Enrolling a Foreign-National Child in a Public School in Türkiye

Document Checklist

Yabancı pasaport Foreign passport Required: Valid passport for the child, with the identity pageCost: Free at this stage (issued by the home-country authority) The passport identifies the child and is presented alongside one of the three accepted identity bases (residence permit, Geçici Koruma ID, or international protection ID).
Yabancı Kimlik Numarası / Geçici Koruma Kimlik Belgesi Yabancı Kimlik Numarası or protection ID Required: One of: (a) an 11-digit Yabancı Kimlik Numarası beginning with 99, issued via Göç İdaresi alongside the child's ikamet izni; (b) a Geçici Koruma Kimlik Belgesi for children registered under temporary protection; or (c) an international protection applicant or status-holder IDCost: Free Without one of these three identity bases, the e-Okul student record cannot be created. Children of compulsory age awaiting registration may be admitted as guest pupils while the school requests an identity-number assignment from Göç İdaresi.
İkametgâh belgesi Proof of Turkish address Where to get: Printable from e-Devlet under Nüfus ve Vatandaşlık İşleri services for residence-permit holders; for Geçici Koruma holders the protection ID itself establishes the province of registrationRequired: Current address printout, typically dated within the last three monthsCost: Free Anchors the catchment-area assignment by MEB for first-grade and pre-primary; determines which İlçe Millî Eğitim Müdürlüğü has jurisdiction over the enrollment file for other grades.
Doğum belgesi Child's birth certificate Required: Original civil-status record from the country of birth, translated into Turkish by a sworn translator and certified at a Turkish noterCost: Translation and noter fees vary by document length and province Where the birth certificate is not in Turkish, the sworn translation and noter certification are required before the school office accepts the file.
Önceki okul karneleri ve diplomalar Prior-school transcripts and diplomas Required: Transcripts and any diplomas from the child's last school abroad, covering all completed years; foreign-language documents authenticated under the Hague-1961 Apostille Convention (for Contracting Parties) or by consular legalisation (for non-Parties), and translated into Turkish by a sworn translator with noter certificationCost: Apostille, legalisation, translation, and noter fees vary by issuing country and document set Required for any child entering above first grade or pre-primary where prior schooling has occurred. Türkiye acceded to the Hague-1961 Apostille Convention in 1985, so an apostille from any Contracting Party is accepted; for non-Party origin countries, consular legalisation by the Turkish embassy in the issuing country (or by the issuing country's mission in Türkiye) takes the place of the apostille.
Denklik belgesi Equivalence certificate Where to get: Issued online by the Talim ve Terbiye Kurulu equivalence service through the e-Denklik portal at edenklik.meb.gov.trRequired: For any child with prior schooling abroad seeking placement above first grade; primary-age children lacking documents are placed by interview without a separate certificateCost: Free (administrative process at MEB) Denklik issuance follows the MEB Denklik Yönetmeliği. The Talim ve Terbiye Kurulu rules acceptance, rejection, or referral for a placement examination. Without a denklik belgesi (or an explicit assessment-interview waiver), placement above first grade is not enacted.
Vesikalık fotoğraf Biometric photographs Required: Typically four recent biometric photographs of the child, school-specified formatCost: Varies by photographer The exact count and format are set by each school. Asking the school office for the specification before the photographs are taken avoids a reshoot.
Aşı kartı Health and vaccination record Required: Where requested by the school; vaccination records may be reconciled with the family physician (aile hekimi) at the local Aile Sağlığı MerkeziCost: Free reconciliation at the family physician Not every school requests this on file; where requested, the aile hekimi can update the record using the home-country vaccination card.

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