Translations for indefinite leave to remain (ILR)

Settlement and the documents that still come from Türkiye

Indefinite leave to remain is applied for from inside the UK after a qualifying period: five years on the partner route under Appendix FM, five years as a Skilled Worker, ten years’ long residence, or the ECAA route for those who hold Ankara Agreement leave. By this stage most of your evidence is British: payslips, council tax, the Life in the UK test pass, the English qualification. The Turkish documents that still appear are those that have changed or are being shown for the first time: an updated civil registry record after a birth or a divorce, savings held in Türkiye, a passport with entry and exit stamps that evidence absences, and sometimes documents about property or income abroad. Each of those needs a certified translation uploaded with the application.

The qualified translator and credentials item

If your ILR application is under Appendix FM, paragraph 1(j)(iv) of Appendix FM-SE applies and is quoted in the box: certification by a qualified translator and details of the translator or translation company’s credentials. This item is the one most often missed, because translations done abroad by a freelancer, or by a relative, carry no credentials at all. Our certification names the company (a translation company registered in Ankara since 2008), its trade registry number, address and contact details, and the person signing, which is the information the rule asks for. For settlement on the work routes and long residence the general GOV.UK certification wording applies, and our statement already goes beyond it. Notarisation is not required on any settlement route.

Turkish documents typical of an ILR file

• A fresh nüfus kayıt örneği where a child has been born, a marriage has taken place or a divorce has been finalised since the last grant.
• Children’s birth certificates for dependants applying for settlement at the same time.
• Turkish passport pages with border stamps, used to evidence absences from the UK where the caseworker asks.
• Bank statements for cash savings in a Turkish account counted towards the financial requirement.
• Tapu and sale documents if savings came from property sold in Türkiye.
• A divorce decree where a previous marriage ended during the qualifying period and has not yet been shown.

Where settlement files go wrong on translation

• No company credentials on the translation, so item (iv) is unmet and the caseworker requests a new translation, adding weeks.
• A five-year-old translation of a nüfus record reused although the family has changed, so it contradicts the application form.
• Passport stamps left untranslated or listed inconsistently, so absences do not add up.
• Bank statements translated for the wrong six-month window.
• Different translators used at each visa stage, leaving the same person’s name spelt three ways across the file.

Preparing an ILR bundle with us

Tell us which route you are settling under and send scans of every Turkish document your adviser has listed. We translate in full, render stamps and border entries in a table the caseworker can follow, and keep names identical to your passport, adding a note where a Turkish record differs. Each page carries the accuracy statement, date, signature, company name, registry number and contact details. You receive a PDF for upload; a courier copy is optional. A fresh nüfus kayıt örneği and six months of statements come to about £40–90 and take 1–2 working days; passport stamp pages are priced by the number of pages. No UK VAT is charged. Our ILR guide and checklist set out the sequence, and the certified translation explainer shows the certification wording in full.