Turkish Citizenship Application Forms: Which Form for Which Route

Published: 29 October 2026 · Reading time about 8 minutes

In a citizenship application the first choice is not collecting documents but choosing the right form. Each route of acquisition has its own application form, and the form determines which legal route the file will be assessed through. The wrong form leads to the application not being accepted, even where the documents are complete.

This article explains which numbered form is used on which route, where the numbering comes from, and where and how the form is submitted. It also separates the two numbers that are often confused.

Where the numbering comes from

The Regulation refers to the first document required on application with the same wording in every article: a form petition stating the request. No number such as VAT‑3 or VAT‑6 appears in the text of the legislation. The numbers are given in the series in which the Directorate General prints these form petitions. The practical result is this: a number can be updated without the legislation changing at all, so the current version of the form should be confirmed from the relevant directorate before the application.

Form numbers by route

The numbers below have been confirmed from the official form files published by the Directorate General.

Acquisition by the general route: VAT‑3

This is the classic route, resting on the five-year residence condition. The application authority and the procedure are also explained in the annex to this form. The applicant has to meet each of the residence, subsistence and general health conditions for themselves; the form is where these conditions are declared.

Acquisition through marriage: VAT‑6

This is the route for a foreign national who has been married to a Turkish citizen for at least three years and whose marriage is subsisting. The form is submitted together with the spouse's civil registry record and contains a declaration that the couple live within the family unit.

A frequent mistake: thinking this form is VAT‑2

There is a great deal of content on the internet showing VAT‑2 as the form for an application through marriage. That is not correct.

What VAT‑2 is actually for

VAT‑2 is the form for an application to acquire Turkish citizenship on the basis of place of birth. It concerns a person who was born in Türkiye but could not acquire the citizenship of any state at birth through their mother and father. It has nothing to do with marriage. Confusing the two forms is one of the commonest reasons for people turning up to an appointment with the wrong paperwork.

Acquisition by exception: VAT‑4

This is the form for acquisition by decision of the President on grounds such as investment or the national interest. No residence condition is required on this route, but additional documents such as the suitability certificate make up the real weight of the file.

Reacquisition: VAT‑5

This is the route for those who were previously Turkish citizens and lost that citizenship. Those who left with a permission to renounce and those whose citizenship was withdrawn by the administration apply with the same form; whether a residence condition is required varies according to the reason for the loss.

Acquisition through adoption: VAT‑7

The acquisition of citizenship by a minor adopted by a Turkish citizen is requested with this form. The Regulation provides that, in this application, the form is to state the request of the adopter; in other words, the person who completes and signs the form is the adopter, not the minor.

Nationals of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus: VAT‑11

There is a separate form series number for applications by nationals of the TRNC. The conditions and the documents required on this route differ from the general route, so a file completed with VAT‑3 is not accepted.

Numbers that could not be confirmed

The series covers more than eleven forms. Here we have written down only the numbers we have verified from the official form file. We have not produced content for numbers for which we have no official counterpart; writing a number from guesswork would mean sending the reader to the wrong appointment.

Where and how the form is submitted

Choosing the right form is not enough on its own; the procedure for submitting it is also regulated in binding terms in the Regulation.

The application authority

The application is made inside the country to the provincial governor's office of the place of settlement, and abroad to a diplomatic mission. An application made to a governor's office other than that of the place of settlement is not accepted. In practice the unit that takes the file is the provincial directorate of civil registry and citizenship.

The rule of applying in person

The Regulation provides that the application is to be made in person or by a special power of attorney relating to the exercise of this right. The criterion here is not the existence of a power of attorney but its scope: a general power of attorney is not deemed sufficient for this purpose, and the power of attorney has to cover the right to make a citizenship application expressly.

Application by post

Applications made by post are not accepted. The signed original of the form has to reach the receiving authority physically; scanning and sending it does not give rise to an application.

Where mistakes are made in completing the form

The form itself is a short text, but two of the fields in it determine the fate of the file.

The spelling of the first name and surname

The first name and surname on the form have to be exactly the same as the spelling in the passport and in the civil registry extract. With records not in the Latin alphabet, this match does not come about by itself; if the letter chosen in the translation is different, the two documents end up not showing the same person. This is the commonest technical reason for files coming back at the application stage.

Address and notification

The decision comes out months later, and notification is made to the address written on the form. Where applicants who move during that time do not notify the change of address, the time limit for objecting to a refusal decision passes without their knowing.

Is there an online application?

A citizenship application cannot be made online; the signed original of the form is submitted to the receiving authority. The online service is not an application but an enquiry into the stage a file that has been opened has reached. If you want to follow the stage your file is at, we have dealt with that step in a separate article.

If the form is right but the file is incomplete

If a document turns out to be missing in a file opened with the right form, the application is not refused; time is given to complete it. Form selection and the document list are therefore two separate matters, and both have to be prepared with the same care. We have listed which documents are required on which route, and which of them need translation, in a separate article.

We determine together which route your file will be opened through and prepare the form and the document list accordingly. The initial consultation is free of charge; at the end of the meeting we give you the document list and the fee in writing.