Civil Marriage
All about Civil Marriage and Civil Marriage process in Turkey
Turkey is an independent, secular, and modern country and is already a member of the Hague Convention. Marriages in Turkey are valid worldwide. Religious blessings for marriages can be done in Turkey but religious ceremonies are not legally recognized so either of your religion will not affect your marriage request. Both of you can have the same religion or different religions and one (or both) of you can be non-religious as well.
Legal Requirements for a Marriage in Turkey
Both of you need to be over 18 years old to be able to marry in Turkey.
You need to be single, divorced or widowed to be able to marry in Turkey.
The two of you must not be first degree relatives!
Both of your physical and mental health must be eligible to get married.
Wedding Process of Foreigners in Turkey
A foreigner can marry another foreigner and they do not need to be residents of Turkey in order to get married here. (Note: Excluding only Moroccan Citizens! Moroccan citizens can only get married in Turkey if both of them have residency permits)
A foreigner can marry a Turkish Citizen and, again, they do not need to be a resident of Turkey in order to get married here.
Each country has a different relation with Turkey and has a different treaty with Turkey for marriages. We give detailed consultancy services on documents that you need to collect for your marriage in Turkey, please feel free to contact us for those documents.
Health Check Reports & Blood tests
The World Health Organization made it compulsory to perform blood tests on couples who want to get married in Mediterranean countries for Mediterranean anemia. Blood test results will not affect your marriage requests; it is only done to inform couples if they have the illness or not. Health check reports and blood tests must be done locally in Turkey. The results of the blood tests and the health checks must be written in Turkish. Depending on the municipality, you can be asked to take different or additional tests. We make appointments for our couples before they arrive in Turkey and provide the results in only 2,5 hours at max and we arrange transfers from the hotel to medical centers and back to their hotel or to the wedding hall.
Application Process
Both of you must physically be present in Antalya, Turkey to apply for marriage. All documents must be ready including health check reports and blood tests. Application for marriage will be done at the wedding hall. We arrange transfers for couples from their hotel to the medical center, to the wedding hall and back to their hotel. We get appointments from the wedding hall for application before our couples arrive in Turkey and we book and reserve the wedding date as soon as our couples choose their wedding date.
On your application, each of your documents will be checked in detail by civil servants to set your marriage application form. We offer to check the validity of our clients documents as soon as they collect their documents and share their copies with us online before they come to Antalya. So our clients can be sure the application process will go well without any problems.
Surname Change
Due to Turkish laws, the bride's surname is going to change. But Turkey doesn’t have the authority to arrange a new ID card or a new passport for foreigners. Therefore, the country offers 2 options to brides who get married in Turkey.
1st option: the brides can choose to use only their husband’s surname and it will be the bride’s first and middle name, followed by their husband’s surname.
2nd option: the brides can choose to continue using their surname and add their husband’s surname and it will be the bride’s first, middle, and surname, followed by their husband’s surname.
The Bride’s choice will be asked on the application process and if the bride chooses to use her surname and her husband’s surname at the same time then an additional form will be set that the bride will be asked to sign.
The Ceremony
Due to Turkish laws The Ceremony must be done in Turkish language and our company offers simultaneous interpretation services during the ceremony from Turkish to English and English to Turkish between the civil servant and the couple.
The Ceremony will be official but if a couple wants to add traditional vows or a ring exchange ceremony, we ask the civil servant’s permission to expand the ceremony.
Two Witnesses
You will need to have 2 witnesses to be present at the legal ceremony, and they must have valid identification and their passports with them. Our company does simultaneous translation during ceremonies for witnesses too. If you don’t have witnesses, our company can bring enough staff to witness the ceremony.
Multilingual Marriage Certificate
Civil marriage will be done by wedding officers and a Marriage certificate will be given to you after you sign your marriage records. Marriage certificates of Turkey are set multilingually in a total of 10 different languages. These languages are English, German, Spanish, Greek, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Turkish, French, and Croatian. As a result, you will not need any additional translation if your country already recognizes any of the languages above. If this is not the case, we can arrange additional translation and notarization for your documents.
Validity of Your Marriage Certificate Outside of Turkey
Your Marriage Certificate will be valid all around the world. But you should get your certificate ‘Apostille’ or ‘Attested’ in Turkey to ensure it is legally accepted when you get back home. Some of the Countries additionally request their citizens to ‘Register’ their certificate at their country’s embassies in Turkey before leaving. Our company offers to finalize the apostille and attest process of our couple’s marriage certificate and we consult our clients to register their marriage. However, to apply for a visa, change their passports, or change their ID cards, we kindly suggest our couples contact a law firm from their country.
Wedding Venue
Our Company offers clients their choice of ceremony venue. Due to Turkish laws, The Ceremony must be done at the wedding hall or at a business address. Couples can choose a room from the wedding hall or our office address for their civil marriage ceremonies for free. Other wedding venue options may cost extra to couples, please contact us for wedding venue options and costs.
Anta Organization Civil Marriage Package
We offer our clients the following.
We offer complete consultancy services on documents that they need to collect, including sharing samples of documents. We give consultancy on where to collect their documents and how to make them valid to be used in Turkey.
We offer to check the validity of our client’s documents as soon as they share their copies with us online.
We offer full flexibility on choosing a wedding date and we book the wedding date for our couples.
We book an appointment from the medical center before our couples arrive in Antalya.
We offer interpretation and translation services during the application process and during the ceremony.
We finalize the apostille or the affidavit process of the couple’s marriage documents.
The total process in Antalya only takes 2 business days but we suggest couples to be in Antalya at least 3 work days prior to the wedding.
You can book your civil marriage from now by contacting us.