Dövizle askerlik step by step from the UK

Who qualifies

Dövizle askerlik, the paid exemption for Turkish citizens living abroad, is open to men who have worked or lived abroad for at least 1,095 days (three years, counted in days) while holding a status that permits work or residence in that country: employee, employer, self-employed or professional. Men who acquired a second nationality at birth qualify through three years’ residence abroad rather than through employment. The application must be made before the age limit, which the consular notes place at 35; the way the limit is counted (birthday or year end) is something to confirm with the consulate for your own date of birth. Time spent in Türkiye is deducted from the 1,095 days, and spending more than six months of a year there breaks the count. Students on a Student visa do not accrue days for dövizle askerlik, because the visa is not a work or residence status of the required kind; they use deferment instead.

The order of events

Check your military status on e-Devlet; confirm you have the days; gather UK evidence of status and work; book the consulate; apply and receive the fee notification; pay in euros; complete the remote training; obtain the discharge record. The consulate is the only point of contact: the application goes through it to the Ministry of National Defence, and the fee is paid to an account it names. Our dövizle askerlik page holds the current fee and the consular contact details; the checklist lists every item.

The UK documents

• Proof of immigration status: the eVisa share code or a BRP, showing leave that allows work or residence for the whole period. Indefinite leave, a Skilled Worker or family visa, or British citizenship all qualify; visitor leave does not.
• Proof of work or residence during the 1,095 days: an employer letter with start date, P60s and payslips for employees; Companies House and HMRC records for the self-employed and company owners; for those qualifying by residence, council tax bills, tenancy agreements and HMRC or NHS letters.
• Passport, all pages, so the consulate can count days outside Türkiye from the stamps, plus the Turkish kimlik kartı and passport.
• Photographs and the application form the consulate issues.

The employer letter page and the immigration status documents page explain the form each should take.

Translations: when the consulate wants them

The consulates in London, Manchester and Edinburgh read English and, for the documents issued by British authorities that their notes name, ask for no outside translation. For employer letters, HMRC documents and tenancy agreements, practice has varied: many applications go through on the English originals, while some officers ask for a Turkish translation, and where they do, the translation must be by a translator on the consulate’s list, certified at the notary unit, or notarised in Türkiye. Ask when booking and translate only what is asked for. Translations become unavoidable when a document has to go to the askerlik şubesi in Türkiye rather than through the consulate, for example in a dispute about the day count or a late application; there the office expects a noter onaylı translation, which we produce in Ankara from £6.50 per page plus the notary tariff.

The fee, the rate and the training

The fee is fixed in Turkish lira and revised twice a year in line with the civil-service coefficient; for the second half of 2026 it is 472,653.60 TL, up from 333,890 TL at the start of the year, and it is paid in euros converted at the Central Bank rate on the day of payment, which made it roughly €8,800 at the time of writing. The consulate tells you the exact euro figure when it issues the payment notice. Since the 2019 reform there is no basic training in Türkiye; applicants complete a distance-learning module instead, after which the ministry records the service as done. Keep the payment receipt and the completion record; the terhis or askerlik durum belgesi that results is the document a UK body may one day ask for in English, which we translate from £10 per page (see military service documents).

Timing

Consulate appointments for military matters are booked online and can be weeks away in London; the application itself is processed within a few months, and the payment window after notification is limited, so have the euros ready. Because the fee rises every January and July, a man with the days in hand saves money by applying in the first half of the year rather than waiting. Do not let the age limit approach with the days uncounted.

Common mistakes

• Counting days from arrival in the UK rather than from the date the qualifying status began.
• A long summer in Türkiye that pushes a year over six months and resets part of the count.
• Employer letters without a start date or on plain paper.
• Paying for translations of every document before the consulate has said which it wants.
• Losing the payment receipt, which is the only proof that the fee was paid if a record goes missing.

What we do

We prepare consulate-acceptable Turkish translations of any UK document the consulate asks for, and notarised translations in Ankara for anything going directly to a military office in Türkiye. When the process is complete we translate the resulting Turkish military record into English for UK employers or the Home Office. Questions about eligibility, day counts and exemptions are for the consulate or a lawyer in Türkiye.