Marrying in Turkey with a British partner

Who marries you and what they check

Civil marriage in Türkiye is performed by the marriage office (evlendirme memurluğu) of the municipality where the ceremony takes place. The office applies the Marriage Regulation to both partners: identity, age, capacity, freedom to marry and a health report. For the Turkish partner that is a kimlik kartı and the family register. For the British partner the office needs the same facts from British documents, and everything it cannot read in Turkish must arrive translated.

The document that causes most confusion is proof that you are free to marry. Turkish offices know it as an evlenme ehliyet belgesi, and older guidance calls it a certificate of no impediment (CNI). GOV.UK's 2014 notice, quoted below, records that the British Embassy and consulates in Türkiye stopped issuing CNIs in Turkish and that marriage offices accept instead an affidavit or affirmation of marital status sworn before a UK notary (for couples living in the UK) or before the British consulate in Türkiye (for residents there). GOV.UK publishes the template, updated in July 2024, and tells UK residents to have the oath administered by a UK notary and legalised by the FCDO before travelling. Some marriage offices still accept a register-office CNI as well; the affirmation is the document GOV.UK stands behind.

Order of steps for the British partner

1. Swear the affirmation before a UK notary public or commissioner for oaths, using the GOV.UK template.
2. FCDO apostille on the notarised affirmation. Notarised documents are eligible for the e-Apostille (£35, usually two working days) as well as paper (£45). A full birth certificate, if the office asks for one, is a GRO document and can only be apostilled on paper.
3. Turkish translation notarised in Türkiye. We translate the affirmation and its apostille, the passport identity page and any birth or divorce certificate; a translator sworn before an Ankara notary signs and the notary certifies each translation. Marriage offices are municipal bodies inside Türkiye and accept Turkish notarial certificates; the consulate-registered translator rule applies to documents filed with the consulate, not here.
4. Health report and photographs are obtained in Türkiye in the days before the ceremony, from a family health centre or hospital designated by the municipality.
5. File at the marriage office with the Turkish partner. Offices set their own lead times, from a few days to several weeks, and some require both partners in person to file.

Documents you will need

• Affirmation or affidavit of marital status, notarised and apostilled, then translated; see certificate of no impediment and affirmation translation
• British passport identity page, translated and notarised
• Full birth certificate, apostilled and translated, where the office asks for it
• Decree absolute or final order if previously married, or a spouse's death certificate if widowed, apostilled and translated
• Deed poll if the name on the passport differs from the birth certificate
• Health report and biometric photographs from Türkiye; the Turkish partner's kimlik kartı and nüfus kayıt örneği

Common pitfalls

• Translating the affirmation before the apostille is attached; the office wants the apostille inside the Turkish text.
• An affirmation older than the office's tolerance by the wedding date; many offices treat six months as the limit, so time the notary appointment accordingly.
• A woman remarrying within 300 days of a divorce, which under the Turkish Civil Code needs a court waiver; the lawyer or office will explain.
• Arriving with a translation certified in the UK; the office is trained to look for a Turkish notary's seal.
• Forgetting that the marriage will be recorded in the Turkish register automatically but not in the UK; GOV.UK does not register overseas marriages, so keep the Turkish certificate safe and translated for future UK use.

How we help and what it costs

A standard file is the affirmation with apostille (2 pages of 1,000 characters), the passport page (1) and, where needed, a birth certificate with apostille (1 to 2) and a final order (1 to 2): £6.50 per page, so £20 to £45 for the translations, plus the Ankara notary tariff of about £13.50 per page and £5 handling per document at cost. No UK VAT is charged. Scans arrive within 1 to 2 working days; the notarised originals, which the marriage office keeps, go by courier for £30 to you in the UK or to your partner's address in Türkiye, which is usually quicker. We have no UK office and no collection. After the ceremony, the international marriage certificate (uluslararası aile cüzdanı) issued by the office is multilingual, but UK bodies such as UKVI and the passport office often want an English translation of the Turkish register extract; see Turkish marriage certificate translation. The full timeline is in marrying a British citizen in Türkiye.