Belgian Limburg is home to the largest concentration of residents of Turkish origin in Belgium, mainly concentrated in Genk, Hasselt and Beringen. Family reunification, recognition of a Turkish marriage, inheritance with property in Turkey, SSK pension: each administrative step requires a sworn translation Turkish-French carried out by a sworn translator registered on the list of the FPS Justice.
The Turkish community of Limburg: the most frequently translated documents
The Turkish presence in the province of Limburg dates back to the 1960s and 1970s, when thousands of Turkish workers arrived to work in the coal mines of Waterschei, Winterslag, Zwartberg and Beringen. These miners, coming mainly from the provinces of Afyon, Konya, Aksaray and Maras, formed lasting communities. Today, Genk has one of the highest proportions of residents of Turkish origin in all of Western Europe, and Hasselt, capital of the province, is the administrative centre where the official procedures are concentrated.
Three or four generations after the arrival of the first workers, the administrative and legal needs of the Belgian-Turkish community of Limburg remain very concrete: marriages with partners recently arrived from Turkey, inheritances involving real estate in the villages of origin, files of international pension and procedures for the recognition of Turkish civil statuses. All these files require sworn translations Turkish-French or Turkish-Dutch.
Family reunification and Turkish civil status documents
Family reunification from Turkey is one of the most frequent procedures for the Limburg community. The Immigration Office (OE) requires for each file a set of translated and certified Turkish civil status documents. The Turkish civil status system is centralised at national level via the MERNİS register (Merkezi Nufus Idaresi Sistemi). The documents are issued by the municipal civil status offices (nufus mudurlugu) and are all in Turkish.
For a family reunification from Turkey, the documents usually required by the OE include: the Turkish birth certificate of the spouse or child (dogum belgesi), the extract from the population register (nufus kayit ornegi) which summarises all the civil status information of the person, and the marriage certificate (evlilik cuzdani or evlenme cuzdani). These three documents must be accompanied by their sworn translations into French (or into Dutch depending on the municipality of residence in Belgium) to be admissible by the OE.
The Turkish community of Limburg resides mainly in a bilingual and predominantly Dutch-speaking zone (Genk, Hasselt, Beringen, Lommel, Maaseik). In this context, sworn translations Turkish-Dutch are often more appropriate for files submitted to the Flemish municipalities, while the OE files accept either French or Dutch indifferently. We carry out both.
Turkish marriages and their recognition in Belgium
The recognition in Belgium of a marriage celebrated in Turkey is a complex step that involves several documents and several authorities. The Turkish civil marriage (nikah) is celebrated by the mayor or his delegate (evlendirme memuru) and gives rise to the issue of a marriage record book (evlilik cuzdani). This civil marriage is the only one recognised by the Belgian authorities. The religious marriage (imam nikahi) has no legal effect in Belgium and is never recognised as the basis for a family reunification.
To have a Turkish civil marriage recognised in Belgium, the couple must in principle have the marriage registered through the Belgian embassy or consulate in Turkey, or submit the documents to the competent Belgian municipality. The municipality verifies the Turkish marriage certificate and its sworn translations, then decides whether or not to transcribe the marriage into the Belgian registers.
Marriages celebrated in Turkey between a Turkish national and a Belgian national or a permanent resident in Belgium must be reported to the Belgian civil registry within set deadlines. Failure to report can create complex legal situations, notably for inheritances or the spouse's pension rights.
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Sworn translation Turkish-French and Turkish-Dutch in Hasselt
Our FPS Justice sworn translators translate all your Turkish documents: nufus kayit ornegi, evlilik cuzdani, bosanim karari, dogum belgesi. Quote in 1h, express 24h for the OE.
Turkish documents translated in Hasselt: complete list
Turkish civil status documents and administrative documents
- Nufus cuzdani (Turkish identity card): official Turkish identification document containing the basic civil status information. Often requested in addition to other documents for procedures with the OE, municipalities and notaries in Belgium.
- Nufus kayit ornegi (extract from the population register): central document of the Turkish civil status grouping all the information of a person and the members of their family (date of birth, marriage, divorce, death). Functional equivalent of the Belgian family record book. Essential for the OE files and inheritances.
- Evlilik cuzdani or evlenme cuzdani (marriage record book / marriage certificate): document issued by the Turkish civil status office at the civil marriage. Necessary for the recognition of the marriage in Belgium, the family reunification of the spouse and the procedures of divorce or inheritance in Belgium.
- Bosanim karari (Turkish divorce judgment): decision rendered by the Turkish family court (aile mahkemesi). Must be presented with its sworn translation to be recognised in Belgium, whether for a new marriage, a family reunification or a modification of civil status.
- Dogum belgesi (Turkish birth certificate): issued by the civil status office of the Turkish municipality of registration of the birth. Required for the files of family reunification of children, the files of Belgian nationality and the school enrolments for children recently arrived from Turkey.
- Olum belgesi (Turkish death certificate): document issued by the Turkish authorities after the death of a Turkish national. Necessary for the inheritance procedures in Belgium when the deceased had property or relatives in both countries.
- Sabika kaydi (Turkish criminal record): document issued by the Turkish prosecutor's office or via the e-Devlet portal. Required by the OE in certain family reunification files and for naturalisations. May be accompanied by an apostille.
- Vekaletname (Turkish notarial power of attorney): Turkish notarial deed allowing a third party to be mandated to manage property or procedures in Turkey. Frequently used for inheritances and property sales in Turkey from Belgium.
- Emeklilik belgeleri (SSK or Bag-Kur pension documents): documents issued by the Turkish pension bodies (Sosyal Guvenlik Kurumu, formerly SSK for employees and Bag-Kur for the self-employed). Necessary for the applications of international pension between Turkey and Belgium.
Turnaround times and procedure for Turkish-French translations in Hasselt
The procedure for sworn translation of your Turkish documents is simple and fast. You send a legible scan of each document. Our FPS Justice sworn translators specialised in the Turkish language check the legibility, identify the relevant civil status elements and produce a rigorous translation with original signature and official stamp. They know perfectly the Turkish civil status system, the reforms of 2007 (digitisation of the MERNİS register) and the documents prior to these reforms.
The common Turkish civil status documents (dogum belgesi, nufus kayit ornegi, evlilik cuzdani) are generally translated in express 24h. The divorce judgments (bosanim karari) and the inheritance files require a turnaround of 48 hours. The complex notarial powers of attorney (vekaletname) and the files of international pension may require 48 to 72 hours.
- Express 24h: birth, marriage, death certificates, nufus kayit ornegi, standard criminal record.
- 48h to 72h: divorce judgments, complex vekaletname, multi-document inheritance files, old handwritten or partially illegible documents.
- Delivery format: certified PDF by email by default, postal dispatch of the signed and stamped original on request for the OE or notarial files.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How long does the Immigration Office take for a family reunification file from Turkey?
The Immigration Office has a legal deadline of six months to process a family reunification application from the date of filing of a complete file. If the file is incomplete or if the translations are not compliant, the deadline does not run and you receive a notification to complete it. To avoid any delay, it is crucial to provide correct sworn translations from the first submission. For the long-stay visas for minor children, the procedure may be accelerated in particular situations.
Is Turkey a signatory to the Hague Convention on the apostille?
Yes. Turkey is a signatory to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 abolishing the requirement of legalisation of foreign public documents. The Turkish official documents (civil status documents, judgments, criminal records) can therefore be apostilled by the Turkish authorities. The apostille is sometimes required by the Belgian municipalities or notaries for certain procedures. We translate the apostille at the same time as the main document without supplement if it is provided with the scan.
Is the Turkish religious marriage (imam nikahi) recognised in Belgium?
No. The Turkish religious marriage, celebrated by an imam (imam nikahi), has no civil effect in Belgium. Only the Turkish civil marriage, celebrated before the municipal civil registrar (evlendirme memuru) and registered in the Turkish civil status register, can be recognised in Belgium. For a family reunification, the OE imperatively requires the civil marriage certificate (evlilik cuzdani). Many Turkish families have contracted both forms of marriage, but only the civil form counts on the legal level.
How does the inheritance of a deceased person with property in both Belgium and Turkey work?
An international inheritance involving property in Belgium and Turkey is governed by two legal systems. In Belgium, the European Succession Regulation (EU 650/2012) applies for the Belgian property, and jurisdiction is generally attributed to the state of the last habitual residence of the deceased. For the property in Turkey, Turkish law applies and the heirs must initiate a procedure before a Turkish court with a local notary. In both cases, sworn translations of the death certificates, nufus kayit ornegi, wills and property deeds are necessary. Our sworn translators cover all of these documents.
What is the nufus kayit ornegi and how does it differ from the nufus cuzdani?
The nufus cuzdani is the physical Turkish identity card carried by the person, which contains their basic personal information. The nufus kayit ornegi (sometimes called nufus kaydi) is an extract from the central civil status register (MERNİS), issued by the municipal civil status offices (nufus mudurlugu) or via the e-Devlet portal. It contains much more information than the identity card: names of the parents, place and date of birth, marital history (marriages, divorces), registered children. It is this document that is most requested by the OE and the Belgian municipalities for the procedures of family reunification.