Documents needed to marry in Türkiye as a foreign national

Last updated: 16 August 2026Legal review: Bayraktar Attorneys3 min read

The Turkish half of a marriage file is straightforward and the same in every province. The foreign half is neither, because it depends entirely on what your own state issues and in what form. This is the sequence that works, and the two mistakes that force people to start again.

The four documents from your own country

1. Certificate of capacity to marry. Called evlenme ehliyet belgesi in Turkish, and variously a certificate of no impediment, a certificate of nubility or a marital status certificate at home. It confirms that nothing in your national law prevents you from marrying. This is the document that stops files.
2. Birth certificate or civil registry extract. Establishing name, date of birth and parentage. Some states issue a multilingual civil-status extract that satisfies both this and the point above; ask.
3. Proof that any earlier marriage has ended. A final divorce decree, an annulment judgment or a death certificate. “Final” means it carries the annotation showing it is no longer appealable — a first-instance judgment without that annotation is routinely refused.
4. Passport. Original, with the identity pages translated and notarised.

Why the certificate of capacity fails

Three patterns, each with a different answer:

• Your state issues it as standard. Most European and Commonwealth countries do. Obtain it, apostille it in that country, bring it.
• Your state has no such instrument. The United States, among others, does not issue one federally. The practice is for your consulate in Türkiye to issue an affidavit or declaration in its place, which Turkish marriage offices accept. Contact the consulate first — this cannot be arranged from the marriage office counter.
• Your state issues it only to residents. If you have not lived there for years, ask the consulate whether it can issue on the strength of your registration abroad, and allow extra weeks.

What the marriage office adds

• Health report from a family health centre, where the municipality requires one. Cheap, same-day, and the requirement varies by municipality.
• Biometric photographs, usually six per spouse.
• Marriage declaration form (evlenme beyannamesi), signed by both spouses in person at the office.
• Turkish spouse's documents — identity card and population registration record.

The sequence

Authenticate in the issuing country first, because that step cannot be done anywhere else. Translate and notarise in Türkiye second, because a Turkish notary's certification of a locally sworn translator is what the office expects. File third. Doing it in any other order means at least one document gets produced twice.

Once the marriage office has examined the file it issues the marriage licence, and under Article 137 of the Civil Code the ceremony must then take place within six months. The rest of the procedure — the interpreter requirement, the witnesses, the family booklet — is in the civil marriage guide. If you are marrying while in Türkiye on a tourist visa, that is entirely lawful and is dealt with in marrying on a tourist visa.

Keep these afterwards

You will need the international family booklet and a vukuatlı nüfus kayıt örneği — the population registration record showing the marriage — for the family residence permit and again for the citizenship application three years later. Order a multilingual extract of the marriage record at the same time if you will need to prove the marriage abroad; the firm's procedural guide for foreign nationals marrying in Türkiye covers the onward uses.