Türkiye to require residence permit for foreigners to marry Turkish citizens

The Interior Ministry has mandated that foreign nationals must possess a valid legal residence permit in Türkiye to marry Turkish citizens, in an effort to combat fake marriages to obtain permits or Turkish citizenship.

In a directive sent by the ministry to the marriage registry offices regarding the marriage procedures of foreign nationals, it stated that obtaining a residence permit through marriage with Turkish citizens is a matter prone to exploitation.

Highlighting that marriage to a Turkish citizen paves the way to citizenship, the directive said that marriage applications should not be accepted from foreign nationals lacking legal residence rights.

"Due to the turmoil in countries bordering our nation, there has been a notable rise in the number of foreigners seeking to settle in our country, either through legal or illegal means, since the early 2000s," the letter said.

"To ensure public order and effectively combat irregular migration, it is required that marriage applications involving a Turkish citizen and a foreign national, or between two foreign nationals, should only be processed if the foreign national has a valid passport or an equivalent document and legal residence rights in our country."

Türkiye has faced a massive influx of migrants, particularly following the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011 and other regional conflicts, making it the country hosting the largest number of refugees globally.

Turkish authorities have recently intensified their efforts to combat irregular migration, with hundreds of illegal migrants being apprehended daily.

During a briefing earlier this month, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya disclosed that more than 141,000 illegal migrants were deported in a year.