
Spouses Living Within a Family Union
A further element required by the Act is that the spouses in fact live within a family union. This condition serves to demonstrate that the marriage is not a structure established in form only for the purpose of citizenship.
The fact that the spouses are resident at separate addresses during certain periods does not, on its own, lead to the conclusion that the marriage is a sham. The competent authorities carry out a comprehensive screening and investigation at this point. The position may be proved by a joint lease agreement, a title deed record relating to immovable property acquired jointly, official records establishing residence at the same address, and similar documents.
NOTE: Where the Turkish citizen spouse dies after the application, the request retains its validity; in that event the condition of living within a family union is not separately required.
Avoiding Conduct Incompatible with the Marital Union
In assessing the application, the administration also examines whether the spouses have engaged in any activity incompatible with the marital union. Where circumstances constituting grounds for divorce — such as prostitution, procuring, or open extramarital relationships — have occurred while the marriage was subsisting, the citizenship request will be determined adversely.
NOTE: Where conduct of this nature belongs to the period preceding the marriage, it has no effect on the application. What is decisive is that the acts in question did not take place during the marriage; otherwise the request is refused.
No Impediment in Terms of National Security and Public Order
The final condition is that the applicant foreign national must not present an objection in terms of national security and public order. This matter is determined by the archive research conducted in respect of the person.
Under the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Act, the application is refused if the examination carried out by the relevant institutions reveals any of the following:
- Taking part in arms or narcotics trafficking, in migrant smuggling or in human trafficking; or being in contact with those who carry out such activities,
- Participating in offences in the nature of espionage, insurrection and treason,
- Carrying out activities aimed at abolishing the constitutional order of the State, entering into cooperation with those who pursue such activities, or providing them with material support,
- Engaging, whether within the country or abroad, in activities connected with offences falling within the scope of the Anti-Terror Act No. 3713 against the indivisible integrity of the country and the nation.
Beyond those listed above, it may also be concluded on other grounds that the foreign spouse presents an impediment in terms of national security or public order. The competent authorities are afforded a discretionary power as to which circumstances are to be assessed within this framework.
The absence of any one of the conditions listed results in the refusal of the application. That said, if the foreign national satisfies the requirements of one of the other routes to citizenship provided for by the Act, a request may be made by that route. All the modes of acquisition regulated in the Act are assessed together in our note titled “how to obtain Turkish citizenship”.
Where and How Is the Application Made?
Where the request is to be submitted from Türkiye, it is filed by presenting the necessary documents to the provincial civil registry directorate attached to the governorship of the place where the foreign national is located; where it is to be submitted from abroad, it is filed with the Turkish missions abroad.
The application may be made in person, and it may equally be conducted through a lawyer by means of a special power of attorney. On behalf of persons who are minors or who lack the capacity of discernment, the parent or guardian acts.
Under recent arrangements, a preliminary application may be made through e-Devlet for applications to be submitted from Türkiye, using the foreign identity number beginning with 99. The preliminary application allows the process to be shortened by reducing delays arising from data entry and from supplementary documents being requested at a later stage.
Documents Required for the Application
The documents to be submitted to the provincial civil registry directorates have been determined in advance. Depending on the personal circumstances of the foreign national, the competent authorities may also request supplementary documents. The documents expected to be in the file are generally as follows:
- The application form relating to the acquisition of Turkish citizenship through marriage (form Vat-6, published on the website of the Directorate General of Civil Registration and Citizenship Affairs),
- Two biometric photographs of the applicant foreign national,
- A passport or a document in lieu of a passport establishing nationality,
- A document showing all of the foreign national’s civil registry particulars,
- A valid residence permit document, if the applicant resides in Türkiye,
- A certified copy of any court judgment rendered against the foreign national on account of an offence,
- Where the month and day are missing from the date of birth, a document to be obtained from the competent authorities of the country of nationality in order to complete the date; if that document cannot be provided, a signed declaration confirming acceptance that the matter be dealt with under Article 39 of the Civil Registration Services Act No. 5490,
- A receipt showing that the fee and the service charge have been paid.
Part of this documentation must be obtained from authorities abroad. Documents originating from a foreign country, such as the passport, the civil registry record and the copy of a court judgment, are required to be notarised and translated into Turkish.
Where the documents cannot be completed in due form, the file cannot proceed. Since this situation may lead both to loss of time and to an adverse outcome, it is appropriate for the process to be conducted with the assistance of a lawyer experienced in the field of immigration law.
NOTE: Where the foreign national making the citizenship request has received a sentence of more than 6 months for any offence, the application will be refused. Offences committed negligently are left outside this assessment.
Stages of the Application Process
The chain of examination operates differently according to whether the request is submitted from Türkiye or from abroad. In both cases the assessment begins once the information and documents reach the relevant authority.
The administrative unit to which the application is made first examines whether the conditions are satisfied. If a deficiency is identified, the request is refused; if the assessment is favourable, a citizenship file is created in the name of the foreign national and forwarded to the Ministry. The stages are set out in detail below.
Procedure for Applications Made in Türkiye
Applications made within the country are completed by the delivery of the necessary information and documents, in full, to the provincial civil registry directorate. From that moment, the assessment by the competent authorities comes into play.
If a document is found to be missing, the applicant is notified and asked to complete the file. The file is then transferred to the provincial police directorate so that the necessary research may be carried out.
The provincial police directorate investigates whether the foreign national constitutes a threat in terms of public order and security, whether a family union has in fact been established between the spouses, and whether there is conduct incompatible with the marital union, such as prostitution.
In order to establish whether there is any objection in terms of national security and public order, archive screening is requested from the General Directorate of Security and the National Intelligence Organisation.
Once the investigation is complete, a report is drawn up concerning the foreign national and the file is returned to the civil registry directorate.
The Citizenship Examination and Research Commission, which comes into play at this stage, reviews the file and assesses the available data. The Commission also conducts an interview in order to test the genuineness of the marriage; the applicant and the spouse are heard both separately and together. Following the interviews, the assessment reports drawn up in respect of the spouses are placed in the file.
The file, having completed the Commission stage, is finally sent to the Ministry. If the Ministry’s assessment is favourable, the foreign national acquires Turkish citizenship.
Procedure for Applications Made from Abroad
Foreign nationals abroad submit their request to the Turkish mission in the country in which they are located. The assessment begins once the information and documents have been submitted to the relevant authority.
In this process the vice-consul responsible for consular procedures, or a more senior official, interviews the foreign national and the spouse first separately and then together. The interview explores whether the marriage rests on a genuine family union, and the favourable or adverse conclusion reached is recorded on the interview form.
At the next step, a criminal record is requested from the competent authorities of the country in which the foreign national is located. Likewise, it is investigated whether the marriage to the Turkish citizen spouse appears in the official records; the information and documents obtained are added to the file and sent to the Ministry for a decision. The final decision is taken by the Ministry.
Whether made within the country or from abroad, close monitoring of the process is of great importance. Since a deficiency arising in the procedural steps, in the documents or in the conditions may lead to a loss of both time and expense, it is advisable to obtain the opinion of a lawyer specialised in the field before taking any step.
How Long the Process Takes
Citizenship applications based on marriage are determined on average within 8-10 months.
Where the documents are prepared in full from the outset, no situation giving rise to suspicion emerges in the Commission interviews, and the file is followed up meticulously, the process is also seen to be completed in a shorter period.
Annulment of the Citizenship Acquired
Citizenship obtained through marriage may be withdrawn in certain circumstances. In particular, where it subsequently emerges that a false declaration was made or a forged document submitted during the application, the result is annulment.
The authority to take the annulment decision is determined according to the body to which the application was made at the material time. The Ministry of Interior conducts research into the foreign national accordingly and reaches a decision on annulment.
A foreign national whose citizenship is annulled on various grounds has legal remedies available; the person concerned may object to that decision and may equally bring an action for annulment. The details of this subject are examined in our note titled “annulment of Turkish citizenship”.
Objection and Action for Annulment Against a Refusal Decision
Citizenship requests through marriage may be refused on grounds such as failure to satisfy the required conditions, a deficiency in the documents submitted, failure to remedy that deficiency within the period allowed by the administration, or an adverse outcome of the interviews. In the event of refusal, the decision is served on the foreign national or on their representative.
Two routes are open against an adverse decision: an objection may be lodged with the competent authority, or an action for annulment may be brought before the administrative court. The period provided for both routes is 60 days running from the day following service of the refusal decision.
It is possible to bring an action for annulment directly, and it may equally be preferred to apply to the administration at the first stage and attempt the objection route. In both cases the request is asserted by way of a petition.
The grounds for refusal, the points to be observed in the legal remedies available against the decision, the time limits and other headings relating to the subject are explained in detail in our note titled “refusal of a Turkish citizenship application”.
Conclusion
Citizenship requests based on marriage are among the matters that the administration subjects to a lengthy and multi-stage review. Applications of this kind may be seen to be completed after a long wait, and at times to be determined adversely. In order to avoid encountering similar difficulties, it is important that the process be structured correctly from the outset.
Independent Legal Assessment
Although citizenship files based on marriage may appear to be a technical documentary exercise, they are in essence a matter of proof. The principal element reviewed by the administration is not the existence of the marriage but whether a family union has in fact been established. For that reason, supporting the file with records that concretely demonstrate the spouses’ shared life throughout the three-year period reduces from the outset any doubts that may arise at the interview stage.
A further critical dimension of the process is acting in good time against the possibility of an adverse decision. Once the sixty-day period is missed, the route to court is closed; correctly establishing the date of service is therefore decisive. In determining the road map in a particular file, the following headings stand out in particular:
- Demonstrating by documentary evidence that the three-year period had been completed as at the date of application and that the marriage is still subsisting,
- Compiling evidence of joint residence, the lease agreement, the title deed record and the like before the application,
- Ensuring that marriages contracted abroad have been placed on record for the purposes of Turkish law by consular notification or registration,
- Ensuring that documents to be obtained from a foreign country satisfy the requirements of notarisation and translation into Turkish,
- Assessing in advance any convictions appearing on the criminal record in terms of their length and the nature of the offence,
- Diarising the sixty-day period running from service of the refusal decision.
Independent Legal provides advisory services and litigation representation in the field of immigration law, from the preparation of citizenship applications through to objection and annulment proceedings pursued against refusal decisions.