Client story
Client Story
Where they started
Andrey and Svetlana have four children. Two were born into the family, and two were adopted several years ago - and for the parents there is no difference whatsoever: all four are growing up together, share one surname, and are one family. When the question of second citizenship arose, there was one condition: either all children receive passports, or there is no point.
Why the standard route did not work
The Turkish citizenship by investment program includes minor children in the application - this was the basis for including all four. However, the parents had a nagging question: does this apply to adopted children in the same way as to biological children? Would it be possible that biological children would be listed, while adopted children would be asked to apply separately or be refused altogether?
What BRIDGES had to solve
The subtlety here is not in the program itself, but in the documents. For a biological child, the relationship is proven by a birth certificate - a simple and familiar document. For an adopted child, the basis is adoption documents, and they must be properly executed and legalized for another country so that the Turkish authorities recognize the child as a family member of the applicant without reservation.
Why a standard answer would not do
The family approached BRIDGES precisely with this concern: to avoid losing the adopted children along the way. Our task was not simply to apply for citizenship, but to ensure that for the Turkish authorities, all four children were equally and indisputably the children of this family.
We have four, two adopted, and for us they are all equally ours. The biggest fear was that the biological children would be listed for citizenship, but the adopted ones would not, as if they were strangers. Anna immediately said: the children are equal, we just need to properly formalize the adoption for the Turkish authorities. She legalized all the documents, and our adopted children were included in the application equal to the biological ones. All four received passports together - the way it should be.
