Translation of Residence and Family Documents for Germany

The consulate issues the visa; the Ausländerbehörde takes the decision

In a family reunification application you hand the file in to the German mission in Türkiye, but the substantive examination is carried out by the Ausländerbehörde for the district where your spouse or parent lives. The mission gathers the papers and passes them to the foreigners’ authority; that office compares the conditions on housing, means of subsistence and family ties against its own records and gives an opinion. This two-part structure has two consequences: how long you wait depends largely on the workload of the office on the German side, and that office may ask for documents that were not on the mission’s initial list. Knowing which district the party in Germany falls under, while you are putting the file together, lets you anticipate which additional documents may come.

Where the marriage is to take place divides the process from the outset. Marrying in Türkiye and then applying for reunification calls for a different set of documents from marrying in Germany. If you are to marry in Germany, the office you deal with is the register office and the certificate of no impediment to marriage sits at the centre of the file; if you married in Türkiye, that central place goes to the civil registry documents showing the marriage entry.

The Ehefähigkeitszeugnis and the question of the multilingual copy

The certificate of no impediment required of a Turkish citizen who is to marry in Germany is obtained from the civil registry directorate in Türkiye and shows that there is no legal obstacle to the person marrying. It has a limited period of validity; obtained early and then left to wait, it may have expired by the time it is presented to the register office. Under the international conventions to which Türkiye is also a party, certain civil registry documents can be issued as a multilingual international copy (the formula version); Germany is among the countries that recognise these copies, and in that case a translation may not be asked for at all. Which documents are available as a multilingual copy, and whether the office will accept one, varies, so it is worth asking beforehand.

Document	Why it is asked for	Position on translation
Certificate of no impediment	That there is no legal obstacle to marriage	Sworn translation where there is no multilingual copy
Civil registry extract	Family tie and marital status	Translation may not be needed if an international copy can be obtained
Birth certificate	Parentage, in reunification with a child	Translation where there is no formula copy
Income and insurance documents	Sufficiency of means	Translation in every case

What holds the file up most: means of subsistence and housing

The most frequent notice of missing papers in family reunification comes from submitting the documents that show the sufficiency of the income and the housing of the party in Germany in a scattered way. The office looks not at a single payslip but at the continuity of the income; the employment contract, regular payslips, a letter from the employer and the tenancy agreement are read together. Since the adequacy of the accommodation is assessed against the number of occupants, the floor area and the number of rooms stated in the tenancy agreement become decisive. It is also expected that you show how health insurance cover will be provided once the spouse arrives. These documents are issued in Germany and so need no translation; the need for translation arises with the civil registry and marital status documents going from Türkiye.

The second frequent problem is the basic German language certificate expected in spouse reunification cases. Since who is exempt from this condition has changed over time, you need to check from the mission’s current announcement whether your own situation falls within an exception.

Where translation and certification sit in the process

The order is this: the civil registry documents are obtained with a current date, the apostille is completed in Türkiye if required, and the document is translated in full at the very end, together with the apostille certificate. Translations to be submitted in Germany are prepared as sworn translations, in keeping with the regime of translators authorised by a court, and bound to the source document. The reason for leaving the translation to last is that an apostille obtained afterwards creates fresh text that has to be added to the translation. You can see which level of approval applies to which document on our document types page, and turn to our country guide to compare the practice of other countries.

The record on the Turkish side should not be forgotten either

Having a marriage contracted in Germany entered in the Turkish civil register is a separate procedure, and it is usually done by notifying the Turkish consulate. Where that notification is not made, the person goes on appearing as unmarried in Turkish records, which throws up unexpected obstacles in matters of inheritance, title deeds and powers of attorney. The same holds for children born in Germany: the German birth certificate has to be notified to Türkiye, and at that stage the document is required to be translated into Turkish. The direction of translation is thereby reversed; it is now the German document that is carried into Turkish. Completing both notifications within the first year after settling in Germany prevents corrective work from piling up later.

What is asked for after you arrive in Germany

The process does not end once the visa is issued and you have travelled to Germany. You register your address, and then apply to the foreigners’ authority once more for the residence permit card. At this stage the documents brought from Türkiye are often called for again, and sometimes with a more recent date. Taking several original copies of papers such as the civil registry extract and the marriage certificate with you is therefore a practical precaution; obtaining a new document from Türkiye while you are in Germany can take weeks, between the power of attorney and the postage.

Reunification with a child brings one further detail: custody. A parent who wishes to bring a child over after a divorce is asked for the court judgment showing custody and the consent of the other parent. Court judgments take longer to translate than civil registry documents; to see the cost by number of pages in advance you can look at our pricing page, and upload your documents to request a quotation.

This page is intended as guidance; the certification regimes of countries and the document formats they require may be updated over time. Because practice can change, work from the requirement in force at the moment of your application.