Turkish Citizenship by Investment
FULL GUIDE ON TURKISH CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT
Since the launch of Turkish Citizenship by Investment Program in 2016, many foreigners are interested in having Turkish citizenship along with their family, by making qualifying investment in Turkey.
In this Article, we provide a full-fledged information about Turkish citizenship by investment in general; whereas, we specifically focus on theoption of buying real estate (property) which is the most favorite option among the other investment options for the citizenship. You may find the content of this Article below:
- Turkish Citizenship by Investment in General
- Requirements for Turkish Citizenship by Investment
- The Benefits of Turkish Citizenship
- The Timeline of the Turkish Citizenship by Investment Process
- Investment Options for Citizenship
- Which Family Members Get Turkish CitizenshipAlong with the Investor?
- Citizenship By Buying Property (Real Estate) in Turkey
- Are Foreigners Allowed to Own Property (Real Estate) in Turkey?
- How do you Get Turkish Citizenship by Buying Property (Real Estate)?
- Checklist- The List of Documents Required for Title Deed Transfer to Foreigners(Applicable Only for Investment by Buying Property)
- Checklist- The List of Documents Required for Citizenship Application
- Costs & Expenses to be Paid during the Title Deed Transfer Process and the Turkish Citizenship Application Process
- About Us (Yamakoğlu & Partners)
Turkish Citizenship by Investment in General
The Turkish Citizenship by Investment Program offers eligible individuals/their families the opportunity to get Turkish citizenship (Turkish ID and Turkish Passport) on the condition of making a qualifying investment in Turkey.
In Turkish Citizenship by investment program, not only the investor but also his/her spouse and children under 18 benefit from the investment; so they also have the right to become Turkish citizen along with the main applicant (the investor).
In order to becomea Turkish citizen by investmentneither the applicant is required to have even a basic level of Turkish nor required to stay in Turkey for a while either before or after obtaining Turkish citizenship. So you may keep living abroad after obtaining Turkish citizenship. Moreover, the applicants are not required to declare his/her assets or income generated in other countries in order benefit from this opportunity.
Also during the process you are not required to be present in Turkey; as the Turkish citizenship lawyers who are expert in this field we follow the whole citizenship process, from the beginning till the end, on your behalf without your presence in Turkey.
Requirements for Turkish Citizenship by Investment
The applicants (the investors) are expected to meet the below criteria in order to get Turkish citizenship by investment:
- Not to have a criminal record for being involved in any terrorist crimes.
- Notto enter or stay illegally in Turkey.
- The applicant must be over 18 years old.
The Benefits of Turkish Citizenship
- Fast submission process: to be finalized around 3-5 months.
- Eligible for entire family: Together with the main applicant (the investor), possible to get citizenship for the applicant’s spouse and children under 18 years old.
- No residency requirement: Applicants are not required to be reside or present in Turkey before or during citizenship process.
- No language requirement: You are not required to have even basic level of Turkish for benefiting from Turkish citizenship process.
- No declaration requirement: No need to declare and disclose wealth/assets/income of the applicant in other countries.
- Visa-free travel: Approx. 110 countries throughout the world.
- Dual citizenship option: Turkish government allows you to keep your original citizenship together with the Turkish citizenship.
- Citizenship valid throughout life: Once you obtain Turkish citizenship by investment, the citizenship will be valid throughout your life.
- Citizenship transferrable to children and all other descendants.
- Free education provided by the Turkish state.
- Free medical service (health facilities) provided by Turkish state.
The Timeline of the Turkish Citizenship by Investment Process
The process starts with making the investment in Turkey and then application must be made to any Citizenship Office in Turkey by submitting the required documents. Then at the last stage, the process ends with the applicant having Turkish passport and Turkish ID as a result of being a Turkish citizen.
Under normal circumstances, the whole process of citizenship is finalized around 3-5 months. At all stages of the process, we as the Turkish citizenship lawyers who are experts in this area follow the whole process on your behalf.
Investment Options for Citizenship
In order to be eligible for Turkish citizenship by investment, the main criteria is to make a qualified investment in Turkey and then keep this investment for at least 3 years period.
You should note that the most favorite option among these options is the real estate purchase option, whereby any person who purchases real estate with a minimum value of USD 400,000 in Turkey is accepted to be eligible to be a Turkish citizen. The other options are making different types of investments in Turkey with a minimum amount of USD 500,000.
Below are the available investment options for Turkish citizenship:
-
Real Estate Option: Purchase of one or more real estate(s) with a total value of minimum USD 400,000 (or equivalent amount in another currency) with condition not to sell the property within the following 3 years period.
- Cash Deposit Option: Deposit minimum USD 500,000 (or equivalent amount in another currency) in cash to a bank in Turkey with condition to keep the amount in bank account for the following 3 years period.
- Capital Investment Option: Making fixed capital investment of minimum USD 500,000 (or equivalent amount in another currency) in a business in Turkey and the investment for the following 3 years period.
- Employment Option: Establish a business in Turkey and employ at least 50 employees.
- Government Bond Option: Purchase government bond (government debt instruments) with a value of minimum USD 500,000 (or equivalent amount in another currency) with the condition not to sell the instruments for the following 3 years period.
- Fund/Venture Capital Option: Purchase real estate investment fund share or shares of a venture capital investment fund with a value of minimum USD 500,000 (or equivalent amount in another currency) with the condition to keep the shares for the following 3 years period.
It should be noted that the investor must keep the investment for 3 years following the date of the investment. So for the real estate option, the investor is not allowed to sell the real estate to third person within 3 years following the date of purchase. We, as the Turkish citizenship lawyers who are expert in this field, also guide our clients how to generate the best income from their investment.
Which Family Members Get Turkish Citizenship Along with the Investor?
In Turkish Citizenship by investment program, not only the investor but also his/her spouse and the children of the investor under 18 years old benefit from the investment; so they also have the right to become Turkish citizen together with the main applicant (the investor).
Citizenship by Buying Property (Real Estate) in Turkey
As mentioned above, six investment options are available in general for Turkish Citizenship; however, among these options the most favorite option is to buy property (real estate) in Turkey.
For citizenship buying property (real estate) is the most favorite option for two reasons: i) Unlike the other investment options which require to make minimum USD 500,000 in Turkey, in buying property (real estate) option the investor is expected to buy a property with minimum value of USD 400,000. ii) The investors consider buying property in Turkey as the most profitable investment type in Turkey.
Are Foreigners Allowed to Own Property (Real Estate) in Turkey?
As a principle, all the foreigners are allowed to buy (own) property in Turkey.
However, this general rule is mainly restricted in two cases: i) The foreigners are not allowed to buy property in some restricted areas due to the public order, such as the lands that are close the military premises. ii) The nationals of some countries such as Syrians, Armenians and Nigerians are not allowed to own property in Turkey.
Other than the above restrictions (and some other detailed restrictions) all the foreigners are allowed to buy any kind of property (real estate) in Turkey.
How do you Get Turkish Citizenship by Buying Property (Real Estate)?
As mentioned above in case of buying a property in Turkey with a minimum value of USD 400,000, the investor is accepted to be eligible for having Turkish citizenship by investment.
So at the first stage, the seller or the buyer of the property must make a submission to the relevant Land Registry in Turkey to complete the title deed transfer. Then the Land Registry appoints an expert who confirms that the price of the property is over USD 400.000. If this is the case, then the seller and buyer must perform title deed transfer by providing the below listed documents to the Land Registry. At the end of the process, the superior authority of the Land Registry provides eligibility letter which confirms that the applicant’s investment is eligible for citizenship. That means that the applicant is now ready to make a citizenship application to any Citizenship Office in Turkey.
Checklist- The List of Documents Required for Title Deed Transfer to Foreigners (Applicable Only for Investment by Buying Property)
As explained in detail above, if the investor chooses the option of buying a property in Turkey for citizenship, then as the first stage of the process, the title deed of the property must be transferred to the investor before the relevantLand Registry in Turkey. The following documents are needed for the title deed transfer of the property:
- Passport of the investor
- 1 biometric photo (size 50mm x 60mm) in ICAO form with white background
- Power of Attorney to be certified by the Public Notary
- Receipt of the bank transfer for the purchase of the real estate approved by the relevant bank (signed and sealed by the bank)
- Potential Tax ID of the investor
- Expertise report for real estate
- Insurance policy for earthquake risk (if not previously present)
Checklist - The List of Documents Required for Citizenship Application
Once the investment is approved by the relevant Public Authority, the investor must apply for residence permit at the first stage which is a process of 1-2 days. Then right after the residence permit application, the applicant must make a citizenship application to any Citizenship Office in Turkey by submitting the below listed documents:
- The birth certificates of the applicant, the spouse and the children under 18
- Marital status certificate of the applicant and the spouse
- Passport (ID page) of the applicant, spouse and children under 18
- Power of Attorney to be approved by the Public Notary provided by the investor and the spouse.
- Biometric photo (size 50mm x 60mm) in ICAO form with white background, of the applicant, spouse and children under 18
- Copy of the eligibility (conformity) certificate as provided by the relevant Public Authority
- Receipt of the bank transfer for the purchase price of the real estate approved by the relevant bank (specific to investment by buying property)
- Health insurance policy for the investorrequired for residence permit).
Costs & Expenses to be Paid during the Title Dee Transfer Process and the Turkish Citizenship Application Process
During the land registry process in transferring the title deed the followings costs are to be paid by the investor:
- The applicant is required to pay %2 of the price of the real estate, plus around USD 120 to the Land Registry as the official charge for the title deed transfer.
- If the applicant uses a real estate agent (broker) in finding the real estate, the applicant pays %2 commission fee for the real estate agent. You should note that this is not an official fee for open to bargainng; however, this is the general practice in the sector.
- Around USD 400-350 for the expertise report for the property.
- Earthquake insurance fee, around USD 170 (if the property has not insurance before). Some real estate sellers bear this cost by themselves, some prefers to charge this fee to the buyer.
During the Citizenship application stage the followings costs are to be paid by the investor:
- Around USD 200 for notarization and translation expenses (with the assumption of a family with 4 person). Please note that this fee may not needed if the documents such as birth certificate and marriage certificate is provided in Turkish by the relevant authorities.
- For the residence permit process (which is a must be Citizenship process) the official fee is around USD 170. You should note that this is the general fee, some exceptions are applied for some countries, so the fee may be less than USD 170 in some cases. (please note that we investor must have residence permit to apply for citizenship by investment, but there is no such requirement for other family members who benefit from citizenship).
- Health insurance fee (required for residence permit): Around USD 35
- Citizenship application fee: Around USD 2 per person in the family.
- Turkish ID fee: Around USD 3 per person in the family (will be paid once the citizenship is approved)
- Passport fee for three years: Around USD 120 per person in the family (will be paid once the citizenship is approved)
About Us (Yamakoğlu & Partners)
We are an Istanbul based and English speaking Turkish citizenship lawyers, specialized in citizenship by investment and in commercial/business law matters. Our counsels have vast experience in handling Turkish citizenship by investment submission process and we are among the market leaders in this sector in terms of quality of legal services and the number of clients. Thanks to our fluent English we provide our English speaking clients a decent level of legal services for citizenship process.
We have a rich portfolio of experience in the citizenship process that enable us to follow and finalize the process as smooth as possible. Without your presence in Turkey, we are filing the citizenship by investment submission and follow the whole process till to end on your behalf and; act as your contact person between the public authorities and yourself.
For more information you may visit our website from the below link and reach us from the followings:
iyamakoglu@yamakogluisgoren.com
Cellphone/Whatsapp:+90 542 393 15 69