Family reunification is governed by Articles 34-35 LFIP. While the law allows refugees and subsidiary protection beneficiaries to be reunited with family members,[1] under preferential conditions compared to other foreigners, conditional refugees are excluded from family reunification altogether. That is also implied by the fact that international protection beneficiaries are not granted a Residence Permit, whereas the law requires the sponsor to have resided in Türkiye for more than one year on a residence permit.[2] Refugees and subsidiary protection holders are expressly exempt from this condition, but conditional refugees are not.[3]
A refugee or beneficiary of subsidiary protection may reunite with the following family members:[4]
- Spouse, whereby only one spouse may benefit from family reunification in the case of polygamous marriages;[5]
- Minor children or minor children of the spouse;
- Dependent children or dependent children of the spouse.
The Türk Kızlay had received 110 requests for family reunification as of December 2022, but only 9 instances have been satisfactorily handled. They also provide family tracing and messaging services. Only 8 of 238 family tracing requests were met, and only 33 of 119 family messaging requests were delivered successfully. Türk Kizilay initiated a fund-raising drive in 2022 to support their family reunification activities.[6]
[1] Article 34(1) LFIP; Article 30(1)(d) RFIP.
[2] Article 35(1)(ç) LFIP.
[3] Article 35(4) LFIP.
[4] Article 34 LFIP; Article 30 RFIP.
[5] Article 34(2) LFIP; Article 30(3) RFIP.
[6] Information provided by a stakeholder, June 2023.