Marrying a refugee in Turkey - what to do first and can we travel afterwards?

Question

Hi
I'm an italian citizen living in Turkey for a while; here I met Sam, a guy from Iraq that obteined the refugee status in Turkey. We want to get married here in Turkey, it seems he needs to get a kind of permission from UNHCR right? and then what happen, once we are married , can he immediately travel around all Shengen area? because after Turkey we want to go to Holland. Does he will loose is refugees status if he goes to another country? can he stay in Holland? that are just some of the many questions we have, thanks in advance if someone can help us with informations
serena

Answer 1

Hello @Serenata and welcome to our community :)

If you want to get married in Turkey I would suggest that you get in contact with the Turkish authorities and ask them which documents you need to provide or if there are other things you need to keep in mind. I don't know if you need to get in contact with UNHCR. Maybe @Marcel or @Steven know more about that.

It is possible for refugees with a residence permit to travel to Schengen countries if they got their residence title in a Schengen country (for further information see these threads: https://***.wefugees.de/k/questions/1653 & https://***.wefugees.de/k/questions/1936). BUT: Turkey is neither a member of the EU nor did they sign the Schengen agreement. Therefore Sam will probably need a visa to travel to Europe.

Broadly speaking a refugee looses his status if he travels back to the country where he came from or if he is planning an act to threaten public safety (e.g. terrorism). Traveling is not a reason to loose the refugee status. But again: You probably need to get in contact with Turkish and Dutch authorities to check how they handle cases like that.

I hope this answer is helpful to you. Let's see if the community can provide further and more detailled information.

Best regards, Thorgen