Renunciation, the Blue Card and reacquisition

Last updated 16 August 2026Legal review Bayraktar Attorneys2 min readCitizenship

Leaving with permission

Renunciation is not simply a declaration. It requires permission, which is granted where the applicant is an adult with legal capacity, has acquired or has credible evidence of acquiring another nationality, is not the subject of criminal or military obligations that stand in the way, and is not subject to proceedings that require the citizenship to be retained. Leaving without permission does not achieve the same result. The firm's note on renouncing Turkish citizenship sets out the procedure.

What the Blue Card is

Article 28 preserves most of what a former citizen would otherwise lose. Blue Card holders may reside and work in Türkiye without a permit, own and inherit property, and access services broadly as citizens do. The exclusions are specific and constitutionally driven: the right to vote and stand for election, eligibility for public service posts, and — importantly — the military obligation.

The card extends to the descendants of those who left with permission, which is why a great many people hold one without ever having been Turkish citizens themselves. The firm's note on Mavi Kart rights covers the practical entitlements and the legal remedies where they are refused.

The conscription question

This is the point on which Blue Card families are most often caught out. The card excludes military obligation for the holder — but the position of a male descendant depends on whether he holds Turkish citizenship or only the card, and families sometimes reacquire citizenship for a son without appreciating what comes with it. The firm addresses the interaction directly in its note on Blue Card holders and conscription, and the wider position in its guidance on military service for dual citizens.

Reacquisition

Former citizens may reacquire Turkish nationality in circumstances defined by Articles 13 and 14 — broadly, those who left with permission, and those who lost it in specified ways, subject to there being no national-security obstacle. Reacquisition is by decision, and residence in Türkiye is required in some cases and not in others depending on how the citizenship was lost.

What reacquisition restores is full citizenship, with everything that attaches to it: the passport and the vote on one side, notification obligations and, for men, the military question on the other. It is not a formality and should not be treated as one.

Card or citizenship?

For many families the Blue Card is genuinely the better answer: it preserves the practical rights that matter — living, working, owning, inheriting — without the obligations. Reacquisition makes sense where the passport, the vote, or an unambiguous status for a child is worth the obligations that come with it. It is a considered choice rather than an obvious one, and it is worth taking properly before it is taken by default. The wider comparison is in routes to citizenship compared.