The age assessment concept can be defined as a medical assessment applied when a foreigner’s age cannot be determined with a valid identity, passport or other legal documents. This assessment is also applied in cases where serious doubts arise that foreigners are not of the age they claim. As a rule, age assessment is carried out by a specialist doctor or doctor’s team in a health institution and various tests are applied to eliminate the suspicion of the person concerned.
In particular, some aspects such as some changes in the body, bone, tooth and limb development provide findings related to the biological age of the foreigner to the doctors who perform the relevant test. Wrist rontgen detection can be shown as the most common method in terms of revealing the findings of bone development in the age determination process of unaccompanied children. During all this age determination process, the relevant doctor and health personnel must manage the process in a way that does not cause any physical or psychological harm to the foreign child and provide information about all procedures. In addition, the police or an interpreter can accompany the foreigner, whose age will be determined during this process, if needed. This whole process is completely free and no fee is charged from the foreigner.
If you have questions about the age determination practices of foreigners in Turkey, you can send them to us in the comments section.
