Translations for giving notice of marriage (register office)

Giving notice as a Turkish citizen

Before a civil or religious marriage in England or Wales both of you give notice at a register office, having lived in the district for at least seven days, and then wait 28 days. A Turkish national who does not hold indefinite leave or settled status gives notice at a designated register office, and the notice may be referred to the Home Office, which can extend the waiting period to 70 days. To come to the UK for the wedding you need a Marriage Visitor visa or, if you intend to stay, a fiancé(e) visa. At the notice appointment you bring your passport, proof of address, evidence of your immigration status and, if you have been married before, evidence that the marriage ended. Everything from the Turkish side is in Turkish, and the registrar cannot accept what they cannot read.

What the register office asks for

GOV.UK’s list of documents for giving notice states, for anyone whose documents are not in English, that you must bring a translation of any documents that are not in English; the sentence is quoted in the box. No format, register or qualification is prescribed, so registrars apply the ordinary certification standard: a written statement that the translation is a true and accurate translation of the original document, the date, and the translator’s or company’s name and contact details. Our certification includes those and the company’s Ankara registry details on every page. Two things are different from a visa application. The registrar looks at paper, not a screen, so bring a printed set with a wet signature. And the registrar keeps copies for the notice file, so the translation should be clearly bound to the copy of the original it belongs to.

Turkish documents you may need at the appointment

• A divorce decree (boşanma kararı) with the finality note (kesinleşme şerhi), where a previous marriage ended in a Turkish court.
• A former spouse’s death certificate where you are widowed.
• A name-change court decision or a nüfus record where your current name differs from an older document.
• A single-status certificate or nüfus kayıt örneği: not on the GOV.UK list for notice, but often already translated for the visa and useful if the registrar asks about marital history.

The evlenme ehliyet belgesi that Turkish law uses is not a register office requirement. The London consulate issues a no-impediment letter for Turkish citizens marrying in England; it is for your own reassurance and for the later consular registration of the marriage, not a document the registrar needs.

What causes a second appointment

• A divorce decree translated without the finality note, so the registrar cannot see that the divorce is final and refers the foreign divorce to the General Register Office for a decision, which takes weeks.
• A translation shown on a phone screen; the registrar needs a paper copy to keep.
• Only the operative page of a long judgment translated, with the parties’ names and the court details on other pages left in Turkish.
• Names in a maiden form on the decree and a married form on the passport with nothing to connect them.
• An old translation from a visa application that lacks the translator’s contact details.

How we prepare notice-of-marriage documents

Send scans of every page of the decree or certificate and a copy of your passport biodata page so that names match. We translate in full, including the court seal, the finality note and any registrar stamps, add a note reconciling names, and certify every page with the accuracy statement, date, signature, company name, registry number and contact details. You receive the PDF within 1–2 working days and a wet-signed hard copy by courier from Ankara (£30, 2–4 working days) or by Special Delivery from our UK print partner (£8), bound to a copy of the original. A typical Turkish divorce decree runs to 4–10 pages and costs £40–100; a death certificate or name-change decision £10–20. No UK VAT is charged. The same translations serve for the fiancé(e) visa and the later spouse application, and our guide to marrying in England as a Turkish citizen covers the whole sequence, including registering the marriage at the Turkish consulate afterwards.