Turkish Citizenship by Marriage: Requirements and Documents

Last updated: 8 October 2026. This guide is based on the current texts, as published on mevzuat.gov.tr, of the 5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu (Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901) and the Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik (Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law), on the official document list of the Nüfus ve Vatandaşlık İşleri Genel Müdürlüğü (NVİ, General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs), and on decisions of the Danıştay (Council of State) and the Anayasa Mahkemesi (Constitutional Court).

Marrying a Turkish citizen does not make you a Turkish citizen automatically. Under Article 16 of Law No. 5901, a foreigner who has been married to a Turkish citizen for at least three years and whose marriage is still continuing may apply; the applicant must live in family unity, must not engage in any activity incompatible with the marital union, and must pose no obstacle in terms of national security and public order. The decision is made by the İçişleri Bakanlığı (Ministry of Interior), and meeting the requirements does not by itself create a right to citizenship (Art. 10/1, Art. 19/1). The Law does not require you to have lived in Turkey for any particular period; however, if your place of residence is in Turkey, your most recent ikamet izni (residence permit) goes into the file (Regulation Art. 26/1-d).

How many years after marriage can you apply for Turkish citizenship?

The waiting period for Turkish citizenship by marriage is three years, and it must have been completed on the date of application. The application date is the day your application form is entered in the records of the valilik (governorship) or the dış temsilcilik (Turkish embassy or consulate abroad) (Regulation Art. 64/6). An application made before the three years have passed is not accepted at the preliminary review, and you are formally notified of this (Art. 25/2-a).

The period runs from the date of marriage. If your Turkish spouse acquired Turkish citizenship later, the count starts from the date your spouse became a Turkish citizen (Art. 25/3). For example, if you married in 2021 but your spouse became a Turkish citizen in 2023, the three years are counted from 2023. Completing the three years only opens the door to an application; after that, the file still goes through the investigation, the interview and the Ministry's review.

Turkish citizenship by marriage requirements

The Law lists the requirements in three sub-paragraphs; the Regulation sets out how they are investigated and in which cases an application is not accepted at the outset. The table gives the requirements in the order in which they appear in the Law.

Some of the requirements of the general route do not apply to marriage: five years of uninterrupted residence, sufficient Turkish, income to support yourself and the general health requirement are set out in Article 11 of the Law and are not listed in Article 16. The Danıştay describes Article 16 as the "minimum conditions" ("asgari koşulları") of the application and stresses that, even where they are met, the administration has broad discretion (Danıştay 10. Daire – 10th Chamber of the Council of State, E. 2016/13633, K. 2020/4350; E. is the docket number and K. the decision number). For someone whose marriage route is closed, the details of the general route are in the article on citizenship through 5 years of residence and calculating time spent abroad.

Do you need a residence permit or to live in Turkey?

For citizenship by marriage, the Law does not require any period of residence spent in Turkey; couples living abroad can also apply through a Turkish embassy or consulate. But if you live in Turkey, a valid residence permit is in practice mandatory: the Regulation requires an applicant whose place of residence is in Turkey to submit their most recent residence permit (Art. 26/1-d), and the application of anyone who cannot submit a required document is not accepted (Art. 25/2-ç).

In a case brought to annul this provision, the 10th Chamber of the Danıştay examined the application of a person married to a Turkish citizen since 1990, which had not been accepted because the applicant could not submit a residence permit. The Chamber regarded the residence permit requirement as a "natural consequence" ("doğal bir gereği") of the residence rules in Law No. 6458. It held that a certificate of residence (yerleşim yeri belgesi) cannot replace a residence permit, because this requirement examines whether the foreigner is lawfully present in Turkey; noting that the applicant had also not submitted any document showing an exemption from the residence permit, it dismissed the case (E. 2019/10218, K. 2024/2102, 22.05.2024; the decision was given with the right of appeal open).

The foreign spouse of a Turkish citizen may be granted a family residence permit under Article 34 of the 6458 sayılı Yabancılar ve Uluslararası Koruma Kanunu (Law No. 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection); the conditions and documents are explained in the family residence permit guide. If you are a spouse who has stayed in Turkey without a permit, you first need to make your stay lawful; the options are in the article on a family residence permit for an undocumented foreign spouse.

Documents required for Turkish citizenship by marriage: checklist

The application authority prepares the file on your behalf; the documents are listed in Article 26 of the Regulation and in the NVİ list for citizenship by marriage. Documents obtained from foreign authorities must be duly legalised and submitted with a notarised Turkish translation; for documents such as a passport, a notarised Turkish translation is sufficient (Art. 67/2).

Minor children for whom you also want citizenship are shown on the same form, and the documents in Article 38 of the Regulation are added for them (such as the birth certificate and, where necessary, a custody decision and the other parent's consent document). Consent concerning a child is given before a notary or before the official at the application authority (Art. 68/1).

How to apply: the step-by-step process

1. Application authority. If you live in Turkey, you apply to the governorship of the province where you are resident (the il nüfus ve vatandaşlık müdürlüğü, provincial directorate of population and citizenship); if you live abroad, you apply to a Turkish embassy or consulate. The application is made in person or through a special power of attorney (özel vekâletname) given for this purpose; applications by post are not accepted (Regulation Art. 64/1).
2. Preliminary review. The application authority checks whether the three years have passed, whether the marriage is continuing, whether you are on trial or have been convicted, and whether the documents are complete. If there is a problem on any of these points, the application is not accepted and you are formally notified (Art. 25/2).
3. Police investigation. For applications made in Turkey, a file is prepared and an investigation is requested from the provincial police directorate (Art. 27). The result is written on the investigation form and the file returns to the provincial directorate (Art. 28).
4. Commission interview. The provincial directorate sends the file to the vatandaşlık başvuru inceleme komisyonu (citizenship application review commission). The commission interviews you and your spouse, records its opinion on the interview form, and the file is sent to the Ministry (Art. 28/2, Art. 29).
5. Ministry review. Missing information and documents are completed; an archive check regarding national security and public order is requested from the Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı (MİT) and the Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü (General Directorate of Security) (Art. 35/1-2).
6. Decision and notification. An applicant who meets the requirements may acquire citizenship by decision of the Ministry; the request of an applicant who does not is refused (Law Art. 19/1; Regulation Art. 35/5, Art. 35/11). Acquisition takes effect from the date of the decision (Law Art. 20/1) and is notified to you through the application authority (Regulation Art. 86/1).
7. Identity card. According to NVİ, you collect the notification document (duyuru belgesi) confirming that you have acquired citizenship from the application authority against your signature; you then apply for a Turkish identity card (T.C. kimlik kartı) at the district population directorate (ilçe nüfus müdürlüğü) or at the Turkish embassy or consulate.

The Regulation provides a separate procedure for applications made from abroad (Art. 30). A vice-consul (muavin konsolos) or a higher-ranking official interviews you and your spouse separately and together. If the laws of the country where you live allow it, your criminal record is requested, whether your marriage appears in official records is checked, and the file is sent to the Ministry for a decision.

How long does Turkish citizenship by marriage take?

Neither the Law nor the Regulation sets a time limit within which an application for citizenship by marriage must be decided, and NVİ does not publish an official processing time for these applications either. Any "it comes through in so many months" figure is therefore only an estimate. The Regulation sets rules only for the intermediate stages:

• The commission meets within fifteen days at the latest if it has items on its agenda (Art. 70/3).
• The research and investigation carried out about you are valid for one year; if deemed necessary, they may be renewed without waiting for this period to expire (Art. 72/4).
• If the police investigation cannot reach a view on whether the marriage was entered into for the purpose of citizenship, the investigation is continued periodically, also by taking statements from relatives of the Turkish spouse, until a view is formed (Art. 72/2). In a file that remains unclear, the investigation may therefore be repeated.

You can follow the stage of your file in the "Vatandaşlık Başvurum Ne Aşamada?" ("What stage is my citizenship application at?") section of the NVİ website, using your application number and date of birth.

Family unity investigation and the marriage interview

Whether the marriage is genuine is tested at two separate stages. At the first stage, the provincial police directorate investigates three matters: whether you live in family unity, whether you have engaged in conduct incompatible with the marital union, and whether there is any obstacle in terms of national security and public order. The positive or negative view reached is written clearly on the investigation form, and the official reports (tutanak) are attached to the form (Art. 28/1).

The second stage is the commission interview. The commission is chaired by the vali (governor) or a deputy governor appointed by them and is made up of representatives of the provincial directorate of population and citizenship, the provincial police directorate, the il jandarma komutanlığı (provincial gendarmerie command), the il millî eğitim müdürlüğü (provincial directorate of national education) and the sosyal hizmetler il müdürlüğü (provincial directorate of social services) (Art. 69/2). You and your spouse are interviewed separately and together; the aim is to establish whether the marriage is a genuine marriage or one entered into to acquire citizenship (Art. 29/1).

What do they ask in the Turkish citizenship marriage interview?

The Regulation does not provide a list of questions, and NVİ does not publish interview questions either; the "these are the questions they ask" lists circulating online have no official basis. In the records reflected in published decisions, however, findings of the following kind appear: that the spouses lived together after marrying, that they communicated with each other in Turkish and that they knew each other's relatives (investigation report quoted in the decision of the Danıştay İdare Dava Daireleri Kurulu [Plenary of the Administrative Law Chambers of the Council of State], E. 2021/1013, K. 2021/2026); and that the spouses knew each other well and knew each other's relatives (commission form quoted in the decision of the Danıştay 10th Chamber, E. 2016/13633, K. 2020/4350).

Because the interview is held both separately and together, it matters that what the spouses say is consistent; rather than memorised answers, describe your shared life as it is. According to the warning on the VAT-6 form, anyone who makes a false statement in citizenship procedures faces imprisonment under Article 67 of the 5490 sayılı Nüfus Hizmetleri Kanunu (Civil Registration Services Law No. 5490); anyone who uses a forged document is punished with imprisonment of two to five years under Article 204 of the Türk Ceza Kanunu (Turkish Penal Code). The marriage investigation at the family residence permit stage is a separate process: see the article on the marriage interview and cancellation procedure for family residence permits.

Divorce, death of the Turkish spouse and annulment

When and how the marriage ends directly determines the outcome. For the period after the application, the Law specifically regulates only the death of the Turkish spouse.

In the case of nullity, according to NVİ's explanation, whether citizenship is retained is referred to the Ministry through the governorship. The Regulation frames the rule from the opposite direction: citizenship acquired through marriage is lost through nullity, but it is retained if the Ministry's review establishes good faith (Art. 31/1). It is therefore important that facts showing your good faith are put on record in the nullity case.

Whether a foreigner who divorces before the citizenship decision can stay in Turkey is a separate question; it is covered in the article on the residence status of a foreigner divorced from a Turkish citizen. When the marriage route closes, the general route or, if the conditions are met, exceptional routes such as citizenship by purchasing real estate can be considered.

Refusal, withdrawal and cancellation: the sham marriage risk

A marriage believed to have been entered into for citizenship can have consequences at three different stages: refusal of the application, withdrawal of the acquisition decision and cancellation of the decision. The legal basis and the effect of each are different.

Refusal. Even if the requirements are formally met, the administration has discretion (Art. 10/1), but this discretion is reviewed against the findings in the file. In a file where the investigation forms recorded that the spouses did not live under the same roof because the Turkish spouse was in prison, that the Turkish spouse had a child with another woman while the marriage continued and that there were criminal records about him, the Danıştay overturned the first-instance court's annulment decision and accepted that the refusal remained within the administration's discretion (10th Chamber, E. 2016/13633, K. 2020/4350). By contrast, in a file where the police investigation report contained concrete findings that the marriage was genuine, the Danıştay İdare Dava Daireleri Kurulu upheld by majority vote the first-instance court's insistence decision (ısrar kararı) annulling a refusal that was based on Article 10 of the Law and that the administration defended as a marriage of convenience (E. 2021/1013, K. 2021/2026).

Non-acceptance of the application at provincial level under Regulation Art. 25/2 is also an act that is notified to you; do not confuse it with the Ministry's refusal decision. The time limit for filing an action for annulment (iptal davası) against these acts before the idare mahkemesi (administrative court) is 60 days, starting from the day after the written notification (Art. 7 of the İdari Yargılama Usulü Kanunu, İYUK – Administrative Procedure Law); a case filed after the deadline is dismissed at the initial review as time-barred (Art. 14/3-e, Art. 15/1-b). The competent court, the effect of an objection to the administration on the time limit, an application under İYUK Art. 10 when a file remains undecided for a long time, and the option of reapplying are explained in detail in the article on challenging the refusal of a citizenship application.

Withdrawal. If it later emerges that the acquisition decision was given although the legal requirements were not met, or was given twice, the decision is withdrawn (Law Art. 40). A withdrawn decision becomes void from the date of the original decision (Regulation Art. 66/1).

Cancellation. If citizenship was acquired through a false statement or by concealing material facts on which the acquisition was based, the authority that gave the decision cancels it (Law Art. 31). When the Ministry receives such information, it has research and an investigation carried out; cancellation requires proof of the false statement or the concealment (Regulation Art. 57/2). Cancellation takes effect from the date of the decision and also applies to the spouse and children who acquired citizenship through that person (Law Art. 32); it does not, however, apply to transactions carried out as a Turkish citizen in the intervening period (Regulation Art. 58/1). If the cancellation decision says so, the person must liquidate their property in Turkey within one year at the latest; if a case is filed against the decision, liquidation is postponed until the case ends (Law Art. 33).

On the day you receive a refusal or cancellation decision, you can reach us through our contact page to have your file assessed.

After citizenship: dual nationality, your name and your children

Neither Article 16 of the Law nor the Regulation's document list contains a requirement to give up your previous citizenship; the Law defines a Turkish citizen holding more than one citizenship at the same time as "multiple citizenship" ("çok vatandaşlık") (Art. 3/1-b). Whether you keep your former citizenship is determined by that country's own law; find this out from that country's authorities before you apply.

When applying, you may choose a Turkish first name and surname; if you do not, your own name is written in Turkish letters and registered in the family register (aile kütüğü) (Regulation Art. 74/1). For those who choose a Turkish name, their previous names are entered in the civil registry, and on request an equivalence document (denklik belgesi) showing the previous name is issued (Art. 75).

Children born to you and your Turkish spouse within the marriage are already Turkish citizens by birth (Law Art. 7/1). Your other minor children in your custody acquire citizenship together with you with the consent of their other parent who is not a Turkish citizen; if consent is not given, the procedure follows the decision of a judge in the country where the mother or father has their habitual residence (Law Art. 20/2; Regulation Art. 37/4-5). The rule is that children are processed together with their mother or father; a child who is not processed together with them applies in their own name after reaching majority (Law Art. 20/3; Regulation Art. 37/8).

Legal basis and sources

• 5901 sayılı Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanunu (Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901) Art. 3/1-b, Art. 7/1, Art. 10/1, Art. 11/1, Art. 16, Art. 18/1, Art. 19/1, Art. 20, Art. 31, Art. 32, Art. 33, Art. 40, Art. 45
• Türk Vatandaşlığı Kanununun Uygulanmasına İlişkin Yönetmelik (Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law; Resmî Gazete [Official Gazette] 06.04.2010, No. 27544; later amendments concern only Art. 20) Art. 25-31, Art. 35, Art. 37, Art. 38, Art. 40, Art. 41, Art. 57/2, Art. 58/1, Art. 64, Art. 66/1, Art. 67/2, Art. 68/1, Art. 69/2, Art. 70/3, Art. 72, Art. 73/3, Art. 74/1, Art. 75, Art. 86/1
• 6458 sayılı Yabancılar ve Uluslararası Koruma Kanunu (Law No. 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection) Art. 34/1-a, Art. 34/6
• 2577 sayılı İdari Yargılama Usulü Kanunu (Administrative Procedure Law No. 2577) Art. 7, Art. 14/3-e, Art. 15/1-b
• NVİ: Türk Vatandaşlığının Kazanılması (Acquisition of Turkish Citizenship)
• NVİ: Evlenme yoluyla vatandaşlıkta istenen belgeler, başvuru makamı ve usul (documents, application authority and procedure for citizenship by marriage) and the VAT-6 application form
• NVİ: Vatandaşlık Hizmetleri Sıkça Sorulan Sorular (Citizenship Services FAQ)
• Danıştay 10. Daire (Council of State, 10th Chamber), E. 2019/10218, K. 2024/2102, T. 22.05.2024
• Danıştay 10. Daire (Council of State, 10th Chamber), E. 2016/13633, K. 2020/4350, T. 02.11.2020
• Danıştay İdare Dava Daireleri Kurulu (Council of State, Plenary of the Administrative Law Chambers), E. 2021/1013, K. 2021/2026, T. 25.10.2021
• Anayasa Mahkemesi Bireysel Başvuru (Constitutional Court, individual application), B. 2020/34394, T. 02.10.2024