DBS certificate translation into Turkish

Basic, standard and enhanced

The Disclosure and Barring Service issues criminal record certificates for England and Wales (adli sicil kaydı, colloquially sabıka kaydı). GOV.UK describes a basic check as one that shows unspent convictions and conditional cautions; standard and enhanced checks show spent convictions and cautions as well and can only be requested by an employer for a specified role. An individual applying for their own record for use abroad obtains the basic certificate: £21.50, usually issued within a few days, posted as a paper document with the DBS reference number, your name, date of birth, address and the words “none recorded” or a list of convictions. Scotland issues the equivalent through Disclosure Scotland and Northern Ireland through AccessNI.

GOV.UK also states that a DBS check has no official expiry date and that the information is accurate at the time of the check. Turkish offices do set their own age limits, usually six months, so order the certificate when the rest of the file is nearly ready.

Turkish citizenship by marriage

A British citizen married to a Turkish citizen for three years can apply for Turkish citizenship under Article 16 of the Citizenship Law. The file assembled at the consulate or the provincial nüfus directorate includes a criminal record certificate from the country of residence, apostilled and translated into Turkish, alongside the spouse's full birth certificate, the naturalisation certificate where relevant, proof of cohabitation and two Turkish referees. The London consulate lists the police certificate for citizenship by marriage among the documents for which an outside sworn translation is needed. Our page on Turkish citizenship for a British spouse covers the whole file.

Other Turkish uses

• Citizenship by investment or residence, where the citizenship directorate wants a criminal record certificate from the applicant's country of nationality.
• Employment in Türkiye in schools, care and security roles, where the employer or the Ministry of National Education asks foreign staff for a home-country criminal record.
• Adoption and foster applications to the Ministry of Family and Social Services.
• Court proceedings in which a party's record is at issue.

Paper apostille only

GOV.UK lists Disclosure and Barring Service certificates for England and Wales among the documents that cannot receive an e-Apostille, so the certificate goes to the FCDO by post: £45, usually up to 25 working days plus courier or postage time. We can order it through a UK partner for the FCDO fee plus £20 handling. The apostille is attached to the certificate itself; do not have a copy certified instead, because the FCDO recognises the DBS signature on the original. After the apostille, we translate the certificate and the apostille, a translator sworn before an Ankara notary signs, and the notary attaches the translation to a copy of the apostilled certificate. The citizenship directorate has not asked for an apostille of the translation in cases we have handled; if yours does, it costs £15 at the kaymakamlık.

Consulate route or Ankara route

If you file the citizenship application at the Turkish Consulate General, it will point you to a translator on its own register and then certify that translator's signature. We are not on the register. Applications filed in Türkiye at the provincial nüfus directorate, and any later stage handled in Türkiye, accept a translation notarised there. Tell us where you are filing and we will say plainly which route fits. The two are compared on sworn translation for use in Türkiye.

Price and delivery

A basic certificate with its apostille is 1 to 2 pages of 1,000 characters: £6.50 to £13.00, plus the notary tariff at about £13.50 per page and £5 handling. No UK VAT is charged. Translation takes 1 to 2 working days and the notary signs the next working day. We send a scan by e-mail and the wet-sealed original by courier for £30, to you or to your spouse in Türkiye. Collection is not available.