Checklists and samples Turkish → English
Checklist: UK spouse visa documents from Turkey
The Turkish documents a UK spouse or partner application usually needs, in what form, how recent they should be, and which of them have to be translated — with a worked example of the cost.
A partner application from Türkiye stands or falls on paperwork a caseworker can read without help. Below is the Turkish side of the file as we see it week after week, with the form each document should take before it reaches an English page.
Who this list is for
Turkish citizens applying to join a British or settled partner, and couples already in the UK applying to extend or switch. It covers only the Turkish documents. Anything issued in the UK — payslips, a tenancy agreement, statements from a UK bank — is already in English and needs nothing from us.
The documents
- Civil registry extract (nüfus kayıt örneği) — ask for the vukuatlı version, which shows marriages, divorces and children rather than one line about you. e-Devlet prints it free; take a fresh copy within the last three months. Turkish into English: required.
- Marriage certificate (evlenme cüzdanı or evlilik kayıt örneği) — the booklet's data pages, or the extract from the nüfus office. The multilingual Formül B extract is not a shortcut: the UK is not a party to the convention behind it, so an English translation is still needed.
- Divorce judgment with finality endorsement (boşanma kararı + kesinleşme şerhi) — from either partner who was married before. Every page of the judgment plus the court's finality note; translation required.
- Children's birth certificates (doğum belgesi) — where children apply with you, or where you need to evidence the relationship. Translation required.
- Turkish bank statements (banka hesap dökümü) — only if you rely on savings held in Türkiye. Branch-stamped, covering the whole period, every page translated rather than a summary.
- Title deed (tapu senedi) and SGK service record (hizmet dökümü) — where Turkish property or Turkish employment forms part of the financial or accommodation evidence. Translation required.
- Turkish passport — the biodata page is already in the Latin alphabet, so no translation. Send a clear scan with the file.
- Apostille — not asked for on this route. A legalised Turkish original does not replace a translation the Home Office can verify, so an apostille here is usually money spent for nothing.
What people most often get wrong
Three failures recur. The registry extract arrives as the short single-person version and has to be ordered again. The divorce file comes without the kesinleşme şerhi, so nothing shows the marriage actually ended. And the translation is done by the applicant or a relative, which defeats the whole point of independent verification. A fourth is quieter: the spelling of names in the translation must match the passport character for character, or a caseworker sees two different people.
What we would translate and what it would cost
A representative first application: a vukuatlı registry extract (2 pages), a marriage certificate (1 page), a divorce judgment with its finality note (4 pages) and one child's birth certificate (1 page). Eight pages of 1,000 characters at £10.00 comes to £80.00, certification included, no UK VAT, delivered as a signed PDF in one to two working days. Economy brings it to £64.00 and doubles the time; fast is £128.00 and halves it. Online applications upload the PDF, so the £30 courier copy is rarely needed. Test your own combination in the price calculator.
Before you rely on this list
This is a working aid written by translators, not legal advice, and it cannot anticipate your caseworker. Appendix FM-SE sets the evidence your application is measured against and is amended often, so read the current text at gov.uk before you send anything.
Frequently asked questions
Do the Turkish documents need an apostille for a spouse visa?
No. UKVI asks for a translation it can check independently, not for a legalised original. We are asked for apostilles on this route perhaps once a year, always because a solicitor asked for one out of caution. If you are also sending documents to a Turkish authority later, that is when an apostille earns its £15.
How recent does the nüfus kayıt örneği have to be?
There is no published expiry, but a caseworker reading a two-year-old extract cannot tell whether anything has changed since. Three months or less is the practical answer, and since e-Devlet issues it free there is no reason to send an old one.
My partner and I translated the documents ourselves. Is that a problem?
Yes. A translation produced by the applicant, the sponsor or a family member cannot be independently verified, which is the whole purpose of the requirement. See can I translate my own documents.
We are applying inside the UK to extend. Does anything change?
One thing does. For leave to remain and settlement applications, Appendix FM-SE also asks for certification by a qualified translator together with details of the translator or translation company's credentials. Our certification page carries the company name, Ankara trade registry number, address, signature and date, which is what that item is asking for.
Can you translate only the pages we think matter?
We will if you insist, but partial translations of judgments and statements are a common refusal reason. If a document is in the bundle, translate all of it; if it is not needed, leave it out entirely rather than sending half of it.