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Using Foreign Documents in Türkiye: Guides by Procedure

Which Turkish authority receives your foreign documents for marriage, registration, citizenship, work, company, inheritance, recognition and diplomas.

Our country and state pages answer one question: who issues the apostille on a foreign document. These guides answer the other one: which Turkish office receives the document, and what it asks for.

The receiving office decides

Each procedure has its own office and its own rules. A foreign national marries at a marriage office, which asks for a properly certified certificate of no impediment. Births and marriages of Turkish citizens abroad are registered through the Turkish mission or a civil registry directorate. Citizenship applications go to the governorship or a Turkish mission, work permits to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, branch registrations to the trade registry office. Certificates of inheritance come from the civil court of peace or a notary, foreign judgments need a Turkish court or, for divorces, the civil registry, and diplomas go to the Council of Higher Education or the Ministry of National Education.

What most of them have in common

The rules differ in detail, but a pattern runs through the official texts: a foreign document is accepted with a certification from the issuing state, either an apostille or a consular certification depending on the procedure, together with a Turkish translation that is usually notarised. Some offices add their own requirements, such as finality stamps, recent issue dates or certified copies made by a Turkish notary.

Choose the procedure that fits your case to see the office, the documents and the official sources. The sworn Turkish translation is made in Ankara, and the receiving office decides whether a document is accepted.

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