Acquiring Turkish Citizenship with Real Estate

Turkish citizenship law was updated with the “Regulation Amending the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law” published in the Official Gazette numbered 30540 on September 19, 2018 . Foreigners and their spouses who have purchased real estate (real estates such as workplaces or houses) worth $250,000, as well as their children under the age of 18, have been granted (exceptionally) the right to acquire Turkish Citizenship.

Turkish citizenship is given to foreigners who buy a house in Turkey, especially in order to encourage foreign investment. It has started to be used as a tool to buy real estate and citizenship, to serve the labor and economic policies of the states, and regulations have been made in many countries about the acquisition of citizenship through investment.

With this regulation and previous regulations and the regulations made in the Citizenship Law, the details of the procedure for the acquisition of Turkish citizenship by real estate, which is exceptionally Turkish citizenship acquisition, have been regulated.

Citizenship for foreigners who buy a house in Turkey

Foreigners, whose conditions are regulated by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, have to impose the condition that they cannot be sold for 3 years due to their citizenship application, and cannot sell this immovable for 3 years after purchasing the real estate worth $250,000. If they sell or dispose of it, their citizenship application or their citizenship will be canceled in terms of acquiring Turkish citizenship with real estate.

Foreigners can find a total value of $250,000 by purchasing one or more real estate. In case of separate title deeds, they must be registered to the same person and an annotation that cannot be sold for 3 years has been processed.

In order to determine this value, a report must be prepared by a licensed expert (appraiser) authorized by the Capital Markets Board (CMB). There are experts known by our company and the real estate companies we work with, and it is applied for the preparation of a report in accordance with the procedure of acquiring Turkish citizenship with real estate.

Conditions for obtaining citizenship with an investment of $250,000

•  To invest at least 500,000 USD in fixed capital.
• To purchase immovable property worth at least 250.000 USD, provided that an annotation is put in the title deed records that it will not be sold for 3 years.
•  To create employment for at least 50 people.
• To deposit at least 500,000 USD in banks operating in Turkey, provided that they are kept for three years.
• To purchase government debt instruments of at least 500,000 USD, provided that they are kept for 3 years .
• To purchase at least USD 500,000 of real estate investment fund shares or venture capital investment fund shares, provided that they hold at least three years.

Collection of Turkish Citizenship Application Documents

Other required documents are provided. Necessary documents are provided by the attorney if a power of attorney is given to the attorney, or by the foreign person if not. If there are documents that cannot be obtained with a lawyer, the person must provide it himself. Documents required for real estate acquisition and acquisition of Turkish citizenship are listed as follows:

• Application form
• 2 Biometric photos
• Passport (original and notarized Turkish translation)
• Document showing the applicant’s identity information
• Health report
• If the applicant has 1st or 2nd degree relatives of Turkish Citizens, a copy of the birth certificate of these people
• Document showing the applicant’s marital status (if the applicant is married, marriage certificate, a copy of the birth certificate stating the spouse and children)
• If the applicant is divorced, the document proving this situation, if he is a widow, his spouse’s death certificate
• If the Applicant’s child under the age of 18 is requested to acquire Turkish Citizenship, a document showing the consent of the parent and notarized Turkish translation, which is issued by the notary public in Turkey, or by the foreign representative office or the competent authorities of the country abroad.
• If only the applicant’s year of birth is known, and if the month and day is unknown, a document from his/her home country to add these dates
• Document showing that the service fee has been paid to the Finance

Turkish citizenship by investment

Our company specializes in the acquisition of Turkish citizenship through investment, this detailed, complex and time-consuming procedure. It completes all the necessary stages with all the details in the shortest time without any problems. As a result of the Ministry of Interior’s research, the applicants’ citizenship is approved if there is no obstacle (membership in a terrorist organization, etc.) to obtain citizenship. Although this is a time-consuming procedure today, time can be shortened with the right steps.

Our firm works with real estate companies and offers alternatives and advice on real estate and investment to be purchased.

The steps to be taken are briefly as follows:

1. First of all, expertly determined real estate or real estates with a value of $250,000 will be purchased.
2. During the purchase process, this situation will be stated in the Land Registry Directorate and an annotation that cannot be sold for 3 years will be written on the title deed.
3. Applying to the Provincial Immigration Administration by applying for an investor residence permit for the person who received the title deed from the Immigration Administration of the city within the borders of the real estate purchased, and obtaining the residence permit on the same day (without waiting for the appointment day by our firm, a residence permit is obtained on the same day). The most important document for the application to be accepted is the conformity response from Ankara based on the Land Registry Office letter. The residence permit card is printed and sent from the General Directorate of Migration Management in Ankara within 1-2 weeks. However, in order to apply, a letter from the General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs must be obtained that this real estate is eligible for citizenship. Most of the necessary documents will be prepared with a special power of attorney to be issued by us, marriage or divorce certificate from the person’s own country or marital status certificate if single, birth certificates of children, criminal record. It will be enough to bring the documents. These documents must be apostille-approved or approved by the authorities of their own country (usually the relevant ministries). 1-year residence permit usually 80 USD + 72 TL residence permit card fee +1 year private health insurance (international insurances are valid under certain conditions). In Turkish companies, it varies between 310 – 740 TL depending on age. A single entry visa fee of 400 TL is charged for some countries. A power of attorney issued by a Turkish notary public costs an average of 1250 TL, including an interpreter and a written translation fee. We emphasize that the residence permit will be applied as an investor residence permit, it is only required for the person who bought the real estate, not for other family members!

Other conditions of being a Turkish citizen

1. Making an application for Turkish citizenship to the Istanbul Provincial Population Directorate or, if desired, directly to the General Directorate in Ankara. This process is done as soon as we receive the residence permit document and all necessary documents are prepared with a special power of attorney issued by us and applications are made. Transactions are followed and the file is accelerated by solving problems. For citizenship applications made to the Provincial Population Directorate, a file fee of 15 TL is paid per person.
2. The above-mentioned steps take a few days. After these procedures, the Provincial Population Directorate writes instructions to the relevant units on the system to conduct a general security investigation (terrorist organization history, etc.) about the person. This is the reason for most of the citizenship applications that have been going on for a long time and still have not been decided. Necessary steps are taken by our company and this process is accelerated by monitoring it manually. If there is no obstacle as a result of the research, the citizenship file we have prepared is sent to the General Directorate in Ankara. Granting citizenship by the general directorate takes 1-3 months.
3. Finally, an application can be made directly to the General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs in Ankara, in order for the proceedings to be concluded even faster. However, this process is subject to additional costs and fees.