Recent Changes to Turkish Citizenship Through Real Estate Ownership

Several amendments were issued to the decision to grant Turkish citizenship to foreigners through real estate ownership during the year 2022, and Turkey had launched the “Citizenship in exchange for investment” program in 2017, and it included several amendments within 5 years, which we will review in this article, especially the last one.

Granting Turkish citizenship to one person within the participatory property:

An important amendment was issued to the regulations for granting Turkish citizenship to foreigners through real estate investment at the end of 2022, and stipulates that it be granted to only one person from the participatory real estate owners, provided that the decision actually takes effect at the beginning of the current year 2023.

Previously, the Turkish government granted the owners of the participatory real estate Turkish citizenship, provided that the share of one person in the property was not less than 400 thousand dollars.

Selling foreign currency to the Central Bank of Turkey:

In early 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree forcing those wishing to buy real estate to sell foreign currency to the Turkish Central Bank, exchange it for Turkish currency through an intermediary bank, and then transfer the value of the property in Turkish lira to the seller’s account through the intermediary bank itself.

Increasing the investment value of granting Turkish citizenship through real estate ownership:

The Turkish government raised the value of the property that enables the foreign buyer to obtain Turkish citizenship from $250,000 to $400,000, while maintaining the time period for keeping the property for a period of 3 years. The decision was officially issued on May 12, 2022, after a 30-day period granted by the government to take advantage of the previous decision.

What are the reasons that prompted the Turkish government to raise the value of the property in return for granting citizenship?

Observers and economists believe that the reasons are related to the decline in the value of the Turkish currency between 2018 (the penultimate amendment) and 2022. After the Turkish lira in 2018 was equal to about 7 lira per US dollar, it exceeded 18 Turkish lira in 2022.

In addition to the high inflation index in the country, which cast a shadow over Turkish real estate prices and raised their value significantly. Real estate prices in 2018 started at $50,000, but it has become difficult to find a property worth less than $100,000 at a minimum during 2022.

When should foreign currency be sold to the Turkish Central Bank?

According to the decision of the Turkish president, the sale of foreign currency to the Central Bank of Turkey is not only related to real estate ownership with the aim of obtaining Turkish citizenship, but also includes everyone who wants to buy a property in foreign currency in Turkey.

Is it possible to buy a property in installments to obtain Turkish citizenship?

The last amendment did not address this matter, and the previous decisions required the investor to buy a property and pay its value in cash, or that the value of the first payment or the paid installments exceed 400 thousand dollars, regardless of the remaining installments.