Civil Registry Extract Translation

The document reflects one of the most distinctive structures in Turkish administration: the logic of the family register. People are recorded not individually but numbered within a family unit. That structure is unfamiliar to a foreign official, and the real work of the translation is to make the logic intelligible.

Volume number, family order number, individual order number

At the top of the document, after the name of the province, district and neighbourhood or village, come three figures: the volume number, the family order number and the individual order number. These are not an address but a position in the register. They stay the same however often the person moves; the place of registration and the place of residence are two different things.

Foreign institutions frequently take these fields for a place of birth or an address. The translation therefore has to render the field names in explanatory form: which figure denotes what, and what the concept of the register means in a few words. The figures themselves are carried over without the slightest change.

The line reading “place of registration” invites a similar misunderstanding. It shows not where the person was born but where the family’s register is kept; the place of birth is a separate field. Confusing the two creates an impression of inconsistency, particularly in citizenship and parentage files.

The full extract and the record of events

A full civil registry extract shows the changes in a person’s marital status along with their dates: marriage, divorce, change of forename or surname, adoption, acknowledgement of paternity, acquisition of citizenship and death. These lines are the most valuable part of the document, because they summarise a person’s legal history on a single page.

Event lines are written in abbreviated, technical form; each carries the type of event, its date and its legal basis. That basis is usually a court judgment or an administrative act, and it is cited by number. Carrying those numbers and dates across in full is what allows a foreign authority to verify that the event really took place.

Entries recording a change of forename or surname carry a particular weight. Where a person appears in earlier documents under a different name, that line is the only evidence linking the two identities. Omitting the entry can lead to the documents in a file being taken for those of different people.

Column headings and status fields

The document contains fields that are short but open to interpretation. The “status” column shows whether the person is alive or deceased; the fact that it looks blank is not an omission but simply how the system records it. A foreign official seeing an empty field may hesitate, so it is sensible for the translation to state the status explicitly.

The “marital status” field takes the values single, married, divorced and widowed; their equivalents in the target language carry legal consequences and are chosen with care. The “religion” field, meanwhile, counts as sensitive data in many countries; where it appears on the document it appears in the translation too, but it is never added and never interpreted.

The names of the mother and father recur on every line, and their appearing in the same spelling throughout the file is decisive in parentage cases. Where the same person is “Mehmet” on one document and “Mehmed” on another, the institution may ask for further evidence.

How foreign spouses and children appear in the register

In mixed marriages the family register includes the foreign spouse; because that person’s details were transferred from documents issued in their home country, however, they may have been written differently. Letter changes that occur as the name passes into the Turkish register can create a mismatch in a file later submitted abroad.

The course to follow in translation is to carry the entry across as it stands and not to attempt any correction where it differs from the spelling on the source-country document. The authority to correct lies with the civil registry office, not with the translator. Where the difference is going to cause lasting trouble, the right answer is to apply for the record to be corrected.

Children born abroad are entered in the register after the event, so a foreign city appears as their place of birth. That city name is not translated; where it has an established form in the target language, that form is used. The date of registration on the same line may differ from the date of birth, and confusing the two misstates the child’s age.

In cases of dual nationality, the other nationality may not appear on the document at all; the civil registry records only the position falling within Turkish citizenship. Keeping that limit clear in the translation stops the receiving institution from reading more into the document than it says.

The international multilingual version

Civil registry offices can issue certain records on a multilingual international form. This form carries its field headings in several languages and in numbered form; in the states party to the arrangement it is often accepted without any further translation or apostille. Where information about past events is needed, though, the international form may fall short and the Turkish version with its translation becomes necessary.

The sound approach is to find out in advance which version the institution wants. If the international form will do, both the translation step and the apostille step disappear; if it will not, obtaining the Turkish version from the outset saves a second application.

The international form has one further limitation: the number of fields is restricted and it carries only basic information. In inheritance and citizenship files, where family ties have to be shown in detail, the form is usually not enough. In such cases the full Turkish version and a complete translation of it are the only correct route.

Purpose and level of certification

Purpose of use	Appropriate version	Level of certification
Marital status in a visa file	Extract for the individual	Sworn translation
Family reunification application	Full extract	Notarisation + apostille
Marriage in a foreign country	Full extract	Notarisation + apostille
Inheritance and succession matters	Full extract	Notarisation + apostille
Citizenship application	Full extract	Notarisation + apostille

Differences from country to country

In Germany the registry offices want the full extract and a translation by a court-sworn translator together; explaining the register numbers makes the official’s work markedly easier. In the Netherlands the immigration authority and the educational institutions ask for different sets, so two copies of the same record may be needed, and the translator is required to be entered on the official register. The United States has no sworn translator system; the immigration authority accepts an English translation carrying a signed statement of accuracy. For a comparison, see our countries guide.

Mistakes peculiar to this document

• Submitting the plain extract when the full extract was asked for; with no record of events, the file remains incomplete.
• Translating the volume and family order numbers as though they were address details.
• Confusing “place of registration” with place of birth.
• Skipping the line recording a change of forename or surname.
• Simplifying Turkish characters and drifting away from the spelling in the passport.
• Leaving the barcode and verification code of the e-Devlet printout out of the translation.

Start with the right version

With civil registry extracts the problem is rarely the translation; it is the wrong version being chosen. Tell us which institution you are applying to and what for, and we will work out together which version you need, whether the international form will serve, and which level of certification will be looked for. Languages are listed on our languages page and local information on our provinces page; you can send your document through the quotation form.

This page is for general information; the level of certification required is set by the institution requesting the document. We recommend confirming the current position with the authority handling your case.