Frequently asked questions

Because they are two different amounts going to two different places. The official fee is set by the Turkish authorities and paid to the treasury; none of it is ours and we add nothing to it. Our fee covers our own work: preparing the file, translation and certification, the appointment, and follow-up until the result comes out. The complaint we hear most often is one vague total, with no way to tell how much was a state fee and how much stayed with the office. Here both figures are written down separately before you pay anything, and they stay as agreed.

Yes. The “document fee and charges” list published by Migration Management exempts nationals of a number of countries from the residence permit fee on the basis of reciprocity, and Syria is among them. But the exemption covers that one item. It does not mean the file costs nothing. The same list keeps the document fee separate from the permit fee. Beyond both, there are amounts paid to other parties — translation, certification, health insurance — and our own fee is separate from all of it. Because the list changes by decision of the authority, we do not print a figure here that reads correctly today and is out of date in a few months: we check it at the time of your procedure and tell you what applies to your case before you pay anything. The official source is set out on the residence permit page.

Our fee does not change after the written agreement. Two things can change: the official state fee, if the Turkish authorities revise it by their own decision, or work turning up in your file that was never part of the agreement — a missing document that needs translation or certification at the notary public, for instance. In either case we show you what changed, why, and what it costs, and we do not go ahead without your approval. Nothing is added to your account that you have not seen. And if yours is the kind of file where extra work is likely, we say so at the start, not halfway through.

Payment goes to the company account, in the company's name, never to a personal account. We give you the account details in writing before payment is due, and if you pay cash at the office the amount is recorded in your name the same day, with a document to match. The difference is not cosmetic: money paid into someone's personal account leaves you with no company to go back to — and that is exactly what happened to many of the people who reach us after a bad experience elsewhere. The official state fee is paid where it belongs and never passes through our account.

Yes — every payment has a receipt, and state fees have their own separate one. What you pay us is recorded against the company, and you get a document showing the amount, the date, and what it was for. The receipt for an official state fee stays in your name, because it is part of your file and you may need it later at renewal or in a matter built on this one. Keep both papers until the matter is finished; we hold copies as well, and if a document we issued goes missing we reissue it for you.

We do not ask for the full amount before the work begins. How the payments are split is written into the agreement before any step is taken: what falls due at the start and what falls due at the later stages. That differs from one matter to another, according to the fees and the work each stage calls for. The official state fee is paid on the date the authority sets, not before it, and we tell you far enough ahead for you to have it ready. If any payment clause in the agreement is not clear, we go through it clause by clause before you sign.

A refusal is not the end of the road in most cases. The first thing we do is read the decision itself and establish on what grounds the application was refused, because the reason is what sets the next step. Then we put the realistic options in front of you: fix what was missing and reapply, take a different route if your situation allows one, or go to the administrative courts — and there we refer you to a lawyer. If reapplying would get you nowhere in your situation, we say so plainly. We do not open a new file just to have one open.

Yes — the reason for the refusal is stated in the decision you receive. It comes in condensed Turkish administrative language, though, and sometimes it is a code or a cross-reference that tells you nothing clear on its own. We read it and explain what it means in practice for your case: a missing document, a condition that wasn't met, or a judgment call the authority kept for itself. If the wording is vague or gives no real reason, we tell you that as it is, instead of inventing an explanation that sounds reassuring but changes nothing. Knowing the reason is what decides whether fixing the gap and reapplying is worth doing at all.

Yes — administrative decisions have both an objection route and a court route, but that is a lawyer's work, not ours. We are an office that follows up administrative files; we are not lawyers and we do not claim to be. What we do is put your file in order — a copy of the decision, the notification date, what was submitted and what was missing — and refer you to a lawyer who takes on the objection or the case. The deadlines on these routes are set by law and differ by type of decision, so we will not quote a period of our own. Showing the decision to a lawyer as soon as it reaches you is the right move.

The administration sets how long it takes, not us. It varies with the type of file, the city and the season, which is why we do not give you an optimistic number we cannot then stick to. When we review your file we tell you the range we would expect for a case like yours, based on what we see in similar files, and we explain when a delay is normal and when it is worth going back to the authority about. A late decision does not necessarily mean something is wrong with the file; plenty of applications simply sit on the administration's side. If it runs longer than usual, we follow up and tell you what we actually heard.

Yes, and we tell you whenever something actually changes in your file. Some applications have an official status check online or through e-Devlet, the government portal, and where that exists for yours we show you how to log in and read your own status without a middleman. Others stay inside the administration and are visible to no one until the decision is issued — and we say so, rather than describing progress we cannot see. Ask us any time: where the file has got to, what the next step is, and whether anything is needed from you right now.

Only the authority handling your procedure can issue an appointment — the Presidency of Migration Management (Göç İdaresi), the civil registry office, or the consulate. Nowhere else issues them. No office or website holds its own stock of appointments to sell; all anyone can do is enter that authority's official system and book what is available in your name. That is what we do: we establish which authority is competent first, then watch its system and book the earliest slot open for your type of application and your province, nothing beyond that. Availability itself is set by that authority, and it differs from province to province and from one period to another. Nobody can promise you a day of your choosing.

No. Appointments are not sold, and anyone promising you an instant one in return for paying now is selling something they do not have. The appointment is issued by the official system in your name, and no one is sitting on a supply of them. Handing your card number to a site when you do not know who is behind it has no place in this kind of work at all. If you come across a site like this and want our read on it, send us the link and we will look at it with you. On our side, we never ask for card details, not by message and not through a link.

Missing one appointment does not end your file; the usual way out is booking a new one. What follows depends on your case: some applications can be rebooked straight from the system, others need a visit to the branch or a reason given for the absence, and that decision sits with the administration, not with us. So it helps to know which of the two applies to you before booking again. Tell us the type of application, the date you missed, and whether you had already submitted it, and we will tell you what applies in your case and the step after it.

Yes, we come with you on the day and interpret where needed. You have to attend in person for most applications, and having us there means you know what is being said and what the document in front of you actually says before you sign it. What you bring is a list made for your case, which we give you once we have seen your file, and we go through the documents with you before the day rather than in the queue. Most cases need originals and copies together, and your passport or temporary protection card depending on your situation, plus whatever your particular application calls for.

A temporary protection card is not a residence permit; the administration treats them as two different statuses. Temporary protection is a status tied to the province you are registered in, with rights and limits set by the administration. A residence permit is granted for a stated reason — study, work, property, family — each with its own conditions, duration and documents. The difference shows in practice when you move between provinces, when you travel, and in some official procedures that ask about your status, not just your name. Which one applies to you depends on when you entered and how you were registered. Tell us your situation and we will tell you exactly where you stand.

In some situations the switch is possible, in others it is not, and the decision ultimately rests with the administration. It is not about what you want. What matters is whether you already have a real reason for residence — study, work, marriage, property, or a particular family situation — each with its own conditions and documents. Switching also means giving up temporary protection, and going back to it is not automatic, so the conditions are examined in full before you start rather than after. Tell us the province you are registered in and the ground you have in mind, and we will tell you whether that route is open to you and what it requires.

No. The temporary protection FAQ published by Migration Management states plainly that the temporary protection card does not give its holder the right to apply for citizenship, and that time spent under temporary protection is not counted when citizenship is acquired through marriage. And article 25 of the Temporary Protection Regulation (Geçici Koruma Yönetmeliği) states that the card's duration is not counted in the residence permit total. The rest is our own reading of it: temporary protection is a protection status, not a residence permit — two different things, as we set out in the question on the difference between them — so however long its years run, they are not residence permit years. We say so plainly because the question reaches us often in the form “I have been here for years now, surely I am entitled…”, and leaving hope resting on something untrue is worse than an answer nobody likes. If a real ground for residence already exists — study, work, family — that is where the road starts, not from counting years. Tell us what you hold on paper and we will tell you which door is open today.

The type is not chosen by preference; it follows from your reason for being in Türkiye. A student's route is not the same as a worker's, someone who bought property is not in the same position as someone with a spouse or parent already resident, and every type has its own conditions, documents and duration. That is why we do not publish a general list telling you to pick one. The type that applies to you becomes clear once we know why you are staying, your housing, your income and your family situation. We ask those questions, then tell you the type whose conditions you actually meet. If none fits you right now, we say so plainly instead of opening a file for you.

Being late does not close the door, but it changes the route: you are no longer in an ordinary renewal. What follows from the delay is for the administration to decide, and it is assessed according to how long the delay lasted, its reason, the permit type and the city. A fresh application may be required instead of a renewal. We will not hand you a number or a ready-made outcome, because that is not in our hands, or any office's. Send us your permit's expiry date, its type and your city. We will look at where you stand and tell you what option is open to you now, and what it takes in documents and steps.

The card is replaced, and losing it does not cancel your registration — the registration sits with the administration, not on the card. The first step is to go to the migration office in the province you are registered in and request a replacement. The procedure differs depending on whether the card was stolen, lost or damaged, and theft usually calls for something proving what happened. Having your temporary protection card number or an old photo of the card makes it easier; not having them does not block it. Tell us the province you are registered in and exactly what happened, and we will arrange the steps and the appointment you need.

Health insurance is required in many residence files, but what is asked for is not the same for everyone. What counts as acceptable is decided by the administration according to the permit type, age and circumstances: someone covered through their job or through their family is in a different position from someone buying a private policy, and the coverage period is tied to the period the file itself calls for. The practical order is to establish the permit type first and then buy a policy that matches it, not the reverse. Tell us the permit type you have in mind, your age and your situation, and we will tell you what your case requires before you pay for a policy.

Some procedures are tied to the province you are registered in and cannot be completed outside it; others have nothing to do with the province. Temporary protection is tied to the province of registration, and a procedure or a residence permit outside it may require travel permission or a transfer of registration — that is the administration's call alone. Procedures such as a power of attorney at the notary public, translation and certification mostly do not require Istanbul registration. Tell us your province of registration and the type of procedure, and we will tell you whether it can be done from Istanbul or needs a step where you are registered — before you pay for a trip.

Two entirely different doors. Moving to another province inside Türkiye requires a travel permit from the migration authority in your province; leaving for a third country ends your temporary protection altogether. The first is a step you request and wait for a decision on; the second cannot be undone once you have left: your card falls away when you leave, and getting the same status back is not automatic. So we ask before any travel arrangement: is this a move inside Türkiye, or an exit from it? The answer changes everything that follows. We do not obtain the travel permit in the administration's place and we do not promise it will be granted; that decision is the administration's alone, and our part is telling you what applies to you before you book a ticket.

A Turkish marriage certificate does not update your Syrian civil record on its own; it has to be registered separately with the competent Syrian authority. Once the Turkish family book is issued, a copy of the marriage certificate is prepared, translated and certified in the form that authority accepts, then submitted so the marriage is entered in your civil record. The number of copies and the type of certification are set by the consulate or the Syrian authority itself, and they change with its decisions, so we do not publish a fixed list that goes out of date. Tell us where you married and which documents you have, and we will set out the route and the office you deal with.

A marriage contracted in Syria is not normally re-contracted in Türkiye, but it does not appear in the Turkish record until it is proven before the competent office with a document that office accepts. The Syrian certificate is not accepted as it is: it needs certification and a sworn translation, and sometimes a recent civil registry extract. What we see most often is a Turkish record that still says single, or has no spouse entered, and at that point correcting the record becomes part of the case rather than a separate step. What exactly is asked for depends on the date of the contract, the office that concluded it, and what is written on both partners' temporary protection cards.

Yes. The health report is among the documents the Directorate of Civil Registration asks for in a marriage procedure; no one is exempt from it and no other document stands in for it. It stops more files on the day than people expect. Every other document is in order, but the report is missing — or not in the form the office asks for. The appointment is postponed, and the whole arrangement starts again. The report is issued by a health institution alone — not by us and not by any office — and our part is arranging its appointment and putting it in the file before the day. Tell us which office you will apply to and which papers you already hold, and we will tell you what is missing before you go.

Family reunification is not one procedure. It is a common name for several different routes, and the first question is whether you mean reunification inside Türkiye or to another country. Inside Türkiye the route depends on what you hold and what your relatives hold: it may be a transfer of registration that brings the family together under temporary protection, or a family residence permit tied to the permit of the person holding the file, or both. Reunification to a European country is an entirely different route, decided by that country's embassy under its own law, not by the Turkish administration. Tell us who is where and who holds what, and we will tell you which route applies to you.

Registering a newborn starts with the birth document the hospital gives you, and that document alone is not enough; the birth has to be entered officially before the child has a record and a number of their own. After that the child's status follows the parents': with temporary protection cards the registration goes one way; with residence permits, the child needs a permit in their own name. Proving who the parents are, and settling the family name, depends on a registered marriage certificate, so if the marriage is not yet proven, it is dealt with before the child is registered, not after. The right order differs from one family to another; we set it after seeing the parents' status and the birth document.

Part of the work can start while he is outside Türkiye, but not every case can be carried through to the end without him. Preparing the documents, translating and certifying them, and reviewing both partners' status do not need him present. Signing before the office, anything that requires a document certified by the Turkish consulate in his country, or a power of attorney from a notary public are steps he takes there. Which of them is accepted depends on his nationality, the country he is in, and whether he can enter Türkiye, and that decision rests with the administration. Once we have seen the file we separate what can be done now from what waits for him.

A sworn translation is signed and stamped by a registered, certified translator, and government offices accept it; a plain translation cannot be used to file anything. A plain translation is only useful for understanding what your own document says, or for personal use. A sworn translation may itself need notary public certification on top of it, depending on which office receives the file — or it may not. Tell us which document it is and which procedure it is for, and we will tell you the exact level required, instead of you paying for certification you do not need.

You need it when the office receiving the document asks for it, not in every procedure. Some procedures accept a sworn translation on its own; others require a notary public to certify the translation or a copy of the original; and some are built on a power of attorney drawn up at the notary public in the first place. We will not tell you that everything needs a notary, nor the opposite, because it changes with the type of file, the office and the city. We ask about those three first, then tell you whether the step needs a notary public and what to bring if you go yourself.

An apostille is a certification placed on a document issued in one country so that another country will accept it. So it is not a question of what you prefer: it depends on the country that issued the document and on the office that will receive it here. Not every document needs one, not every country is a party to the convention in the first place, and some documents follow a different certification route through consulates instead. Send us the name of the document, the country it was issued in and the procedure you want, and we will tell you whether an apostille is required and where to obtain it.

No — a document issued in Syria cannot carry an apostille, because Syria is not a party to the Apostille Convention. This is recorded in the status table published by the Hague Conference on Private International Law. What takes its place is a chain of certification ending at the office that will receive the document; its steps are set by that office and by the consulate concerned, which is why we do not publish a fixed list that a single decision makes out of date. And anyone who asks you for “an apostille on a Syrian document” either means consular certification by a familiar name, or does not know the difference — worth clearing up before you pay for a stamp that does not exist. Send us the name of the document and the office that will receive it, and we will tell you the certification chain your case needs.

Equivalence is a decision issued by the competent Turkish authority after it reviews your degree; no office can grant it. Our part is to put the file in order: we go through the diploma, the transcript and whatever translation and certification is needed, then submit the application and follow up on the response. The detailed conditions and the outcome are set by that authority, and they differ with the country of study, the field and the level, so we will not promise you an outcome before your file has been reviewed. Start by sending us photos of the diploma and the transcript, and we will tell you what is missing and what the route looks like.

Do not repair the document or rewrite what has faded from it; the answer is a fresh copy from the authority that issued it. A sworn translator will not translate what they cannot read, and anything added by hand makes the document questionable instead of solving the problem. If a Turkish authority issued it, a replacement can usually be obtained; if it came from outside Türkiye, the route depends on the country and on whether the issuing authority still holds a record. Photograph the document as it is and send it to us, and we will look at whether what remains is enough or a replacement is needed.

Clear photographs are enough for most steps, and the original is asked for only when the office, the translator or the notary public asks for it. When we do need it, we tell you which step it is for and why, and we return it afterwards; we do not keep a document that has no reason to be in your file. If there is an original you would rather not hand over, say so — in many cases it can be arranged with you present, or with a certified copy. The number of translation copies depends on how many offices will receive it, and we work that out with you before printing.

No, you do not need to come to the office to start. Most files begin with a WhatsApp conversation: you describe your situation, we tell you the steps and what we need from you, and the first consultation is free. If a step requires you in person — a procedure at the notary public, or an appointment at the directorate — we say so from the start and arrange it at a time that suits you. If you would rather come in from day one, you are welcome: the office is in Fatih, Istanbul, and the address and opening hours are on the contact page.

Arabic, Turkish and English. You can speak to us in Arabic — standard or your own dialect, it makes no difference — and we deal with the government offices in Turkish, so nobody has to translate between you and the office. Any Turkish document that reaches you, we explain in Arabic before you sign it or make a decision based on it. If your case needs official translation, it is done by a sworn translator and we tell you exactly what is required. If you want someone with you at an appointment at the directorate, tell us and we will see what the type of case allows.

One person from the office follows your file from start to finish. We are a team of three, so you will not find yourself repeating your story to a new member of staff every time. We contact you when something actually moves: the file is submitted, an appointment is booked, a missing document is requested, or a decision comes back from the directorate — not empty messages sent to reassure you. If time passes with no news, ask whenever you like and we will tell you exactly where the case stands, even when the answer is that it is still with the directorate and nothing has changed.

Copies of your documents are used for your case and nothing else. Your temporary protection card, passport or rental contract goes into the file for the office that asked for it, and we share nothing from it with any third party. The originals stay with you and we work from copies, unless the office requires the original at the time of submission — and we tell you when that applies. We do not ask you for documents that have nothing to do with your file. If you want the copies we hold destroyed once the case is finished, tell us and we will do it.

Some cases can be handled while you are abroad and some cannot — it depends on the type of case. Certain procedures run on a power of attorney: you have one drawn up at a notary public or at a consulate, and we follow the file while you stay where you are. Others require you at the directorate in person, or your fingerprints, and we will not promise you a way around that. In some cases the time you spend outside the country counts in how your residence status is assessed, and that is the directorate's decision based on your file. Tell us what the case is and where you are now, and we will say plainly whether it can be done from abroad or whether you need to be here.

Tell us about it anyway. The list on the site covers the cases we are asked about most, not everything we work on. There are plenty of administrative files — registrations, corrections to personal records, applications to different offices — that have no page of their own but that we handle as a matter of routine. Describe your situation and you will get one of three answers: this is our work and here are the steps, or you can do it yourself without an office and here is how, or it is outside what we do and here is who to go to. The first consultation is free either way.

No — we are not lawyers. We are an office that handles official paperwork for you, not a law firm. Our work is in front of the government offices: preparing the documents, booking the appointments, submitting the application and following it until a decision comes out. If your situation reaches the point of a lawsuit, a judicial appeal or representation in court, that is the work of a licensed lawyer; we will tell you plainly that our role ends there and refer you to one. Not every administrative file needs a court, and we tell you from the first conversation whether yours can be dealt with administratively or not.