Turkish citizenship is acquired either at birth, including through descent from a Turkish parent, or subsequently through a route such as naturalisation, marriage or exceptional acquisition (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.5). General naturalisation requires five years of qualifying residence (m.11); a marriage application requires at least three years of marriage to a Turkish citizen (m.16). These are eligibility periods, not application processing times. Someone who already acquired Turkish citizenship at birth needs proof and registration rather than naturalisation (m.7).
1. Turkish Citizenship Routes: Which One Applies to You
Turkish citizenship law separates citizenship acquired at birth from citizenship acquired later (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.5). The first question is therefore not which documents to collect but which route applies. Establish whether a parent was Turkish when you were born. If citizenship did not arise at birth, the applicable conditions depend on your residence, your marriage, your former citizenship or your eligibility for exceptional acquisition.
Subsequent acquisition happens by decision of the competent authority, by adoption, or by exercise of the right of option (m.9). The routes below are the competent-authority routes and the birth rules; adoption and the right of option have their own statutory conditions and are not covered here.
The routes are most often confused on three points: the qualifying period, the authority that decides, and whether the outcome is a decision at all rather than a registration. They differ on all three.
| Turkish citizenship route | Qualifying period | Who decides | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Descent from a Turkish parent | none — citizenship exists from birth | no acquisition decision; proof and registration | m.7 |
| Birth in Turkey without any citizenship | none | no acquisition decision; registration | m.8 |
| General naturalisation | five years of uninterrupted residence | Ministry | m.11 |
| Marriage to a Turkish citizen | three years of marriage, still continuing | Ministry | m.16 |
| Exceptional acquisition, including investment | no residence period in the Law | President | m.12 |
| Re-acquisition after renunciation with permission | no residence period | Ministry | m.13 |
| Re-acquisition after withdrawal or loss | three years of residence | President or Ministry, by the loss provision | m.14 |
| Re-acquisition under the repealed citizenship laws | no residence condition | Ministry | m.43 |
| Citizens of the TRNC | written declaration | acquisition on the declaration | m.42 |
Two consequences follow from that table. First, a person who is already a Turkish citizen by descent gains nothing from a naturalisation checklist: their file is a registration file, and the absence of a registry record is not the absence of citizenship. Second, the qualifying period is not a queue. For competent-authority routes, meeting the required conditions does not grant the person an absolute right in the acquisition of Turkish citizenship (m.10). Eligibility to apply and a favourable decision are separate questions, and the decision belongs to the authority named in the last column.
2. Turkish Citizenship Requirements by Naturalisation
Turkish citizenship by general naturalisation requires eight conditions together, not only the residence period. A foreigner must be of age and have capacity to distinguish under their own national law, or under Turkish law if stateless; must have resided in Turkey without interruption for five years counted back from the application date; must confirm by their conduct a decision to settle in Turkey; must not have an illness constituting a danger to public health; must be of good moral character; must speak sufficient Turkish; must have an income or occupation sufficient to provide for themselves and their dependants in Turkey; and must have no circumstance constituting an obstacle in terms of national security and public order (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.11).
Reaching five years therefore does not confer Turkish citizenship. Employment, income and language evidence address separate conditions, and a file that is strong on residence can still fail on one of the others.
2.1. Turkish Citizenship Residence: How the Five Years Are Counted
For a foreigner, residence means residing in Turkey in accordance with Turkish laws. An applicant may be outside Turkey for a total not exceeding twelve months within the residence period required for the application, and periods spent outside Turkey are counted within the residence periods prescribed by the Law (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.15).
The twelve months are a total within the relevant period, not an annual allowance. Entry and exit records and the legal basis of residence must therefore be checked together, and the five years run backwards from the application date (m.11).
2.2. Turkish Citizenship and Student or Tourist Residence
Lawful residence and residence qualifying for Turkish citizenship are not the same thing. Where a person present in Turkey on a ground of residence not accepted for acquiring citizenship subsequently obtains residence on a ground considered valid, the previous periods of residence are also included in the calculation; that provision does not apply to people present on a tourist residence permit (Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik m.71).
A student’s earlier residence therefore has to be assessed together with any later qualifying status, while tourist residence is expressly excluded from the conversion rule. For the underlying permit categories, see residence permit types in Turkey and Turkey work permit requirements.
3. Turkish Citizenship by Marriage
Marriage to a Turkish citizen does not directly confer Turkish citizenship. A foreigner who has been married to a Turkish citizen for at least three years and whose marriage is continuing may apply, and the applicant must live in family unity, must not engage in an activity incompatible with the marriage union, and must have no circumstance constituting an obstacle in terms of national security and public order (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.16).
The three-year period establishes eligibility to apply; it does not promise a decision on the third anniversary. The continuing marriage and the other conditions are examined as part of the application.
For the qualifying date when a spouse became Turkish after the wedding, the residence documents, the separate interviews and the effect of death or annulment, see the Turkish citizenship by marriage guide. The marriage procedure itself, which comes earlier, is explained in getting married in Turkey.
4. Turkish Citizenship by Descent
A child born within the union of marriage to a Turkish mother or father, inside or outside Turkey, is a Turkish citizen. A child born outside the union of marriage to a Turkish mother and a foreign father is a Turkish citizen. A child born outside the union of marriage to a Turkish father and a foreign mother acquires Turkish citizenship when the procedures and principles establishing descent are fulfilled (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.7).
A Turkish grandparent alone is not enough: the intervening parent’s citizenship and the relationship have to be established. Turkish citizenship acquired at birth may still need to be proved and registered later. The Turkish citizenship by descent guide explains grandparent chains, unmarried parents, Blue Card limits, the documents for an unrecorded adult birth abroad, and why proof of citizenship is not tied to any particular form (m.36). It distinguishes missing registration from absence of citizenship.
Birthplace is a separate basis and does not cover every child born in the country. A child born in Turkey who cannot acquire the citizenship of any country at birth by reason of their foreign mother and father is a Turkish citizen from birth, and a child found in Turkey is deemed to have been born in Turkey unless proved otherwise (m.8).
5. Turkish Citizenship by Investment and Exceptional Acquisition
Exceptional acquisition is a separate Turkish citizenship route decided by the President, available to the foreigners listed in the provision and conditional on there being no obstacle in terms of national security and public order (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.12). The listed categories include specified extraordinary services and other exceptional cases; investment amounts and retention conditions are regulated separately in the implementing Regulation.
The detailed requirements are covered in Turkish citizenship by investment. For the underlying transactions, see property acquisition by foreigners in Turkey and company formation in Turkey.
6. Turkish Citizenship After a Loss: The Two Re-acquisition Routes
The re-acquisition route depends on the legal basis of the previous loss, and the two provisions differ on both the residence condition and the deciding authority.
Where there is no obstacle in terms of national security, people who lost Turkish citizenship by obtaining permission to renounce, and those who lost it as dependants of a parent without exercising the right of option in time, may re-acquire citizenship by decision of the Ministry irrespective of any period of residence in Turkey (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.13).
The second route is stricter. Those whose Turkish citizenship was withdrawn under Article 29 may re-acquire it by decision of the President, and those who lost it under Article 34 by decision of the Ministry, provided there is no obstacle in terms of national security and provided they reside in Turkey for three years (m.14).
The former loss decision identifies which provision applies. Articles 13, 14 and 43 have different personal scopes, so a general naturalisation checklist cannot replace examination of that decision.
7. Turkish Citizenship and Ottoman Ancestry
Ottoman ancestry alone does not establish Turkish citizenship through the parentage rule (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.7). A claim has to identify the relevant parent’s Turkish citizenship and the legal relationship between them.
The provision that is often meant instead addresses a different group: people who themselves lost citizenship under the repealed laws. Persons who lost Turkish citizenship under subparagraphs (a), (ç), (d) and (e) of Article 25 of the repealed Turkish Citizenship Law No. 403, and persons who were stripped of citizenship under the repealed Turkish Citizenship Law No. 1312 of 28 May 1928, may on application be re-admitted to Turkish citizenship by decision of the Ministry without a residence condition, provided there is no obstacle in terms of national security; requests from people who have such an obstacle are refused by the Ministry (m.43).
That provision lets the people it identifies apply for themselves. It does not grant their descendants Turkish citizenship on the basis of genealogy alone. The relevant records are therefore the former citizen’s own citizenship and loss decision, together with the family records relied on. Renunciation with permission is addressed separately (m.13 ve m.28).
8. Turkish Citizenship for Citizens of the TRNC
Citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus who apply in order to acquire Turkish citizenship acquire it if they declare in writing that they wish to become Turkish citizens. The provisions of the general naturalisation article apply instead to those who acquired TRNC citizenship subsequently (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.42).
The distinction is how TRNC citizenship itself was acquired. The first paragraph provides for acquisition on the stated application and declaration; the second directs subsequently naturalised TRNC citizens to the general requirements (m.11). The applicant’s citizenship records should therefore establish the basis of TRNC citizenship rather than rely on a current passport alone.
9. Turkish Citizenship and Dual Citizenship: Does Turkey Allow It?
Turkish citizenship can be held together with another nationality: Turkish law recognises multiple citizenship. Where people who acquire the citizenship of a foreign state for any reason produce the documents relating to that situation, and the examination establishes that the entries refer to the same people, an annotation that they hold multiple citizenship is made in their records in the civil family registers (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.44). Two questions sit behind the short answer, and they are answered by different texts: whether a foreigner must give up a nationality to become Turkish, and what a Turkish citizen who takes another nationality has to do.
9.1. Turkish Citizenship by Naturalisation: Is Giving Up Another Nationality Required?
Turkish citizenship by general naturalisation is not conditional, under the Law, on giving up an existing nationality. The conditions the Law lists are age and capacity, five years’ uninterrupted residence, confirming by conduct the decision to settle, having no illness that endangers public health, good morals, speaking sufficient Turkish, having income or a profession to support oneself and dependants, and not constituting an obstacle for national security and public order (m.11/1). Renunciation is not among them.
The implementing Regulation adds a discretionary element that the Law’s list does not show. It provides that, together with those conditions, a condition of leaving the citizenship or citizenships the foreigner holds may also be sought, and that the principles for using that discretion are for the Council of Ministers to determine (Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik m.15/2). The provision allows the condition to be sought; it does not require it of every applicant. An applicant should therefore read the absence of renunciation from the Law as the general position, not as an assurance for every file.
9.2. Turkish Citizens Who Take Another Nationality: Keep It or Leave With Permission
Turkish citizenship and a foreign nationality acquired later are handled through two separate routes, and choosing between them decides whether the person remains Turkish.
| Route | What the Law provides | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Keep Turkish citizenship and record the other | On production of the documents and an identity check, multiple citizenship is annotated in the civil family register | m.44 |
| Leave Turkish citizenship with permission | The Ministry may grant permission or an exit document to a person who is of age and capable, has acquired a foreign citizenship or shows convincing signs of acquiring one, is not wanted for any offence or for military service, and is under no financial or criminal restriction | m.25/1 |
| Validity of the exit permission | The permission document is valid for two years from the decision; the holder must file proof of the foreign citizenship with the governorate or consulate within that time, or the document lapses | m.26/2 |
| After leaving: Blue Card rights | Those who were Turkish by birth and lost citizenship by obtaining exit permission, and their descendants to the third degree, continue to benefit from the rights granted to Turkish citizens, subject to the exceptions in the Article; national security and public order provisions are reserved | m.28/1 |
The permission procedure in Article 25 is a route out of Turkish citizenship. A Turkish citizen who wants to keep it and add another nationality uses the recording route in Article 44 instead. Blue Card rights therefore belong to people who have left Turkish citizenship with permission, not to people holding Turkish citizenship alongside another nationality.
9.3. Turkish Citizenship, Dual Citizenship and the Other Country’s Law
Turkish law settles the Turkish record only. It cannot determine what Turkish naturalisation does under a foreign citizenship law, and some states withdraw their nationality when a further one is acquired. Whether the other nationality can be retained is a question for that country’s law, and it should be checked before the Turkish application is made.
10. Turkish Citizenship Application: Where and How to File
Applications relating to the acquisition and loss of Turkish citizenship are made to the governorship of the place of residence within the country, and abroad to the foreign missions, in person or by a power of attorney relating to the exercise of this right (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.37). Route-specific rules still apply; for general naturalisation the governorship of residence is identified in the implementing Regulation (Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik m.16).
Filing at a consulate does not remove a residence condition attached to the chosen route. Birth registration, marriage applications and general naturalisation are therefore prepared under their own rules.
10.1. Turkish Citizenship Documents by Route
The document list depends on the Turkish citizenship route. General naturalisation, marriage applications and adult birth registration abroad each have their own provision (Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik m.17, m.26 ve m.9). A document needed for one route should not be presented as a universal requirement.
For general naturalisation, the file covers (Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik m.17):
- Identity and nationality: a passport or equivalent document, and a birth certificate or civil registry record. Evidence of statelessness is requested where it can be obtained.
- Civil status and family relationships: the relevant marriage, divorce or spouse’s death document, and family records where applicable. The authority itself obtains registry records for Turkish first- or second-degree relatives where there are such relatives.
- Health: the health report addressing the public-health condition.
- Income or occupation: a work permit, tax registration certificate, undertaking or similar document proving the income or occupation by which the applicant supports themselves and their dependants in Turkey.
- Residence: entry and exit records covering the preceding five years, and a residence permit with enough remaining validity for the citizenship proceedings.
- Other applicable records: a certified final criminal judgment if one exists, evidence or the prescribed declaration where the birth date lacks a day or month, and the service-charge receipt subject to the statutory exemption.
For marriage applications, the provision instead lists the request form, the Turkish spouse’s registry record obtained by the authority, nationality and identity documents, any applicable final criminal judgment, birth-date completion documents where needed, and the service-charge receipt subject to exemption. Where the applicant’s place of residence is in Turkey, the most recent residence permit is expressly required (m.26).
The marriage citizenship guide explains why an address record does not answer that requirement: the provision names the residence permit itself, and failing to produce a requested document is a ground for not accepting the application (m.25).
10.2. Turkish Citizenship Application Stages and the Interview
For general naturalisation the receiving authority first examines eligibility and the file (Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik m.16 ve m.17). A complete file then goes to an investigation covering matters including public order, good moral character, the purpose of residence and absences from the country (m.18).
At the next stage the commission examines the application conditions, spoken Turkish, means of support and adaptation to social life. Following the commission’s examination and investigation, the file of a foreigner found to meet the required conditions is sent by the provincial directorate to the Ministry so that a decision can be taken (m.19).
Marriage applications use a different interview. The foreigner seeking Turkish citizenship and their spouse are interviewed by the commission separately and together, so that it can be examined whether the marriage is genuine or was entered into in order to acquire citizenship (m.29).
10.3. Turkish Citizenship Processing Time and Status Enquiry
The five-year residence and three-year marriage requirements concern eligibility before applying. They are not promises that a submitted Turkish citizenship file will be decided within those periods. The stages above cover document review, investigation, the commission interview and the decision process, and those provisions do not supply a single guaranteed end-to-end processing time (Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik m.17, m.18 ve m.19).
The official NVI citizenship application status service provides an enquiry form using the application number and date of birth. Keep the application reference and the correspondence from the receiving authority. A status enquiry is separate from notification of the final decision (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.41).
10.4. Turkish Citizenship Application Fees
The consideration for the service charge given in relation to the subsequent acquisition of Turkish citizenship is determined jointly by the Ministry and the Ministry of Finance, and the amounts collected are recorded as revenue in the budget. The charge is not taken from people who have no income under Income Tax Law No. 193, or from their non-adult children processed together with them (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.45).
The Law therefore sets the mechanism, not a figure. Confirm the current administrative charge with the receiving authority. An investment threshold is a separate matter from this service charge, and neither should be presented as the price of Turkish citizenship.
11. Turkish Citizenship Refusal: What Happens Next
A Turkish citizenship refusal can be challenged through administrative judicial review. The question is the lawfulness of the refusal, not an automatic entitlement to citizenship once an applicant asserts that the conditions are met, because meeting the required conditions does not grant an absolute right in the acquisition of citizenship (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.10).
Keep the refusal and its notification record. Decisions relating to the acquisition and loss of Turkish citizenship are notified to the person concerned and to the application authorities, while decisions of deprivation given under Article 29 are published in the Official Gazette and are deemed notified on the date of publication (m.41).
That distinction matters before anything else is done: a deprivation decision under Article 29 is not an ordinary application refusal, and it is notified in a different way. Identify which decision you are holding before counting any period from it.
On the marriage route in particular, two separate examinations can each end in a negative answer, and they happen at different stages. The acceptance check at the receiving authority covers the three-year marriage, a marriage that has ended, pending proceedings or detention, and missing documents (Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik m.25). The substantive assessment of family unity and of the national-security and public-order condition comes later, after the investigation and the interview (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.16). The marriage citizenship guide sets both out.
12. Turkish Citizenship Decisions: Withdrawal and Correction
Withdrawal and correction address different defects in a Turkish citizenship decision, and they are not interchangeable.
Decisions relating to the acquisition or loss of Turkish citizenship are withdrawn where it is subsequently understood that they were given without the legal conditions having arisen, or that they were duplicated (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.40). The question under that provision is whether the legal conditions existed when the decision was made, or whether the decision was a duplicate.
Correction is separate. Where it is subsequently understood that there is a material error or omission in a decision taken under the Law, a correction or completion decision is taken by the Directorate General in conformity with its basis (m.39). A correction must follow the basis of the original decision, so it should not be described as a fresh acquisition or as a withdrawal without examining the actual decision and the provision used.
13. Turkish Citizenship and the Turkish Passport: How to Get One
Turkish citizenship comes before the Turkish passport, because the ordinary passport is issued to Turkish citizens. The ordinary individual and group passports of Turkish citizens are issued within Türkiye by the Ministry of the Interior or, under the authority the Minister delegates, by the governorships, and abroad by the consulates of the Republic of Türkiye (5682 sayılı Pasaport Kanunu m.15). How to get a Turkish passport is therefore answered by the routes described above, including Turkish citizenship by investment and Turkish citizenship by marriage: the passport follows the citizenship and is applied for after it.
13.1. Turkish Citizenship Decision First, Then the Passport Application
Turkish citizenship decisions take effect from the date of the decision (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.20/1), so the passport application follows that decision rather than running alongside the citizenship file. The places where an ordinary passport application is made and the documents required are determined by the Ministry of the Interior, and a person applying abroad to the consulate in whose register they are recorded is issued a passport on the basis of that consular register (5682 sayılı Pasaport Kanunu m.17).
An ordinary individual passport is issued for periods set by the Ministry of the Interior of not less than six months, subject to the exceptions in the Law (5682 sayılı Pasaport Kanunu m.15). A passport holder may ask for their minor children to be entered in the accompanying-persons section of the passport, but those entered there cannot travel on it unless they are with the holder (5682 sayılı Pasaport Kanunu m.15). For a minor to obtain a passport to travel alone, a document certified by an official authority containing the consent of the legal representative must be produced (5682 sayılı Pasaport Kanunu m.17). Passport fees are revalued each year and are not set out in these articles, so the current figure should be checked for the year of application.
13.2. Turkish Citizenship Is Not Conferred by a Passport Stamped for Foreigners
Turkish citizenship is not acquired by holding a Turkish-issued passport stamped “for foreigners”. The Ministry of the Interior may issue such a passport to stateless persons and to persons treated as stateless for residence and travel because their nationality position is irregular, and the Law states that it carries no meaning for the acquisition of Turkish citizenship and confers no right on its holder (5682 sayılı Pasaport Kanunu m.18). It exists in two forms: one valid for a single entry into or a single exit from Türkiye, and one for a journey out and back, valid for a period the Ministry sets of not less than three months (5682 sayılı Pasaport Kanunu m.18).
13.3. Turkish Citizenship Holders Who May Be Refused a Passport
Turkish citizenship does not guarantee a passport in every case. No passport or travel document is issued to persons whose departure abroad has been prohibited by the courts, or to persons whom the Ministry of the Interior determines to be founders, managers or employees of educational, health, foundation, association or company bodies abroad whose membership of, affiliation or connection with terrorist organisations has been established; in necessary cases, other than court prohibitions, a passport or travel document may be issued with the approval of the President (5682 sayılı Pasaport Kanunu m.22). A passport may also be refused to a person who lost their passport without a justified reason, and to a person deported from the country where they were, having regard to the reasons for the deportation (5682 sayılı Pasaport Kanunu m.22).
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I get Turkish citizenship?
First determine whether you acquired Turkish citizenship at birth through a Turkish parent. If not, the applicable route may be general naturalisation, marriage, exceptional acquisition or re-acquisition. Each route has its own conditions, and meeting the conditions of a competent-authority route does not create an absolute entitlement (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.10).
What are the requirements for Turkish citizenship by naturalisation?
General naturalisation requires five years of uninterrupted residence counted back from the application date, legal capacity, conduct confirming a decision to settle, sufficient spoken Turkish, income or an occupation covering the applicant and dependants, good moral character, no illness dangerous to public health and no national-security or public-order obstacle (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.11).
How long can I stay outside Turkey during the residence period?
An applicant may be outside Turkey for a total not exceeding twelve months within the residence period required for the application, and those periods are counted within the residence period prescribed by the Law (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.15). The limit is a total, not an annual allowance, and the legal basis of residence also matters.
Does student residence count towards Turkish citizenship?
Where a person present on a ground of residence not accepted for citizenship later obtains residence on a ground considered valid, the previous periods are also included in the calculation, but that conversion rule does not apply to a tourist residence permit (Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik m.71). The sequence of residence statuses must therefore be examined.
Can I get Turkish citizenship by marriage?
Marriage to a Turkish citizen does not directly confer citizenship, but a foreigner married to a Turkish citizen for at least three years whose marriage is continuing may apply, subject to family unity, conduct compatible with the marriage union and the national-security and public-order condition (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.16).
Does Ottoman ancestry qualify me for Turkish citizenship?
Ottoman ancestry alone does not establish citizenship through descent (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.7). Specified people who themselves lost citizenship under the repealed Laws No. 403 and No. 1312 may apply for re-acquisition without a residence condition, but the provision does not confer citizenship on descendants solely because of genealogy (m.43).
Does being born in Turkey make a child Turkish?
Not by place of birth alone. A child born in Turkey who cannot acquire the citizenship of any country at birth through their foreign parents is a Turkish citizen from birth, and a child found in Turkey is deemed to have been born there unless proved otherwise (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.8).
Where do I apply for Turkish citizenship?
Applications are made to the governorship of the place of residence inside the country, and abroad to Turkish foreign missions, in person or through a power of attorney relating to the exercise of this right (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.37). For general naturalisation the governorship of residence is identified in the Regulation (Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik m.16).
Which documents are needed for Turkish citizenship?
The list depends on the route: general naturalisation, marriage applications and adult birth registration abroad each have their own document provisions (Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik m.17, m.26 ve m.9). For a marriage applicant resident in Turkey, the latest residence permit is expressly listed (m.26).
How long does a Turkish citizenship application take?
The five-year residence and three-year marriage periods are eligibility requirements, not processing times. The stages cover document review, investigation, the commission interview and the Ministry decision, and these provisions do not set one guaranteed end-to-end processing time (Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik m.17, m.18 ve m.19).
How can I check my Turkish citizenship application status?
The NVI citizenship application status enquiry asks for the application number and date of birth. Keep the application reference and official correspondence. Checking status is separate from formal notification of the decision (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.41).
How do I get a Turkish passport?
By acquiring Turkish citizenship first. The ordinary passport is issued to Turkish citizens, within Türkiye by the Ministry of the Interior or the governorships and abroad by Turkish consulates (5682 sayılı Pasaport Kanunu m.15). A citizenship decision takes effect from its date (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.20/1), and the places of application and documents for the passport are set by the Ministry of the Interior (5682 sayılı Pasaport Kanunu m.17).
Can I get a Turkish passport without Turkish citizenship?
Not an ordinary one, which is issued to Turkish citizens (5682 sayılı Pasaport Kanunu m.15). The passport the Ministry of the Interior may issue to stateless persons and those in a similar position, stamped for foreigners, carries no meaning for the acquisition of Turkish citizenship and confers no right on its holder (5682 sayılı Pasaport Kanunu m.18). A Turkish passport by investment is therefore a passport obtained after citizenship acquired through the investment route.
Does Turkey allow dual citizenship?
Turkish law recognises multiple citizenship. Where a person produces documents showing a foreign citizenship and the examination establishes that the entries refer to the same person, an annotation is made in the civil family registers (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.44). Whether the other nationality can be retained depends on that country's law.
Do I have to give up my citizenship to become a Turkish citizen?
Not under the Law's list of conditions for general naturalisation, which does not include renunciation (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.11/1). The implementing Regulation, however, provides that a condition of leaving the citizenship the foreigner holds may also be sought, with the principles for that discretion determined by the Council of Ministers (Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik m.15/2). The other country's law may also withdraw its nationality on naturalisation, which Turkish law cannot prevent.
Does a Turkish citizen need permission to take another citizenship?
The permission procedure in the Law is for leaving Turkish citizenship, not for keeping it: the Ministry may grant exit permission to a person who has acquired, or shows convincing signs of acquiring, a foreign citizenship and meets the other conditions (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.25/1). A Turkish citizen who keeps Turkish citizenship and acquires another has the multiple citizenship annotated in the civil family register on production of the documents (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.44).
How much does a Turkish citizenship application cost?
A service charge for subsequent acquisition is determined jointly by the Ministry and the Ministry of Finance, and the Law does not fix the amount; people with no income under Income Tax Law No. 193 and their minor children processed with them are exempt (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.45). Confirm the current charge with the authority. Investment thresholds are separate from this charge.
Can a refused Turkish citizenship application be challenged?
A refusal may be challenged through administrative judicial review. The refusal's reasons, the applicable route and the supporting documents must be examined. Meeting the listed conditions does not create an absolute right to acquisition (5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu m.10), so keep the decision and its notification record.