A question about citizenship
 

Hi ... I am now eligible to apply for citizenship but a friend has left me with some doubts. They told me that if I get citizenship here in Turkey then I will lose all my UK benefits if I decide to return. eg Claiming benefits, loss of National Insurance payments and loss of state pension.
Could someone please let me know if any of this is true, I would like joint citizenship so I always have the option to return if anything happens here.
Are there any disadvantages to Turkish citizenship????

Re: A question about citizenship
 

Taking out Turkish citizenship won't automatically lead to a loss of benefits in the UK. If you are male then you should make yourself aware of any national service obligations.

Re: A question about citizenship
 

If non-resident in the UK then you may lose entitlement to NHS treatment. Entitlement to State Pension is not affected.

Re: A question about citizenship
 

I'm assuming that you must have a good reason for taking Turkish citizenship .... but if not, why bother? You never know if you will eventually return to the UK or not. Turkey isn't a member of the EU at present (and may never be, because of its disputed occupation of Northern Cyprus) so you would loose your EU status as well, although I don't know if that is important to you

As far as dual citizenship is concerned, there are requirements which you would have to satisfy, have a read through THIS

Re: A question about citizenship
 

Becoming Turkish won't mean the OP loses his British citizenship and Turkey doesn't require you to give your existing citizenship in order to become Turkish so there's no danger of him being able to return to the UK.

Re: A question about citizenship
 

If The Brit Government will allow him to hold dual citizenship then that's good, for sure.

Re: A question about citizenship
 

Hasn't been an issue since 1948.

Re: A question about citizenship
 

He would keep British citizenship upon becoming Turkish, assuming Turkey doesn't force him to renounce.

However, as a dual British/Turkish citizen, he would not be eligible for U.K. consular assistance in Turkey. Which isn't worth a great deal day to day, but may be an issue particularly if in trouble with the authorities for political or quasi-political reasons. This is less likely in an established democracy like Turkey.

That said, if one is settled in Turkey, knows the language and culture, etc, it usually would make sense to become a Turkish citizen if eligible. Especially if British citizenship can be retained.

Re: A question about citizenship
 

Dear all, I have a question related to the above topic and wondered if you would be kind enough to answer.

I am also considering taking the Turkish citizenship as have been married and resident in Istanbul for 3 years. My wife is Turkish and taking the Turkish citizenship would make life so much easier when dealing with authorities and not having to re-apply for work and residency permits every few years.

My question relates to our children when we have them. Under our current circumstances, they would automatically be british and could apply for a British passport at the consulate general here in Istanbul. If i took the dual citizenship, would they still be able to apply for british citizenship the same way if i didn't have dual citizenship? If they are still eligible to apply for citizenship for the future children, how would we go about it, if a dual citizen has no right to use consular services if they hold a dual citizenship in the country where they are looking for help?

I have searched and searched online, but to no avail. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Re: A question about citizenship
 

Assuming you are a British Citizen otherwise than by descent, then they will automatically become British Ctizens by descent, and be eliglble for British Passports.

Re: A question about citizenship
 

mikelincs thanks for your reply. Yes, i was born in Scotland. I assumed that this would be the case, however there is nothing on the UK immigration website about it. I just didn't want it to be the case where i take dual Tukish British citizenship and my children would be removed from their right of British citizenship as a result.

Re: A question about citizenship
 

Turkish nationality law doesn't require those who wish to naturalise to renounce their previous citizenship so you would retain your British citizenship if you become a Turkish citizen.

Any potential future children would be dual British and Turkish citizens through you and your wife respectively regardless of whether you naturalise as a Turkish citizen.

As Turkish citizens you and your children could not seek consular assistance from the British authorities when in Turkey and vice versa from the Turkish authorities in the UK.

Note that all British passport and consular birth registration services have now been centralised in the UK. Consular birth registration is not a prerequisite for obtaining British citizenship or a British passport but I would recommend it.

British Consular Birth Registration : British Expat Wiki.

https://www.gov.uk/register-a-birth

https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports

Re: A question about citizenship
 

How can a person get Turkish citizenship?

Re: A question about citizenship
 

Usually by descent from a Turkish parent or by naturalisation by either residing in Turkey for five years or by being married to a Turkish citizen for three years.

http://eudo-citizenship.eu/NationalD...English%29.pdf

Re: A question about citizenship
 

I think there has been an issue raised regarding pensioners who have decided to retire abroad ... unless they regularly (once a year?) and for extended period of time, return to the UK, when the basic national pension goes up, the pensions of those living abroad, will NOT be increased ... Now, it was a few years ago that HMG tried imposing this rule, but maybe the EU, has told HMG, that they can't impose that on people living in an EU country.

If however, you are pretty young, you'll be paying into some other pension scheme, so this is pretty irrelevant, but it certainly could be an issue to anyone retiring abroad, in or outside the EU.