Turkey has changed the conditions for obtaining citizenship by investment

According to the new instructions of the General Directorate of Land Cadastre, from 01.01.2023, a new set of rules for the acquisition of real estate for obtaining citizenship will apply.

Below you can see a summary of the new rules that will come into effect on 1st January:

Number of properties

• The number of properties that an applicant can purchase is not limited.
• The value of one property cannot be less than $400,000 to apply for citizenship.
• If an applicant purchases multiple properties for a combined price greater than $400,000, the authorities will only approve the citizenship application if the same contract applies to all properties.

Joint acquisition of real estate

• It is not possible to apply for citizenship based on the acquisition of shares in the property, unless all shares are acquired by the same foreign citizen.
• Property registered to more than one person may only qualify for citizenship if all shares are acquired by a single foreign citizen.

Property valuation report

• Applicants for citizenship must receive a property valuation report no later than three months before the notarization of the preliminary sales contract. In this case, a separate property valuation report is not required before submitting an application to the Land Registry.
• A new valuation report is not separately required in the event of a sale based on annotated preliminary sales contracts.

Selling parties

• A property can only be the subject of a citizenship application once.
• A foreign person cannot subsequently sell this property to another foreigner in order to obtain Turkish citizenship.
• Real estate subject to sale or a preliminary sale and purchase agreement must not be registered to a legal entity whose authorized person is a foreign citizen.

Certificate for the purchase of currency

• If the buyer transfers the amount before the issuance of the currency purchase certificate, the transfer must be made in foreign currency.
• If the buyer transfers the amount after the issuance of the currency purchase certificate, the transfer must be made in Turkish Lira.

Mortgages:

• In the case of buying real estate on credit in foreign currency, the amount remaining after deducting the loan amount from the sale price must be at least $400,000.