Which documents need a sworn translation in Türkiye in 2026

The office names the page

A birth record, a diploma and a certificate that you are free to marry do not always need a sworn translation. In 2026 the reader is often a provincial migration directorate, a university international office, the Council of Higher Education, a national-education equivalence centre, or a marriage officer at an evlendirme dairesi.

The uses here are an ikamet, a university or equivalence file, and a marriage in Türkiye. This is general information from October 2026, not a legal opinion. The short list of questions comes first. The oath and the pair are in the Persian, Dari and Pashto guide. The consular chain is in the legalization and denklik guide.

TürkiyeRota works from Fethiye for clients elsewhere in Türkiye. The pairs are Persian, Dari, Pashto and English, each with Turkish, both ways. The profile is on the Asuman Aksoy page. No translation price, notary tariff or public fee is printed here.

Four marks, not one product

A sworn translation, notary approval, an apostille and consular legalisation are four acts. Sworn and notarized translation separates the first three.

Yeminli tercüme is signed after an oath before a Turkish notary. Article 103 of Notaries Law No. 1512 puts a note under the translation. Where a sworn translator is used, the note names that translator, and the notary dates, signs and seals it. Notaries work through the Türkiye Noterler Birliği, and the Union publishes no translation price.

Noter onaylı tercüme is that later act, usually on the signature. The notary does not translate again, and does not confirm a foreign registry. e-İkamet asks for notarized Turkish on a foreign civil document, so a text that never reached a notary can fail the note. A university may instead write noter tasdikli çeviri. Use the phrase on your list.

An apostille, under the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, replaces chain legalisation between parties. It attests a signature, a seal and the signer’s capacity. It does not translate. Türkiye has been a party since 29 September 1985. Iran and Afghanistan are absent from the HCCH status table updated on 30 June 2026. Pakistan has been a party since 9 March 2023. Check the row again on filing day.

Tasdik is the route when no apostille exists. The Tasdik Birimi brochure says each authority confirms the previous signature and seal, not the wording. One method uses the Turkish representation abroad and a translation certified there. The other uses that country’s representation in Türkiye, then Ankara or that city’s governor, with the translation and notary approval done in Türkiye. The Ministry does not recertify a document that already has an apostille.

İkamet: only the civil page the list named

An ikamet izni is permission to stay under Law No. 6458. Types and the e-İkamet path are in the 2026 residence-permit guide. A short-term file is mostly Turkish: the form, proof of housing, an address record, insurance, photographs. Do not send a Turkish e-signed paper abroad only because the passports are Iranian or Afghan.

A foreign civil document is different. The short-term list covers a birth record, a custody paper, a death record and, for a family tie, the record of that tie. In paraphrase: a Turkish issue needs an e-signature or a signature and stamp; a convention country needs notarized Turkish and an apostille; a non-party, or a page with no apostille, needs that country’s approval and the Turkish approval the note names, plus notarized Turkish.

Iran and Afghanistan are that third case. Legalisation and notarized Turkish are both required, and English does not replace Turkish. A family file is the usual place for the foreign marriage record, and the original comes to the appointment. Permit pages sit under residence and visa documents. The civil page sits under personal documents.

• Open your own e-İkamet list the week you file. A tourism file and a family file do not share the civil-document row.
• Translate a foreign birth, marriage, divorce, custody or death record only when the list names it.
• For Iran and Afghanistan, plan on legalisation and notarized Turkish. Do not request an apostille.
• Bring the original with the translation. Keep a Turkish lease, a bill and an e-Devlet print out of that folder.
• If the passport and the record spell a name differently, say so before the translation is signed. The translator follows the page.
• The first note to translation services names the document, the languages, the issuing country and the directorate. It omits the passport number.

The student list is shorter

The permit is the student residence guide. The student form read on 21 October 2026 says a passport that is not in Latin letters needs a translation approved by a sworn translator or by the official authorities. Many Iranian passports already show Latin beside Persian. Ask before translating a booklet an officer can read.

A minor may still need a birth record, and custody, death or single-parent papers, when the passport does not show the parents. Outside the Apostille Convention that means the country’s approval, the Turkish approval, and notarized Turkish. A student certificate, a dormitory letter and insurance are issued in Türkiye.

University admission is not denklik

How to apply is the 2026 university guide. Registration and YÖK do not share a booklet. The four 2026 pages below are examples. Read the university that will enrol you.

Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, a state university, accepts Turkish or English in its 2026–2027 guide and wants a notarized or embassy-approved translation of any other language on the passport identity pages, the diploma and the transcript. Istanbul 29 Mayıs University, a foundation university, says in its 2026 guide that anything else needs a Turkish translation certified by a notary or a consulate, including the diploma, the transcript and the passport pages.

Istanbul Kültür University, a foundation university, asks at final registration for an English or Turkish sworn translation if the diploma, transcript or passport is not in English, plus a separate Ministry denklik certificate. Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University, a state university, defines an approved translation in its 2026 directive as Turkish approved by a Turkish embassy or consulate, or Turkish by a sworn translator the Republic has authorized.

Persian, Dari and Pashto are not English. English can fit one campus and fail a migration file or YÖK. Diplomas and transcripts is the service page. Translate a course list or a national exam result only when that page names it.

• Use this year’s international page, not last year’s PDF.
• Translate the diploma and transcript in the language and with the certification that page names.
• Translate the passport only if the page asks for it.
• A Ministry denklik certificate, when registration requires one, is a separate application.
• English accepted on one campus is not a YÖK rule.

What equivalence asks to have in Turkish

High-school equivalence belongs to the Ministry of National Education, under the regulation of 9 July 2024, filed at e-Denklik. Article 5 asks for the diploma with an apostille or, if there is none, approval by that country’s education ministry, foreign ministry, or embassy or consulate. Iran and Afghanistan use the second branch. If the centre cannot read the language, it asks for a notarized translation, and a translation made abroad needs consular approval under Law No. 1512. No fee is stated here.

YÖK equivalence covers associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees taken abroad. A doctorate goes to the Interuniversity Board. The application page wants the original diploma and transcript and a Turkish translation of each, approved by a Turkish notary or a Turkish representation. A foreign national needs that denklik for graduate study in Türkiye only in clinical health fields. A Turkish citizen with a foreign degree needs it.

A degree from Iran needs the 20-digit graduation code from Portal.saorg.ir on the consent form, whether or not the holder is an Iranian citizen. YÖK does not take the file without it, and a translation cannot supply the code. The 2026 fee is in the legalization guide. An Afghan diploma may be Dari, Pashto or both. Translate the language on the page. The stamp, as with Iran, is legalisation.

• Confirm in writing whether the file is high-school equivalence or YÖK.
• Finish the non-apostille approval before you bind the translation to it.
• Order the Turkish text the page names: a Turkish notary, or a Turkish representation.
• Enter the Iranian graduation code yourself. The translator does not create it.
• On a bilingual original, translate both languages unless the office accepts one pair in writing.

Marriage and the certificate of capacity

A marriage between a Turkish citizen and a foreigner, or between foreigners of different nationalities, is performed by an authorized Turkish marriage officer. Two citizens of one state may use their representation if their law allows, or the Turkish officer. The Directorate states this on its marriage page, under the Evlendirme Yönetmeliği. Use the list where you will stand, not another district’s PDF.

Article 20, as that page summarizes the file, asks for the declaration, a health report from an official or private institution, consent where age or a restriction requires it, photographs, and a population extract or a certificate of capacity to marry. The photographs are four, in colour, full face, in civilian clothes, from the last six months. The health report is taken in Türkiye. A Turkish partner’s population extract is not sent abroad.

The foreign paper is an evlenme ehliyet belgesi, often called a bekarlık belgesi. The Directorate wants more than “single”: name, surname, parents’ names, date of birth, and a statement that nothing bars the marriage, from the competent central authority or that state’s local representation, duly certified. Originals stay in the file. An honorary consulate’s document is not used. The national page does not print “sworn translation”. Each evlendirme dairesi adds its own line.

Bodrum’s list asks a Hague-country certificate for an apostille and notarized Turkish made in Türkiye. A multilingual form of the kind it names may skip a full translation, and the six months it prints is Bodrum’s own period. An Iranian or Afghan record is not that form. Muratpaşa’s list describes embassy approval in Ankara, Ministry legalisation, and notarized Turkish by a sworn translator in Türkiye. A consular certificate from another city goes to the governorate. Iran and Afghanistan cannot issue an apostille.

Some local lists also want a birth certificate or a translation of the passport photo page. The national summary does not. A person who still appears married cannot marry until a death, divorce or court ending is registered, and the officer may ask for that foreign record, certified and translated. Whether a Turkish court must recognize a divorce first is for the officer or a lawyer. Under article 13, some people without a residence permit, including refugees and people under temporary protection, receive the certificate from the provincial migration directorate.

• Ask your evlendirme dairesi in writing for the list that fits both nationalities.
• Translate the evlenme ehliyet belgesi. “Single” alone, with no parents and no date of birth, can miss the Directorate’s description.
• For Iran and Afghanistan, legalise first, then use the Turkish form that office named, often a notarized translation made in Türkiye.
• Leave the Turkish health report, the photographs and a Turkish population extract untranslated.
• Add a birth record, a passport page, or a divorce or death record only if the list names it.
• Take the originals. The regulation keeps them in the marriage file.

An interpreter is not the translation

Article 27 is the ceremony, in person, before an authorized officer and at least two witnesses. A power of attorney cannot replace the couple. If a foreigner does not know Turkish, the officer may use an interpreter of the first official language of a state Türkiye recognizes, brought by the parties. Some lists, including Muratpaşa’s, also want a sworn interpreter and the oath record. Yours may not.

The translated certificate does not put a person in the room. Interpretation is a separate booking, and it is not available for every pair or every day. Persian fits an Iranian page. Dari and Pashto are separate pairs. The officer decides. Translation services can discuss the written file. The ceremony is another request.

One order, then the office decides

The costly mistake is shared. The Turkish text is ordered before anyone has checked the foreign stamp, the language the office wants, and whether it asked for the signature alone or for the notary as well.

Do not request an apostille on an Iranian or Afghan page. Finish that country’s approval, then the Turkish step the office and the brochure allow. Order the translation once you know it will be certified abroad or notarized in Türkiye. An English diploma translation stays with the university. The ikamet file and the marriage file take the Turkish their own lists name.

TürkiyeRota prepares the written pair and can explain the notary step. It does not issue apostilles, stamps, permits, denklik certificates or marriage records. The directorate, the university, YÖK, the equivalence centre or the marriage officer decides. These pages were read in October 2026. On the contact form, name the document, the languages, the issuing country, the office and the deadline, and leave out the passport number.