Birth Certificate Translation for Belgium

The multilingual standard-form extract (meertalig uittreksel) as an alternative

Turkish civil registry offices can issue a birth record as a multilingual international document – a standard-form extract – under the relevant international convention. Belgium is a party to that framework, so the multilingual extract (meertalig uittreksel / extrait plurilingue) may be accepted in many procedures without any separate translation. This is the most practical difference Belgium makes to a birth certificate: asking the civil registry office for the multilingual extract first can remove the cost of a separate translation altogether. Even so, some municipalities or authorities may call for a full translation, so you need to confirm with your counterpart which form is accepted.

Consistency when Turkish letters are rendered

Where a full translation is needed, the difficulty that comes up most often in carrying names across is how Turkish letters should appear in a Dutch or French text. The decisive principle is not to read the letters phonetically but to follow the official spelling in the person’s passport exactly; however the name is written there, that is the spelling used by the beëdigd vertaler or traducteur juré. Showing a letter such as “ş” or “ç” in more than one way creates inconsistency even within a single document and makes identity matching harder for the municipality or the Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken. Where a person has two or more forenames, the order is preserved, and separate fields such as the mother’s maiden name are never merged into one another. Province and district names appearing as the place of birth are not translated; they keep their original spelling. Dates too are carried across as they stand; only where necessary is the month written in the target language. Choosing the right target language for the language region (NL or FR) is what keeps names and field headings looking consistent. When several documents belonging to the same family are submitted together, having every name look the same heads off needless questions. Once the document reaches a municipality (gemeente / commune), the official reads the translation side by side with the passport and the other records; that is why consistent name spelling and the right choice of language region decide whether the file is accepted at the first attempt.

If a full translation is needed: which language region, which language

If a full translation is needed, the target language follows the language region you are applying in: Dutch (NL) in the Flemish region, French (FR) in the Walloon region, and German in a small region in the east. Having the document translated into the wrong language will see the application refused outright. Carrying names and place names across is the most critical technical point: names containing Turkish special characters must be identical to the passport spelling, and the place of birth and the province and district names must keep their original spelling. Belgium operates a sworn translator system; the official translation is produced by a sworn translator entered in the national register (beëdigd vertaler / traducteur juré). In a translation produced in Türkiye, the sworn translator signs it, the notary notarises it and an apostille is attached.

How a birth certificate differs from a civil registry extract

A birth certificate and a civil registry extract are different documents; the first records the event of birth, the second shows the person’s current registration details. Finding out at the outset which one the municipality or the authority wants keeps you from translating the wrong document and starting the process over. The translation shows the type of document correctly in its heading; where there are marginal annotations (marriage, divorce, recognition), these too are translated in full, or appear with their equivalents in the multilingual extract, because they show the person’s marital status.

The apostille and the order of certification

Before you submit, keep these points in mind:

• First confirm whether the multilingual standard-form extract is accepted.
• If a full translation is needed, settle the correct language region and target language (NL/FR).
• Check that the marginal annotations have been translated; on the full-translation route, obtain the apostille before the translation.

Belgium is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention; confirm the current position from the official HCCH list. You can see the level of certification required for other documents on our document types page, review the cost on our pricing page, and upload your document for a quote. Translations are handled from our single office in Ankara Kızılay. This account is a guide only; the binding requirement is set by the institution handling your case.