Cross-border criminal matters: extradition, evidence requests, INTERPOL and records

• Any notice, summons, arrest warrant or court decision, with certified translations.
• The INTERPOL notice number or the extradition request, if you have it.
• Passport, ID and proof of citizenship or residence.
• Court records showing the charge, the final decision and the sentence.
• For Turkiye: the criminal record extract (adli sicil kaydi) and the case file number (dosya numarasi).
• For a U.S. immigration case: all arrest, charge and disposition records from every country.
• Letters or emails from authorities, with dates.

• Assuming a treaty exists: extradition from the U.S. generally depends on one (18 U.S.C. 3181(a)).
• Missing the one-year, two-year and five-year lines that the rules use (18 U.S.C. 3512(e); Rules on the Processing of Data, Art. 83; 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)(B)).
• Leaving out a foreign record in a U.S. immigration case: the controlled-substance ground covers the laws of a foreign country (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(II)).
• Sending an INTERPOL deletion request to the wrong body: requests for access, correction or deletion go to the Commission for the Control of Files (Rules on the Processing of Data, Art. 18(1)).
• Expecting a U.S. court to refuse a privileged-material request: 28 U.S.C. 1782(a) protects only a legally applicable privilege.

• Charges in a Turkish or other foreign court: that is local criminal law; see Turkish-law matters.
• A rights complaint against a state: see ECtHR applications.
• A bank account closed after a risk review: see bank account closed.
• Asset-tracing notices: see INTERPOL Silver Notices.
• Removal proceedings in the U.S.: see deportation defense.

Who this is for

• People who learn that another country has asked the U.S. to extradite them, or that they are named in an INTERPOL notice.
• Witnesses and companies asked for documents or testimony in a foreign criminal case.
• Families and lawyers in Turkiye or the U.S. who need to understand the other country's process.
• People with a foreign arrest or conviction who plan to apply for a U.S. visa or green card.

Key requirements

• Extradition from the U.S.: the statutes on surrender of persons who committed crimes in foreign countries continue in force only during a treaty of extradition with that government (18 U.S.C. 3181(a)). One exception applies, in the exercise of comity, to people who are not U.S. citizens, nationals or permanent residents and who committed crimes of violence against U.S. nationals abroad, if the Attorney General certifies it in writing (3181(b)).
• The Turkiye treaty: the State Department's Treaties in Force list shows a Treaty on extradition and mutual assistance in criminal matters, signed at Ankara on 7 June 1979 and in force since 1 January 1981 (32 UST 3111; TIAS 9891). It also lists a separate Treaty on the enforcement of penal judgments of the same date (32 UST 3187; TIAS 9892).
• Foreign requests for evidence: a federal judge can issue orders to carry out a foreign authority's request for help in a criminal investigation or prosecution, on the application of a Government attorney authorized by the Department of Justice (18 U.S.C. 3512(a)). The orders can include search warrants, orders for stored communications, and orders to appear and testify or to produce documents (3512(a)(2)). A search warrant needs an offense punishable by imprisonment for more than one year under federal or state law (3512(e)).
• Evidence for foreign proceedings: a federal district court can order a person in its district to give testimony or produce documents for use in a foreign or international proceeding, including a criminal investigation before formal accusation. The request can come from the foreign tribunal or from any interested person. No one can be compelled to violate a legally applicable privilege (28 U.S.C. 1782(a)).
• INTERPOL and political matters: it is strictly forbidden for INTERPOL to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character (Constitution, Art. 3). Before data are recorded, the member country or entity must check that the data comply with Article 3 (Rules on the Processing of Data, Art. 34).
• INTERPOL red notices: they may be published only if cumulative criteria are met: a serious ordinary-law crime; a penalty threshold (for a person sought for prosecution, a maximum penalty of at least two years; for a person sought to serve a sentence, a sentence of at least six months or at least six months remaining); and interest for international police cooperation (Rules on the Processing of Data, Art. 83(1)(a)). They may not be published for offences relating to family or private matters, or for administrative violations or private disputes unless the activity is aimed at facilitating a serious crime or is suspected of being connected to organized crime.
• Access and deletion: any person or entity can submit directly to INTERPOL's Commission for the Control of Files a request for access to, or correction or deletion of, data processed in the INTERPOL Information System (Rules on the Processing of Data, Art. 18(1)).
• Immigration: a person convicted of, or who admits the essential elements of, a crime involving moral turpitude, or a violation of a law relating to a controlled substance of a State, the U.S. or a foreign country, is inadmissible (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)). An exception covers one crime of moral turpitude if the maximum penalty did not exceed one year and the sentence was not more than six months, or if the crime was committed under age 18 and more than 5 years ago ((A)(ii)). Two or more convictions with aggregate sentences of five years or more also make a person inadmissible ((a)(2)(B)). Whether a foreign decision counts as a conviction is a legal question that an attorney reviews against the court record.

What to check with an attorney

• Which process is open: an extradition request, an evidence request, an INTERPOL notice, a foreign case or a conviction.
• Which countries are involved, and whether a treaty is in force between them.
• What the offence is and its maximum penalty: several rules turn on one year, two years or five years.
• Whether the matter may be political: INTERPOL Art. 3 limits its work.
• Whether the foreign decision is final, and what the court record says.
• Whether a U.S. visa or green card application is pending or planned.

Sources reviewed 13 Nov 2026. Sources below.

Official sources:

1. U.S. State Department, Treaties in Force (1 January 2026): Turkiye, Treaty on extradition and mutual assistance in criminal matters (32 UST 3111; TIAS 9891)
2. 18 U.S.C. 3181: Scope and limitation of the extradition chapter
3. 18 U.S.C. 3512: Foreign requests for assistance in criminal investigations and prosecutions
4. 28 U.S.C. 1782: Assistance to foreign and international tribunals and to litigants before such tribunals
5. 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2): Inadmissibility, criminal and related grounds (INA 212(a)(2))
6. INTERPOL Constitution, Art. 3
7. INTERPOL Rules on the Processing of Data, Arts. 18, 34 and 83

What changed: new page on extradition, evidence requests, INTERPOL rules and immigration effects of foreign convictions.