Child turning 18 during a Turkish citizenship application

The short answer

If a child turns 18 before the decision on a family application, whether they remain part of the case needs a separate review. No one can promise that applying before the child comes of age automatically preserves their right to citizenship. Nor should you conclude that it is impossible to continue: in the cases discussed below, the children later obtained citizenship on a different basis. Those examples do not guarantee the same result for another family.

A family planning citizenship by investment should discuss the child's age before taking on financial commitments. Buying property and including a child in a citizenship application are different steps.

What the official guidance says

The General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs includes within the group covered by Article 12 the applicant's foreign spouse and the minor or dependent foreign children of the applicant and the spouse. Adulthood and dependency each require separate analysis. Financial support from the parents should not be treated as sufficient proof that a child is dependent.

You also need to distinguish a child who was already 18 before the application was filed from a child who came of age while it was being reviewed. The court examples below concern the second situation.

Build a timeline from the documents

Ask your lawyer to check and compare:

1. The child's date of birth and who is included in the family case.
2. The dates of the investment, of confirmation that it meets the requirements and of the residence application.
3. The date the citizenship application was registered and the documents showing that the child was included.
4. Requests for further documents, the replies and correspondence with the authorities.
5. The date of the decision on the parents and the content of the decision or notice concerning the child.

The purchase date, an appointment booking or an agent's promise does not replace proof that the citizenship application was filed. If the parents have already received a positive decision, check whether the child appears in the relevant documents and how the further review of their file has been handled.

What happened in two court cases

In Danıştay 10. Daire, E. 2019/9644, K. 2023/7966, 6 December 2023, the family application was filed before the child came of age. The child was not included in the original positive decision. The child later obtained citizenship under Article 12(1)(c), after which the court ended the review of the claim on the merits because there was nothing left to decide.

In Danıştay 10. Daire, E. 2019/10085, K. 2024/1953, 15 May 2024, the same situation arose for two children. They came of age after the application was filed and were not included in the decision with their parents. They later obtained citizenship under Article 12(1)(c), and this dispute too became moot. Reading the texts at these links may require a De Jure login.

Both cases concern family acquisition of citizenship under Article 12(1)(b). Their texts do not allow us to say that a property purchase or any particular type of investment was involved.

Why this is no guarantee of a successful appeal

Both texts contain an opinion from the Council of State prosecutor, favourable to the applicants, on age being assessed at the filing date. That is a procedural opinion, not a court ruling setting aside a refusal. The court did not decide the age question on its merits because citizenship had already been granted. This conclusion is limited to the two cases reviewed and does not rule out other decisions. The later use of Article 12(1)(c) does not mean that route is automatically open to every applicant.

Where a child is left out of a decision, the decision itself, the notice and the filing history must be examined. Possible applications and deadlines are determined from the specific documents; deadlines from someone else's case cannot simply be applied to yours.

How to start the review

For a first enquiry it is enough to give the family members' nationalities, the child's age, the stage of the case and the key dates. Please do not send passports, birth certificates or bank documents through the open form. Agree separately how documents will be shared and which language you will work in.

Discuss a family application. See also citizenship through property: what to check before buying.