Birth certificate translation for use in Türkiye

To use a foreign birth certificate in Türkiye, you usually need the original with its legalisation and a notarised Turkish translation made in Türkiye. If the issuing country is a party to the Apostille Convention, the apostille goes on the original before translation. If it is not, the certificate passes through a chain of approvals instead. A CIEC multilingual extract is the main exception to both routes.

Where you need a birth certificate translation in Türkiye

A birth certificate records a person's name, date and place of birth and, in most countries, the parents' names. Turkish offices ask for it when those details are missing from the rest of your file.

• Marriage in Türkiye. The main document is the certificate of no impediment. Some marriage offices also ask for a birth certificate when that certificate does not show your parents' names, place of birth or date of birth.
• Registering a birth abroad. If a Turkish citizen's child was born abroad and the birth was not reported to the Turkish mission, the parent can report it in Türkiye. The civil registry office (nüfus müdürlüğü) then needs the original birth certificate and a notarised Turkish translation.
• Other civil-registry files. The civil registry applies one general rule to foreign civil-status documents: a legalised original plus a notarised Turkish translation.

If your child is born in Türkiye, the birth must be reported to the civil registry within 30 days, and the hospital can also receive the report. Registering the child with your own country follows that country's rules, so ask your consulate.

Each office keeps its own list, and lists change. Ask your marriage office or civil registry office for its current list before you order the translation. For the wider picture, see our overview of family and civil-status documents.

Legalising a foreign birth certificate before translation

Legalisation comes first. It goes on the original document, in the country that issued it.

Birth certificate from an Apostille country

The competent authority of the issuing country puts an apostille on the original. In Türkiye you then add a notarised Turkish translation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Dışişleri Bakanlığı) does not add any further certification to an apostilled document.

An apostille confirms the signature, the signer's capacity and the seal on the birth certificate. It does not confirm what the certificate says.

Birth certificate from a country outside the Convention

Without an apostille, the certificate needs approval by the issuing country's authorities, then by the consular chain and a Turkish authority. A common route is approval by that country's foreign ministry and then by the Turkish embassy or consulate there. After that, a notarised Turkish translation makes it usable in Türkiye.

Special cases

• A CIEC multilingual extract of a birth record (Formula A) is accepted by the civil registry without legalisation. Municipal offices report that they do not ask for a translation when Turkish is one of the languages on the form.
• A birth certificate issued by an honorary consulate cannot be used for civil-registry or marriage procedures.
• According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs authentication FAQ, a Turkish notary cannot certify a photocopy of a foreign birth certificate as a true copy. Bring the original.

What to check in a birth certificate translation

The translation must let the officer match the birth certificate to your passport and your other documents without doubt.

• Names. A name in Latin script is written letter for letter. Accents, umlauts and other marks stay, even when Turkish has no such letter. A name in another script is transliterated letter by letter, never translated.
• Same spelling everywhere. Some marriage offices require the passport, the birth certificate and the other papers to match exactly. Give the translator a copy of your passport so the spelling follows it.
• Dates and places. Check the day, month and year, and the place of birth, against the original. A swapped day and month is easy to miss.
• Stamps, seals and notes. The translation also covers stamps, handwritten notes and later annotations, such as a recorded name change.
• QR codes and verification lines. If the certificate carries a QR code or an online verification code, the translation describes it and repeats any printed code.

If a spelling error from a translation reaches a marriage registration, the fix needs a new approved document and a new notarised translation. Reading the draft carefully before the notary stage avoids that extra round.

How a notarised birth certificate translation is made

A sworn translator translates the birth certificate into Turkish. A sworn translator is someone who has taken an oath before a Turkish notary. The oath record stays on file at that notary's office, and the notary can only use translators whose record is on file there.

The notary then performs a translation act. The notary adds an endorsement under the translation that identifies the sworn translator and gives the translator's address. The notary dates, signs and seals it.

A notarised translation is treated as valid until proven otherwise. When you use it inside Türkiye, it needs no apostille of its own.

A translation office prepares the translation. It does not issue the notary's endorsement or any apostille. The same order applies to a foreign marriage certificate translation and to a foreign divorce decision translation.

Turkish birth records: English translation for use abroad

A Turkish birth or civil-registry extract can be issued in multilingual form for a state that is part of the CIEC multilingual extract system. That form needs no legalisation.

For other uses, the order depends on the destination country:

• Apostille country. You arrange the apostille yourself. For an administrative document such as a civil-registry extract, the apostille comes from a governor's office (valilik) or a district governor's office (kaymakamlık). If you have an English translation notarised, the apostille on that notarised translation also comes from a governor's or district governor's office, in any province or district.
• Country outside the Convention. The governor's office approves first, then the Consular Authentication Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara, then the destination country's mission in Türkiye. The Ministry unit works by appointment only, booked through tasdik.mfa.gov.tr.

A Turkish nüfus kayıt örneği is an extract from the civil register, not a birth certificate in the foreign sense. The English translation keeps that title, so the receiving authority sees exactly what the document is.