News and updates
Hacettepe Translation 40 pages
Dated updates on fees, thresholds and rule changes affecting Turkish residents of the UK.
-
Christmas and Bayram turnaround notice
We keep Turkish public holidays, not British ones, so our quiet weeks are not the ones you expect. What closes, what keeps running, and how far ahead to send work that needs a notary or an apostille.
-
Guide of the month: spouse visa documents
The document list for a partner application is longer than the Home Office page suggests, because half of it is evidence you assemble rather than certificates you order. This month's guide puts it in the order a caseworker reads it.
-
UCAS 2027 deadlines for Turkish applicants
UCAS runs an early autumn deadline for medicine, dentistry, veterinary science and Oxford or Cambridge, and a later equal-consideration deadline for everything else. Translations have to be ready before either.
-
How we collect reviews
We are not publishing a review count or a star average, because the UK site is new and inventing one would be worse than having none. This is how reviews will be gathered and shown as they arrive.
-
Guide of the month: askerlik from the UK
Military service questions are the ones we are asked most in July and August, when men in their twenties plan a summer in Türkiye. Our two askerlik guides cover paying the fee from abroad and deferring while you are here.
-
NMC overseas route: document requirements update
The overseas route runs through an identity check, a computer-based test and a practical examination. Certified English translations are required at the identity stage, and the fees and test windows change.
-
DVLA designated countries list: no change for Turkey
Türkiye is still not a designated country, so a Turkish licence cannot be exchanged for a British one. You may drive on it for twelve months from becoming resident, then you take the tests.
-
Dövizle askerlik fee for the second half of 2026
The paid-military-service fee for Turkish citizens abroad is 472,653.60 TL for the second half of 2026, about €8,822, up from 333,890 TL in the first half. The qualifying conditions are unchanged.
-
GMC reminder: translations must be stamped and signed
The General Medical Council wants the original-language copy and a complete English translation, stamped and signed, carrying the translator's or translation service's contact details, and made directly from the original language.
-
TKGM overseas tapu desks: what is planned for London
The Turkish land registry directorate has announced land registry desks in twelve countries, including one at the London consulate. Until a desk is confirmed open, buying and selling from the UK still runs on a power of attorney.
-
Turkish Cypriot documents: current acceptance practice
Documents issued in northern Cyprus sit outside the apostille system, and whether a UK body accepts one is decided case by case. We can translate and certify; we cannot make a document legalisable.
-
UK ENIC translation waiver list: Turkish still requires translation
UK ENIC will waive the translation requirement for fourteen languages if you pay for its waiver service. Turkish is not one of them, so a Turkish diploma and transcript still need certified English translations.
-
Census 2021: where Turkish speakers live in the UK
The 2021 census counted 132,651 Turkey-born residents across the UK, up from 101,721 in 2011. More than seven in ten British Turks live in London, concentrated in five north and east London boroughs.
-
UK citizens: visa-free entry to Turkey rules
British citizens travel to Türkiye without a visa for short visits, up to 90 days in any 180. Longer stays, work and residence with a Turkish spouse are a different matter and need documents in Turkish.
-
UK–Turkey enhanced free trade agreement: negotiation rounds
The current agreement has covered goods since 1 January 2021. Talks on an enhanced version reaching services, digital trade and procurement are under way. Nothing in the paperwork changes until a new text is in force.
-
FCDO e-Apostille at £35: which documents qualify
The electronic apostille costs £35 and turns round in about two working days, against £45 and up to 25 working days on paper. GRO certificates, ACRO and DBS are not eligible.
-
Life in the UK test: latest handbook edition
The test is drawn from one Home Office handbook, and questions come only from that book. Check which edition is current before buying study materials, because second-hand copies of a superseded edition circulate for years.
-
Immigration Health Surcharge rate 2026
The health surcharge is paid per year of leave, in full, at the point of application. It is often the largest single line in a family application budget and it is not part of the visa fee.
-
ECAA settlement consultation: outcome and next steps
The Ankara Agreement route closed to new applicants after 31 December 2020. Existing holders extend and settle under Appendix ECAA. A consultation on the settlement arrangements has been run and we are watching for its outcome.
-
Home Office visa fee changes 2026
Immigration and nationality fees are set by regulations and usually change in the spring. We keep this page as a pointer to the current table rather than a copy of it, because copies go out of date quietly.
-
Family visa income threshold: where the £29,000 review stands
The family minimum income requirement has been £29,000 since 11 April 2024. The planned rises were dropped, the Migration Advisory Committee suggested a lower band, and the figure has been left where it is. What that means for your Turkish paperwork.
-
HM Passport Office fees 2026
Passport fees are set by regulations and differ between online and paper applications. For a first British passport supported by Turkish documents, the translations matter more to the timetable than the fee does.
-
Royal Mail Special Delivery prices for hard copies
Most UK bodies take a signed and stamped PDF. Where a wet-ink copy is genuinely needed, there are two ways to get one, and the postage price is the part that moves each spring.
-
How we handle cookies after the 2026 ICO guidance
We reviewed this site's cookies against the Information Commissioner's Office guidance. The short answer: a session cookie that keeps your quote and basket together, analytics only if you say yes, and no advertising cookies at all.
-
YÖS 2026 exam dates for students in the UK
The centrally run TR-YÖS and the exams individual universities set are two different things with two different calendars. Both take applicants sitting A-levels in the UK, and both want translated school documents.
-
Turkish e-Apostil now covers multilingual civil-status extracts
Since 28 December 2023 the multilingual birth, marriage and death extracts can be apostilled electronically through e-Devlet. Useful from London — but a multilingual extract still needs an English translation for UK bodies.
-
Mobile consulate (gezici konsolosluk) days in UK cities
A consular team travels to cities without a post to take passport, identity card and some notarial work. Dates are announced a few weeks ahead and fill quickly, and not every service can be done on the road.
-
How we handle Turkey-bound translations without a consulate listing
Nobody on our team is on a Turkish consulate's accredited translator list in the UK, and we do not claim otherwise. For documents going to Turkish authorities we use the Ankara route instead: notarised there, apostilled there.
-
UK ETA: why Turkish nationals still need a visa
The Electronic Travel Authorisation is for people who can visit the UK without a visa. Turkish citizens are visa nationals, so an ETA is not open to them and a visitor visa application is still required.
-
Children of Mavi Kart holders: simplified citizenship route
In 2025 the Ministry of the Interior removed the prior conditions that applied to children entered in the Mavi Kart register when they apply for Turkish citizenship. For British-raised children of former Turkish citizens this is the route to ask about.
-
Turkish Consulate holiday closures
The UK missions close on both British bank holidays and Turkish public holidays. The religious holidays move each year with the lunar calendar, which is what catches people who plan an appointment months ahead.
-
Our position on ISO 17100
ISO 17100 is an audited certification for translation services. We do not hold it. We do apply two of the things it requires — qualified translators and a second linguist's revision — and we would rather say that than imply the certificate.
-
Skilled Worker changes since 22 July 2025: what Turkish applicants need
From 22 July 2025 the Skilled Worker route went back to RQF level 6 and a £41,700 general salary threshold. Both changes push qualification and criminal-record evidence to the front of an application made from Türkiye.
-
GRO certificate fees and ordering long-form certificates
The Turkish consulate will not register a UK birth on a short certificate. You need the full certificate from the General Register Office, and it cannot be legalised through the electronic apostille service.
-
Turkish Consulate fee schedule update
Consular charges are set in the Turkish fees legislation and republished in pounds by each mission. We do not reproduce the schedule here, because a stale figure is worse than none: check the mission's own page before your appointment.
-
SGK yurtdışı borçlanması 2026 daily rates
For 2026 the daily earning you may declare when buying back years spent abroad runs from 495.45 TL to 4,459.05 TL. The rate you pick sets both the cost and, later, the pension.
-
Why we are not an ATC member
The Association of Translation Companies certification stamp belongs to its accredited member companies. We are not a member and we do not use the stamp. Here is what we put on a certification page instead.
-
Where we work from
One office, in Kızılay in central Ankara, open since 2008. There is no UK branch, no counter to visit in London and no collection service, and we would rather write that down than let a customer find out on a Saturday morning.
-
Turkish passport and ID fees abroad 2026
Passport and identity card charges are fixed in the Turkish fees legislation each January and converted into pounds by the missions in the UK. Book early: the appointment, not the fee, is the scarce resource.
-
Our 2026 price list
Turkish to English from £10.00 a page, English to Turkish from £6.50, a page being 1,000 characters. Certification is included at no charge and no UK VAT is charged. Third-party fees are passed through at cost.