UK Medical Bills and Turkish SGK Reimbursement
Which UK steps apply to hospital reports and invoices for an SGK claim on treatment abroad, and what the quoted texts leave open.
For an SGK claim on treatment received in the UK, the documents you need to prepare are the reports and invoices issued by the UK hospital or clinic. The UK guidance quoted here does not name medical reports or invoices. Its route for other documents is certification by a UK public official, such as a UK notary or solicitor, followed by legalisation at the Legalisation Office (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office).
On the Turkish side, SGK may ask for documents and reports from a foreign health provider to be translated and approved by the Turkish mission, and it may also accept translations made by authorised translators. The SGK texts quoted here do not mention an apostille, and the health board report and other treatment documents go to the relevant provincial social security directorate (sosyal güvenlik il müdürlüğü).
Preparing a UK medical document for legalisation
Where a certified copy is used for legalisation, a UK notary must make it. The UK guidance says a certified copy of a UK document needed for legalisation must be made by a notary based in the UK. The notary certifies first; the Legalisation Office legalises the certified document after that.
You apply online, for either a paper-based apostille or an e-Apostille. For an e-Apostille, you upload PDF files that have been electronically signed by a UK notary or solicitor. The documents excluded from the e-Apostille are General Register Office documents, ACRO, DBS and disclosure certificates, fingerprint certificates and ACCA membership certificates. Medical documents are not on that list.
The guidance also lists documents issued by a government department and signed by an official, and court documents sealed with a wet ink court seal. Whether a report or invoice from a public hospital counts as a government department document is not settled by the quoted text. Confirm this with the Legalisation Office before you choose between that route and certification by a notary or solicitor.
What the texts leave open
The quoted texts do not say whether SGK expects an apostille on UK medical documents or approval by the Turkish mission instead. Confirm this with the provincial social security directorate handling your file. The texts also do not state whether a social security agreement covering health benefits exists between Türkiye and the UK. SGK's regulation says that, without such an agreement, health costs during a stay abroad other than an official assignment are not paid by SGK. Confirm the position with SGK.
Our office translates UK reports and invoices into Turkish in Türkiye, by translators sworn before a Turkish notary. SGK decides whether it accepts the documents and the translation.