Is a translation made in Türkiye accepted in Québec?
For most provincial files the honest answer is no, and hearing it early is cheaper than hearing it from a reviewing officer. This page sets out where the answer changes, what happens if you submit one anyway, and which part of the work we can genuinely carry from Türkiye.
Checked on 8 September 2026 Last updated 9 September 2026
In brief
- Certification level
- Certified translator (Québec) + Sworn translation (Türkiye) + Notarised translation (Türkiye)
- Estimated time
- Confirmation from the receiving body is the step worth waiting for
- Destination country
- Québec
Accepted under conditions
People usually arrive at this question after paying for a translation. The order is worth reversing. For most files addressed to a Québec authority the answer is no, and it is a great deal cheaper to hear that from a website than from a reviewing officer four weeks into a deadline.
The answer, sorted by who is reading your file
| Receiving body | Translation made in Türkiye |
|---|---|
| Québec immigration file | Normally not accepted; a translator registered with the province's professional order is expected |
| Québec professional order (regulated occupation) | Normally not accepted, and these files are often stricter than immigration files |
| Québec court or tribunal | Not accepted; the court sets its own requirement |
| Federal immigration file | Usually workable with a translator's declaration — a different rule entirely |
| An employer, a landlord, a private company | Often accepted; there is no legal requirement, only the recipient's preference |
Two of those rows are worth reading twice. The federal row is explained on the federal rules page, and the split between the two systems on Québec rules versus federal rules.
Why a good translation still fails
The refusal is not a judgement on the text. A provincial body wants a translator it can locate in a register, whose professional obligations it can enforce and whose seal it recognises on sight. A translation certified before a notary in Türkiye carries a different guarantee: that the person who signed is the person who claims to have signed. That is a guarantee about identity, not about registration, and the two are not interchangeable across jurisdictions.
This also means that adding more Turkish stamps does not help. A notarised translation, an apostilled notarisation and a consular certification stack up in the same direction; none of them makes the translator a member of a Québec order.
The exception people misread
Because the federal rule is more open, applicants sometimes conclude that Canada as a whole accepts Turkish translations. It does not follow. A single applicant can easily have a provincial selection stage and a federal residence stage in the same year, with a translation acceptable at one and not at the other. Read the requirement per stage, not per country.
What happens if you submit one anyway
Usually nothing dramatic and nothing good: the file is placed on hold and a request for a compliant translation is issued, which costs you a processing cycle. In tighter files the consequence is a missed deadline. Where a decision has already been made on an incomplete file, the route back is longer. The page on rejected translations sets out the sequence and what it costs.
What we can genuinely do from here
The part of your file that has to happen in Türkiye cannot be done from Canada, and it is usually the slow part. Under a power of attorney we obtain civil registry extracts, criminal record certificates, court decisions, social security service records and sealed university transcripts; we arrange the apostille where the receiving body requires it; and we courier the wet-signed set to you. Obtaining Turkish documents from abroad describes how that works when you are not in the country.
The reverse direction is a different story
If your document is Canadian and the authority is Turkish — a diploma to be recognised, a marriage record for a Turkish registry, a power of attorney drawn up before a notary in Canada — then the chain runs the other way and Türkiye is where the translation belongs. That is work we do routinely. See using Canadian documents in Türkiye.
Before you order anything
Ask the receiving body one written question: does it require a translator registered with the Québec professional order, or a translation accompanied by the translator's signed declaration? The reply decides who does the work, what it costs and how long it takes. If you would like us to look at the document set before you commit, the quotation page lists what we need to give a useful answer.
Frequently asked questions
No. An apostille authenticates the signature and seal of the Turkish official who certified the document — most often the notary. It says nothing about who translated the text, so it cannot supply the registration a Québec body is looking for. It is still required for other purposes on some documents.
Not for a provincial file. Consular certification is an act of the Turkish state performed abroad and is aimed at use within the Turkish system. The Québec requirement concerns membership of a Québec professional body, which no Turkish authority can confer.
Usually yes. A private recipient sets its own standard and is free to accept a translation prepared in Türkiye. Ask whether the document will later be passed to a professional order or an immigration file, because at that point the stricter rule returns.
No system reviewed on this site allows an applicant to translate their own file, and the federal declaration route excludes the applicant and, in practice, close family. Translation by an interested party is treated as unverifiable regardless of how good it is.