The first regulation regarding the acquisition of Turkish citizenship by foreigners in Turkey through investment was put into effect with the Decision numbered 2016/9601 which was published in the Official Gazette dated January 12th, 2017.
The legal regulations regarding the exceptional acquisition of Turkish citizenship by foreigners through the decision of the President, are regulated in article 12 of the Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901 and article 20 of the Regulation on the Implementation of Turkish Citizenship.
The minimum amount of investment required for foreigners to acquire Turkish citizenship has been reduced through the amendment made in the relevant legal regulations with the Presidential Decree numbered106 ("Decree") and dated September 18th, 2018.
In accordance with the current legislation, the minimum amount of investment that is required in order to apply for Turkish citizenship through the acquisition of real estate has been determined as “
the purchase of a real estate on the value of minimum USD 250.000 or its equivalent in foreign currency or Turkish Lira, or promise to sale of a real estate with the same values and under a condominium or construction servitude“ and prior to the enactment of the Decree, the investment that was required amounted to USD 1,000.000. In other words, the amount of investment that is required by foreigners to be able to submit their application for Turkish citizenship through the acquisition of real estat“ has been reduced by 75%, which has in turn, greatly increased the interest of foreigners in our country.
Thus, the number of foreigners who became Turkish citizens by acquiring real estate within only three years since the enactment of the Decree until October 2021, has been determined to be 19.630 in the data provided by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization,
1 .
In this sense, the statistics on house sales dated November 15th, 2021 conducted by the Turkish Institute of Statistics also demonstrate that
2 ; houses sold to foreigners increased by 38% and reached 43.372 in the January-October period of 2021, compared to the sales in the same period of the previous year.
The issues that need to be taken into consideration by foreigners who wish to acquire Turkish citizenship through purchasing real estate are as follows;
There are no limitations in terms of the qualitifations of real estate.
There are no restrictions regarding the qualifications of the real estates to be acquired through sales and foreign investors can apply for Turkish citizenship through purchasing real estates such as housing, workplaces, lands, fields, gardens, etc. However, if an investment is to be made through the execuiton of a promise to sale contract to be signed in the presence of a public notary which is to be annotated in the land title registry of the real estate, construction servitude or condominium must be established only on the real estate.
The foreigner must undertake not to dispose of the real estate for a term of 3 (three) years.
In order for the investment to be made through the purchase of real estate to be considered suitable for the acquisition of Turkish citizenship; an undertaking expressing that the real estates acquired through the sales transaction will not be sold for 3 (three) years must be given, and for the real estates on which a promise to sale contract has been concluded, an undertakingstating that the promise to sale contract will not be canceled or transferred for 3 (three) years must be given and this undertaking must be annotated in the land title registry of the relevant real estate.
The investment amount does not have to be provided through the purchase of a single real estate.
In order not to restrict the investments of foreign investors, the investment amount of USD 250,000 does not have to be provided through the purchase of a single real estate. In other words, it is sufficient for the person who will make an investment through purchasing real estate to acquire more than one real estate and fulfill the minimum required investment amount of USD 250,000.
The date of purchase of the real estate is significant in determining the minimum amount of investment.
As explained above, since January 12th, 2017, when the acquisition of Turkish citizenship through investment first came into effect, until September 18th 2018, when the minimum amount of investment required for citizenship was reduced, the investment amount required to acquire Turkish citizenship was determined as USD 1,000.000. In this direction, the value of real estate acquired between January 12th, 2017 and September 18th, 2018 for the purpose of obtaining Turkish citizenship must be at least USD 1,000.000, and the value of real estate acquired after September 19th, 2018 must be at least USD 250,000.
Obtaining a valuation report of the real estate in question from a real estate valuation company licensed by the Capital Markets Board is mandatory.
A valuation report must be prepared by a real estate valuation company licensed by the Capital Markets Board which demonstrates that the value of the investment real estate is equal to or above the minimum investment amounts determined within the scope of the legislation. Nonetheless, with the amendment made on November 12th, 2021 through the Circular No. 2019/1 of the General Directorate of Land Title Registry and Cadastre on the subject, situations which do not require a valuation report have been determined.
The real estate must be acquired from a real person that is a Turkish citizen or a Turkish legal person.
In order for the real estate that is the subject of the investment, to be eligible to apply for Turkish citizenship, it must be registered in the name of a real person that is a Turkish citizen or a Turkish legal entity in the land title registry. In this context, the real estate should not be registered in the name of the legal entity in which the foreign real person themselves, their spouse or children are a partner or manager, or in the name of a company with foreign capital that is subject to article 36 of the Land Title Registry Law No. 2644, where foreign real persons of the same nationality are partners. The restrictions applied in this regard are comprehensively explained in the Guide attached to the Circular No. 2019/5 of the General Directorate of Land Title Registry and Cadastre.
The Ministry of Environment and Urbanization should determine that the investment made is suitable for applying for Turkish citizenship.
A Certificate of Suitability must be issued as a result of the examination conducted by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization demonstrating that the investment made by a foreign real person who acquires real estate in order to obtain Turkish citizenship is suitable for submitting their application for citizenship.
After the investment is duly made and the Certificate of Suitability is obtained, the foreign investor must first obtain a short-term residence permit within the scope of subparagraph (j) of paragraph 1 of article 31 of the Law on Foreigners and International Protection No. 6458, in accordance with the relevant legislation. Since this exceptional method of obtaining Turkish citizenship is aimed to proceed more rapidly than normal, the process of acquiring a residence permit is concluded much faster as well.
After obtaining the residence permit, the investor is entitled to apply for Turkish citizenship. Along with the investor, the investor's spouse and children under the age of 18 or the dependent children of the investor and his/her spouse are also entitled to apply for Turkish citizenship. If the investor has a child over the age of 18, he/she cannot apply for citizenship along with the investor since this person is considered to be an adult under Turkish law. However, it is possible for a child over the age of 18 to apply for Turkish citizenship through making a separate investment, submitting an individual application afterwards as per the general provisions or if the child meets the conditions and if the requirements are fulfilled, the child may apply for citizenship through marriage.
It is obligatory for the child whose application for citizenship is being submitted alongside his/her family, to be under the age of 18 at the time the decision for citizenship is concluded, yet it is not sufficient for the child to be under the age of 18 at the time of application.
For citizenship applications, while passports and identity records of all the applicants as well as the document stating the marital status of the investor must be submitted to the Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs, the documents that are requested may vary depending on the marital status of the investor and whether the children were born under wed-lock or not.
With the exceptional way of acquiring citizenship with the decision of the President, all the procedures that must be carried out in the process can be carried out through an attorney with a specially authorized power of attorney prepared in detail and as per the special regulation of the Immigration Administration the transactions that will be concluded before the Provincial Directorate of Immigration Administration can only be carried out by the investor himself/herself or an attorney authorized by power of attorney. Since the fine details, as well as the legal and procedural developments regarding this procedures will require strict attention, assigning an attorney to oversee these procedures will enable the swift conclusion of the process.
Files of foreign investors who have applied for Turkish citizenship are submitted to the President's approval, after detailed archive research and the examinations of the General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In terms of granting Turkish citizenship, the authority for the final decision is the President and thus, granting citizenship is left to the discretion of the President, even though this process is purely exceptional.
With the most recent amendment made in the relevant legislation on January 6th, 2021; it has been regulated that the investments contemplated to acquire Turkish citizenship in an exceptional way can only be made in foreign currency and cannot be made in Turkish Lira and certain currencies that are brought into the country are required to be sold to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.
It is evident that the purpose of this amendment is to take a precaution against the fluctuations in the value of the Turkish Lira in our country and to increase the foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. However, due to the ambiguity of the relevant regulation, the provisions contemplated within the scope of this amendment will become clear after the publication of a circular regarding the implementation principles of this amendment.
MORAL & PARTNERS
Göktürk Şahin, Senior Associate
Aybike Gürcan, Associate
1https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/turkiye/250-bin-dolar-odeyen-19-bin-kisi-tc-vatandasi-oldu-1880491
2https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Konut-Satis-Istatistikleri-Ekim-2021-37478&dil=1