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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.
What the guide covers
Relationship, accommodation, finances and English language, in that sequence, with the Turkish document that answers each. A nüfus kayıt örneği, taken in the vukuatlı form so that it shows the marriage and any earlier one. The evlenme cüzdanı. A boşanma kararı with its kesinleşme şerhi, because a decree without the finality annotation is not evidence that a previous marriage ended. Bank statements, payslips and an employer's letter for the income side. A tapu senedi or a tenancy agreement where property in Türkiye is part of the picture, and an SGK hizmet dökümü where employment history is.
The five-item rule
Appendix FM-SE fixes what a translation of any of these must carry: confirmation that it is an accurate translation, the date it was made, the translator's full name and signature, and contact details — and, for an application for leave to remain or settlement, details of the translation company's credentials. Originals go in alongside. That fifth item is the one people discover late, when a switch application is refused for a translation that was fine in the entry clearance bundle.
Start with the slowest thing
The decree with its finality annotation, or a document that has to come from a nüfus müdürlüğü in a town nobody in the family lives in any more, sets the timetable. Read the spouse visa documents guide, work through the checklist, and see the route page for the rules behind each requirement.