Can I Get Married In Turkey As a Foreigner?

Foreign Citizens' Guide For Marriage in Turkey

In terms of Marriage Conditions and License:

The marriage license and conditions are subject to the national law of each party at the time of marriage. In other words, a minor in his own country does not have a license to marry in another country.

In Turkey, a foreign citizen and a Turkish citizen, or two foreigners with two different nationalities may only get married before an authorized Turkish marriage officer. Two foreigners who are citizens of the same state, if they are authorized by their national laws, can either get married before the Turkish authorities or their state's representative in Turkey (Embassies). In other words, if a Turkish and a German are to be married, the marriage should be performed by Turkish officials before the witnesses, while two Germans must get married in the German Embassy in Turkey. A German and a Russian, on condition that they both reside in Turkey, may get married before the Turkish authorities.

Documents Required for Application:

Foreign citizens will receive the Certificate of Celibacy in Turkish (except for multilingual and apostilled documents) from the consulate they are affiliated with. In the absence of the representative office of the country that issues the certificate in the city to which the application was made, the certificate can only be processed and accepted after it is approved by the governorship of the city; and translated with the approval of one of the representative offices of the country in Turkey along with a notary approval. However, if the certificate was issued by the country’s representative office in Ankara, then it may only be processed and accepted after it is translated with a notary approval and is approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most importantly, the document must contain the phrase “There is no legal obstacle for marriage”. In addition, if the woman to be married is a widow, the death date of her spouse; and , if divorced, the date of divorce will be written.
A divorced or widowed woman will bring their Birth Certificate stating their maiden name (it can be taken from the country's embassy in Turkey). If foreign nationals bring their marriage license documents and birth certificates from their own countries, they need to get the documents approved at the Embassy of Turkey in their country.
Passports must be certified with a Turkish translation at the notary. Passports with expired visas cannot be processed.
If the couple does not speak Turkish, after the marriage declaration is filled, it will be translated into their own language and approved by the notary. They will also bring a sworn translator/interpreter during their application and marriage with them.
Couples will receive a medical report for marriage from any health center. The health report taken from the health center will be stamped by the Health Group District Directorate.
Six photographs from each of the parties (polaroid, colorless, photocopied photographs are not accepted.)

Note: Application with missing documents is never accepted. Couples must come to the application in person. The legal validity period of the entire document is 6 months.

Marriage Agreement

In addition to the notarized contract text, the IDs of the parties, 3 passport photos and sworn and certified translations of the passports of foreign citizens are required and sufficient.

Foreign Citizens' Guide to Divorces in Turkey

When it comes to foreigners, more than one situation comes to mind.

Both parties can be citizens of the same foreign country (German-German), they can be citizens of two different foreign countries (German-Russian). In addition, it is possible that only one of the parties is a foreign citizen (Turkish-German).

Then, the reasons and provisions for divorce and separation are subject to the common national law (German Law) of spouses (German-German) in the first case.

In case they have different citizenships (for example, if one of is Russian and the other is German), then the common law of the country of their residence (where they live together) is applied. So, if they live in Turkey, then Turkish law is applied.

If the spouses live together in Turkey (if their mutual habitual residence is Turkey); For example, if a German-Russian couple resides in Turkey, then they can get divorced in Turkey.

If the spouses’ mutual habitual residence is not in Turkey, then decisions regarding guardianship, curatorship, constraint, absence and being deemed deceased are met by the court of the person’s residency city, or if they are not a resident, then the decisions are met by the court of the city where they own assets.

Matrimonial Property

Marriage goods ARTICLE 15:

(1) Spouses can openly choose one of the usual residential or national laws about marriage property at the time of marriage. In the event that such a choice is not made, the common national law of the spouses at the time of marriage is applied to the marriage property. In the absence of this, common habitual residence law at the moment of marriage is applied. If such a choice is not found, either, then the Turkish law is applied.

(2) In the liquidation of the goods, the law of the country in which they are located is applied for non-movables.

(3) Spouses who have a new joint law after marriage may be subject to this new law, without prejudice to the rights of third parties.

After lawsuits such as divorce, alimony and liquidation of matrimonial property have been filed and resolved abroad:

This verdict, which was given by a foreign court, must be recognised and enforced in Turkey as well, for the goods to be divided in Turkey.

Otherwise, the decision to liquidate the matrimonial property issued by the court abroad will only bind the country in which the decision was made and t will not be possible do divide goods in Turkey due to the fact that the decision will not have applicability unless it is recognised and enforced in Turkey.

**This study is prepared by Kula Law Office. Please contact by e-mail ([email protected]) or call at +902324350604 for publication of the article in other channels, detailed information and questions about the subject.