Using Civil Registration Records Without Apostille and Certification

In 1950, the International Commission on Civil Status was established under the leadership of Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland and convened to work on the harmonization of provisions on citizenship and civil registration of individuals. Turkey became a member of this Commission on September 24, 1953, and 22 of the 34 conventions signed by this Commission have entered into force in Turkey.

Within the scope of the 16th Protocol of the Commission, “Convention On The Issue Of Multilingual Extracts From Civil Status Records” signed in Vienna on 08.09.1976, it is regulated that the certificates are known as Formula A for births, Formula B for marriages, and Formula C for deaths will be issued in multilingual form for use in foreign countries and that these documents may be used in the authorities of the contracting states without the need for apostille, translation or notary procedures.

According to this convention, Formula A, Formula B, and Formula C are obtained from the competent authorities of the individual’s home country (e.g. municipality, civil registry, ministry) signed and sealed. They may then be used directly for transactions in Turkey and other state parties without the need for further certification, apostille, or translation.

These documents may also be used instead of birth and marriage certificates required for citizenship and residence permit applications in Turkey.

States that have signed the Convention, in other words, the states where the civil registration extracts may be used:

• Turkey
• Germany
• Austria
• Belgium
• Spain
• France
• Greece
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands
• Portugal
• Switzerland
• Slovenia
• Croatia
• Macedonia
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Serbia
• Poland
• Montenegro
• Moldova
• Lithuania
• Estonia
• Romania
• Bulgaria
• Cape Verde