Turkish Citizenship Consultancy

The acquisition of Turkish citizenship is regulated by Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901 and its implementing regulation. Citizenship may be acquired by decision of the competent authority through the general application route, through marriage to a Turkish citizen, under exceptional circumstances such as the acquisition of immovable property or a capital investment, or through special routes such as adoption and the right of option.

The road to citizenship usually runs through a long-term residence permit or through marriage; certified and apostilled translations of civil status and criminal records issued abroad also go into the file. Pages directly connected to this process: residence permit consultancy, official marriage procedures with foreign nationals, apostille and consular certification and notarised translation.

Each route has its own timeframe, documents and examination process; applications are most often prolonged by missing documents, apostille and translation errors, or a mistaken reading of the conditions. At BKT we determine which route is viable for you, handle the apostille and sworn translation of documents originating abroad, and follow your case through to the outcome.

Citizenship matters are followed from start to finish: we assess the conditions for acquiring Turkish citizenship against your own file and decide together which route to take.

How and where is the application made?

If you are in Türkiye, the application is made by appointment to the Provincial Directorate of Civil Registry and Citizenship of the province where you live. If you are abroad, it proceeds through the Turkish consulate in the country you are in. The application may be made in person or by power of attorney; an appointment attended with incomplete paperwork usually has to be rebooked, so the file is completed before the appointment.

1. 1. Assessment of your position — the initial consultation is free of charge

   We discuss how long you have been resident, your marital status and, if you have an investment, what type it is; we determine which route you should apply through. This meeting can be held even if your documents are not ready.

2. 2. A written road map, the fee and the timescale

   Which documents are to be obtained from where, the estimated time and the total fee are given in writing. No surprise costs arise; you know what you are agreeing to before we start.

3. 3. File preparation and the appointment

   Documents from inside and outside the country are collected, the necessary certifications are completed and the appointment is booked. On the day of the appointment the file is complete.

4. 4. Follow-up and outcome

   The stages of examination after the application are followed up, and we let you know if an additional document is requested. Your file is assigned to one person responsible; you speak to the same person at every stage.

You do not need to have documents in hand to start. It is enough to tell us about your situation: 0536 089 76 94 or a WhatsApp.

How much does a citizenship application cost?

There is no single price, because the budget consists of four separate groups, and three of them are paid not to us but to third parties. To be transparent, we explain them group by group:

• 1. The official application fee — paid to the State. It is updated every year, varies according to the route of application and is per person; if you are applying at the same time as your spouse, it arises separately for each applicant. It is paid before the file is submitted and is not refunded even if the application is refused — it is the price of the examination, not of the decision.
• 2. Obtaining documents from abroad — paid to the institutions of your own country. The most unpredictable item in the file. The charges for birth, civil registry, marriage and, where applicable, divorce records, the cost of obtaining them through a representative, courier charges, and obtaining a document again if it is required to bear a recent date. In a good many files this comes to more than the official application fee and it is the item most often overlooked.
• 3. The certification and approval chain — paid per document. The apostille (if the country is party to the Hague Convention), otherwise consular certification, and notarisation where required; if the document is not in Turkish, one further preparatory step. The critical point: the chain works per document, not per file. If you have seven documents, each link is paid for seven times — what makes the total large is not the price of a document but the number of documents.
• 4. Costs that continue throughout the process. The fact that the application is ongoing does not remove the obligation to maintain your existing status: residence permit renewals, health insurance for foreign nationals and obtaining a requested document again all recur as the process lengthens.
• Our consultancy fee is separate from these four. It is set according to the route you proceed by and the number of documents. The initial consultation is free of charge; at the end of the meeting we give you the estimated total of the four groups and our own fee in writing . No surprise costs arise later.

We do not give figures, because the official charges are updated every year; working with last year's figure would be misleading. The item-by-item breakdown is in our article on the costs of a Turkish citizenship application ; we tell you the exact amount for your own file at the initial consultation. Do not rely on package prices offered with a promise of a guarantee — the citizenship decision is an administrative decision.

Who is it for?

• Foreign nationals wishing to apply through investment by acquiring immovable property of the amount stipulated by law
• Those assessed under exceptional citizenship through fixed capital investment, bank deposits or job creation
• Foreign nationals who have been married to a Turkish citizen for at least three years and whose marriage is continuing
• Foreign nationals who have resided in Türkiye for five uninterrupted years and meet the conditions of the general application route
• Those who will apply for a blue card, the right of option or reacquisition of citizenship
• Those whose application has been refused and who wish to have their case reassessed

Required documents

The list below is for a typical case. Additional documents may be requested depending on your nationality, the type of application and the practice of the relevant authority; the definitive list is given to you in writing at the initial consultation.

• Passport and, if available, residence permit document
• Birth certificate or civil registry extract; document showing marital status
• Apostille certification or consular attestation for documents issued by foreign authorities
• Sworn translation and notarisation of all foreign-language documents
• For the investment route, the certificate of conformity and title deed records
• For the marriage route, the marriage certificate and a declaration of living together as a family unit
• Criminal record certificate and medical report (where these are requested)

The process step by step

1. 1

   Identifying the route

   Your situation is assessed in terms of which citizenship route is viable, and a realistic timetable is drawn up.

2. 2

   Obtaining documents from abroad

   The procurement, apostille certification and sworn translation of documents such as birth, marital status and criminal record certificates are completed.

3. 3

   Conformity and preliminary steps

   On the investment route the certificate of conformity process is handled, and on the marriage route preparation for the family unit examination is carried out.

4. 4

   Application

   The file is submitted to the relevant provincial directorate or diplomatic mission; follow-up begins through the application number.

5. 5

   Examination and outcome

   The interview, investigation and examination stages are followed; after the decision, guidance is provided on the civil registry procedures.

Routes to Turkish citizenship

The routes to Turkish citizenship are each regulated separately in Law No. 5901 on Turkish Citizenship, and they are not interchangeable. Each route has its own condition, its own document list and its own review process; the three routes below cover almost every file that reaches our office.

Application by the general route

The conditions for a Turkish citizenship application by the general route are listed in Article 11 of the law. The core condition of that article is to have resided in Türkiye without interruption for five years, counting back from the date of application. In addition, the applicant must be of age and have the capacity of discernment, confirm the decision to settle in Türkiye through their conduct, have no illness posing a danger to public health, be of good moral character, speak Turkish well enough to take part in social life, have an income or occupation sufficient to support themselves and their dependants, and present no obstacle in terms of national security and public order.

Meeting all of these conditions does not in itself confer a right to citizenship; the administration retains its discretion. Under the second paragraph of the same article, the applicant may also be required to renounce their current citizenship. These are the two points that surprise people most when a file is refused.

Application through marriage

The second route is marriage. Foreign nationals who have been married to a Turkish citizen for at least three years and whose marriage is still subsisting at the time of application may apply by this route. They must also live together as a family, refrain from any activity incompatible with the marital union, and present no obstacle in terms of national security.

Application by the exceptional route and through investment

The third route is exceptional citizenship, granted by decision of the President. Citizenship through investment also rests on one of the subparagraphs of this route. Investment amounts are set not in the law but in the implementing regulation, and they change over time, so we do not publish figures on this page; during the initial consultation we check together the amount currently in force for the type of investment you are planning and give you the result in writing.

What does citizenship work in Türkiye cover?

Citizenship work in Türkiye does not consist of a single application form. Determining the route, obtaining the documents, the apostille and certification chain, sworn translation, making the application, the police investigation, the commission interview and the civil registry procedures after the decision are interdependent steps; a detail skipped in one of them sends the file back at the next stage.

Citizenship consultancy means precisely this chain being run from a single hand: determining which route suits your file, collecting the documents in the right order, settling the spelling of names in a single decision across the whole file, and following the process from beginning to end. Legal representation is a separate specialism; where it is needed we say so clearly.

Our guides below explain these steps in detail:

• Documents required for the application and translation requirements
• What is asked at a citizenship interview and how to prepare?
• Where is my application? Following the process
• The cost items of the application

What are the conditions for Turkish citizenship?

The conditions depend on the route by which you apply. On the general route, five uninterrupted years of residence counting back from the date of application are decisive; on the marriage route, a marriage of at least three years that is still subsisting at the time of application. Both routes require that no obstacle exists in terms of national security and public order. Once we have seen your file, we give you in writing which list of conditions will apply to you.

How long does the application take?

The duration varies according to the application route, the completeness of the file and the volume of examinations. While the process is generally more predictable on the investment route, the examination stage can take longer on the general and marriage routes.

Do you have to be in Türkiye to apply for Turkish citizenship?

Within Türkiye the application is made to the governorate of your place of residence, to the Provincial Directorate of Population and Citizenship. If you are abroad, you may apply to the foreign representations. The application may be made in person or by a special power of attorney covering the exercise of this right.

If my application is refused, can I apply again?

If the grounds for refusal are capable of being remedied, a new application may be filed; recourse to the administrative courts is also possible. Reading those grounds correctly is the most important stage in determining the outcome of a second application.

Common mistakes

• Bringing documents obtained abroad to Türkiye without apostille certification
• Having the translation done by someone other than a sworn translator and skipping notarisation
• Being unprepared to document the requirement of living together as a family unit on the marriage route
• Committing to the investment amount without examining the conditions for the certificate of conformity
• Not realising that breaks in the residence permit disrupt the five-year period