For those who are interested in do-it-yourself-type applications, you can check the previous article, published in Today’s Zaman on March 3, at http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/columnists-203121-citizenship-by-marriage-application-and-documentation-i.html.Furthermore, the following documents are required from the applicants: The applicant must provide a document demonstrating the exact date of birth. Surprisingly, there are some cases of people not having any record of this -- neither the day nor the month, only the year. In such a case, the applicant will be asked to provide some documents to prove the exact date of birth, of course, notarized and officially translated. If there is no document to prove the exact date of birth, the Turkish law is here to serve. There is a law titled the Law Concerning Birth Registry Services No. 5490, and Article 39 states that in the case of an applicant not being able to prove the exact date of birth, he is supposed to accept the birth registry office entering the exact date of birth as July 1.
The applicant is required to submit a copy of his/her spouse’s Turkish ID card. Please make sure that the photocopy is clear and easy to read. I am underlining this point because the officers (Hi guys!) in the registry office have requested me to do so. If you fail to provide a clear copy of the ID, you will most probably receive a letter in two to three weeks’ time stating that there is a document missing in the application file and that the file will be kept pending until this is completed. So, please don’t waste your time, provide legible copies.
Of course, there is a service charge for the application file. You need to submit a payment receipt given upon payment to whichever bank.
Here is the crux of the matter. If the spouse applying for Turkish citizenship has children from another marriage or if the couple’s children were born outside marriage, then the applicant must provide some documents attached to the application file as listed in a communiqué. I will write about this in another article in the coming weeks if someone needs the information.
I have a final paragraph for the reader who sent the question: You mention that you have worked for a foreign government institution. I am not suggesting anything here, but your application may also be monitored by the Interior Ministry if the application is somehow endangering the national security of the Turkish state. In previous applications, we have witnessed that some applications for Turkish citizenship have been dismissed or rejected because the applicant’s present or past activities conflict with the national security of Turkey. Please do not take this last paragraph as a discouraging indication, I just needed to inform you about this possibility (which is an exception) which should be unlikely to happen.
NOTE: Berk Çektir is a licensed attorney at law and available to answer questions on the legal aspects of living in Turkey. Send enquiries to b.cektir@todayszaman.com The names of the readers are disclosed only upon written approval of the sender.DISCLAIMER: The information provided here is intended to give basic legal information. You should get legal assistance from a licensed attorney at law while conducting legal transactions and not just rely on the information in this corner.
