The casebook, entry by entry
Twenty-two entries, arranged in the order the route is lived rather than alphabetically. Each carries the date it was last reviewed and the statutory sources behind it.
The four cornerstones
Long-form guides covering the whole of each stage. If you read nothing else, read the one that matches where you are now.
- CornerstoneCounting the five yearsHow the qualifying period is measured, what breaks it, and how the twelve-month allowance is really applied.
- CornerstoneThe eight conditionsEvery condition in Article 11, what each one actually means, and which of them are assessed rather than declared.
- CornerstoneThe applicationFrom the provincial appointment to the approval list: who decides what, in which order, and how long each stage takes.
- CornerstoneIf the application is refusedSixty days, two remedies and one decision to make: why the file was refused and what can still be done about it.
Counting the five years
The qualifying period is where most applications are won or lost. These entries take the counting rules apart one at a time.
- ArithmeticThe absence rulesHow days outside Türkiye are counted, what the two limits really mean, and how compulsory absences are treated.
- ArithmeticWhich permits count, and at what rateWork, family, student, short-term and long-term permits: what each contributes to the five years.
- ArithmeticIntent to settleArticle 15 turns an intention into a list of behaviours. What satisfies it, and what quietly undermines it.
- ArithmeticChanging employer safelyThe single most common way a five-year chain is broken, and the sequence that prevents it.
- ArithmeticStructuring work across the periodEmployment, own company or an employer of record: which structure carries a five-year plan and which collapses under it.
- ArithmeticProperty as a safety netWhat owning property does and does not do for a five-year plan — and where the alternative route begins.
The conditions that are actually tested
Four of the eight conditions are assessed rather than declared. These are the four, and what the commission looks for in each.
- ConditionThe language assessmentThere is no exam and no certificate. There is a conversation, and this is what it covers.
- ConditionProving income or professionWhat the income condition really asks, which documents satisfy it, and why real income sometimes fails.
- ConditionGood moral characterThe vaguest condition and the most common ground of refusal — what it covers and how a file addresses it.
- ConditionAge and legal capacityA genuine conflict-of-laws rule sits inside Article 11, and it occasionally produces surprises.
The file, the decision and afterwards
From the Article 17 document set to the identity card, including what happens when the answer is no.
- ProcedureThe document setWhat the file must contain, what each document has to prove, and where files are sent back.
- ProcedureObjection or lawsuitTwo remedies, one sixty-day deadline, and a choice that is usually made badly.
- ProcedureSpouse and childrenNaturalisation is personal. What passes to minor children, what does not pass to a spouse, and the consent problem.
- ProcedureAfter approvalThe decision is not the end of the paperwork. Registration, identity documents, and the obligations that follow.
Reference desk
Terminology, editorial policy, and how to reach the lawyers who maintain this casebook.
- ReferenceGlossary of termsThe Turkish words that appear on the forms, the notifications and the counter — translated and explained.
- ReferenceAbout this casebookWho writes this, how it is organised, and what it deliberately leaves to other sources.
- ReferenceEditorial standardsHow entries are written, sourced, reviewed and corrected — and what the review date means.
- ReferenceContact the citizenship teamHow to reach the lawyers who maintain this casebook, and what to send them.
Not sure which entry answers your question?
Describe the situation in a message and the citizenship team will point you at the right entry — or tell you plainly that your file needs a lawyer rather than a website.
Citizenship teamWhatsApp