The most important questions about Turkish citizenship procedures by buying a property in Turkey
By receiving inquiries from many customers and buyers, and communicating with Turkish real estate consultants, we have prepared a list of the most important inquiries that may be asked by those looking to own real estate in Turkey to obtain Turkish citizenship, which is:
1. What is the security approval that is usually required of foreigners when buying real estate in Turkey? Does it affect the procedures for obtaining Turkish citizenship?
Security approval is required once in any real estate project because foreigners are prohibited from owning near the military and security centers in Turkey if you were the first foreigner buying in the project it is mandatory to extract the security approval and it normally takes around 45 days, but if you weren't there will be no obstacles.
Therefore, it is very important to ask about foreigners who bought real estate in the project in which you want to buy real estate, to be able to assess the time required to complete the acquisition of Turkish citizenship procedures.
Read: Istanbul Real Estate
2. What are the ways to pay the amount of 250 thousand US dollars while buying a property in Turkey to obtain Turkish citizenship?
Payment must be made by bank transfer, from the buyer's account to the seller's account, and all official receipts and documents that prove the transfer must be kept.
payment could be collected either by “cash” in one payment of $250,000 or installments, provided that the first payment is at least $250,000, with a certified copy of the sales contract attached, provided that the payment is before 9/19/2018, the date of recent citizenship law amendment issuance.
3. Is it possible to buy real estate in several different Turkish states to obtain Turkish citizenship?
it is possible, there is no problem, as long as the two conditions are met:
- The total prices of these properties must be at least 250 thousand US dollars.
- Commitment not to sell the properties until after 3 years from the date of purchase.
4. Is it possible to buy more than one type of real estate, for example, an office, a house, a land... or all real estate must be of one type?
No condition prevents this, the important thing is that the sum of real estate prices must be 250 thousand dollars, even if they are different, that is it.
a person can buy a plot of land, an apartment, an office, or a store and then apply for citizenship as long as the sum of their prices exceeds the required limit.
Read: Apartment Prices In Istanbul
5. Does The Buyer Grant Citizenship To His Family? And When?
If the husband buys real estate for the amount of 250 thousand dollars, then he has the right to apply for citizenship with his wife and children who have not reached the age of 18, and all in the same application file without the need to wait until he obtains citizenship.
and it is the same if the wife was the purchaser, then her husband and children under the age of 18 have the right to apply with her in the same application file.
6. Is It Possible to Apply in Person, Is A Lawyer Required? What Are the Lawyer’s Powers?
There is no objection to applying in person, in the presence of your lawyer, or even if your lawyer represented you.
where this official authorization allows the lawyer to perform all procedures in your absence except for the interview at the Immigration Department which the applicant himself must attend himself.
7. Is It Possible to Buy Real Estate Under Construction in Turkey To Obtain Turkish Citizenship?
Yes, the amendment to the Turkish citizenship law for foreign investors allows them to apply for Turkish citizenship when purchasing the property under construction, but the sales contract should be attached along with other documents, and of course, The first payment of the property price should be at least 250 USD.
6 Reasons for Granting Turkish Citizenship In Return For Real Estate Investment
1-Support the Turkish economy
Turks in general are trying to maintain the development of their economy and increase its resources and opportunities to maintain its escalation.
Today, Turkey has the second European economy in terms of growth, where the economic growth rate last year was 7.4%, while the first European was Ireland with a growth rate of 7.8%.
The step taken by Turkey has increased the demand for real estate purchase in Turkey and increased market movement, not to mention the new job opportunities these investments provide if the real estate is commercial.
2-support Turkish lira
For nearly half a year, the Turkish lira has been experiencing several fluctuations in the exchange rate against the US dollar and the rest of foreign currencies. on the other hand, the Turkish government plans before the presidential and parliamentary elections in June 2017 and afterward were all aimed at increasing foreign exchange reserves in Turkish banks and increasing the confidence of foreign and local investors in the Turkish economic sector, and this step came in line with the decline of the Turkish lira against the dollar, during the period of issuing this decision for the first time, one million dollars equaled to approximately 3 million Turkish liras, but now it is equal to 6 million Turkish liras as a minimum, so it was necessary to reduce the minimum To correspond to the change in the price of the Turkish lira.
Real estate did not negatively affect by the change in the value of the local currency exchange against other foreign and international currencies, but exchange fluctuations can be used to issue and enact incentive laws for investors.
Dealing with the economy of a strong country with a presence in global markets cannot be compared to dealing with weak countries that are affected All its vital and economic sectors will be negatively affected in an emergency.
3-Increasing Gross Domestic Product GDP In Turkey
One of the important things for Turkey is, to increase the country’s gross domestic product.
where increasing the productivity of human resources of Turkish citizens is one of the most important factors that contribute to the rise in the domestic product.
having the real estate investors and capitals as Turkish citizens in the markets of the Turkish economy in its various sectors is all in the interest of Turkey. Not to mention the consequences of real estate investors obtaining Turkish citizenship by opening new projects and creating additional job opportunities, which increases the average person's income in Turkey.
With these measures, Turkey maintains an increase and escalation of the annual domestic product, which reached 10% last year.
4-Supporting Vision 2023
Perhaps this is one of the most important reasons that motivated the government to take such a decision, as the government of Justice and Development has posted a plan and a future vision for the country since 2002, which aims to reach advanced ranks globally on several levels, the most important of which is the economic aspect. where Turkey aims to be among the first ten countries economically by the year 2023.
This vision is approaching its date and Turkey has come a long way to achieve it, so Turkey always tries to ensure the implement this vision and not to negatively affected by any crisis that Turkey has been exposed to or may be exposed to later, as it is trying to maintain a good and solid ground for the economy away From the control of the International Monetary Fund, which replaced it with foreign investment financing.
5-Turkey's increasing inclination towards the Middle East
Previous Turkish governments have always strived to please the West and obtain a seat within the European Union, but after several thorny issues, especially at the political level, and in return since 2011, Turkey has shown its alignment with the opposition forces and revolutions in the Middle East, especially in Libya, Egypt and Syria alongside Its pro-Palestinian stance which made Turkey a safe sanctuary for many Middle Eastern investors, and on the other hand, Turkey was comfortable with the huge demand and increased the incentives to attract more investors and investments from this region.
Real estate investment – Middle East investors
also, the geographical location as a link between Asia and Europe and the gateway to the West towards the East, and all that, made Turkey closer to the peoples of the Middle East. The feasibility of this trust that Turkey shows to Arab and Middle Eastern investors has become evident after the coup of 2015 when many European and Western investments left, but on the other hand, Arab investments increased and did not care about the security situation in Turkey.
On the contrary, the turnout of Gulf and Iraqis buy real estate in Turkey increased, and the recent Turkish decision represents an additional incentive, especially for Iraqis, Egyptians, and Libyans, for what comfortable The Turkish citizenship brings more than their nationalities, which suffer from many crises, and perhaps many of them cannot benefit from their full civil rights in their nationality of origin due to certain political conditions.
Read: How To Obtain Turkish Citizenship
6-The Turkish national feeling is that Turkey is a nation and not just a state.
Those who lived with the Turks and mixed with them feel that they look high to their country and many of them still live their glories of the past as a real nation, so they always address the issues of Muslims in all Islamic and Arab countries.
Turkey hastened to support Gaza and the Turks stood by the Gazans in the Freedom Fleet and the Marmara ship and the position of the Turkish President at the Davos Conference. Then the Turks stood with the Middle East revolutions, as well as with Saudi Arabia in Operation Decisive Storm, and they have a mediating position in the Gulf crisis alongside Kuwait, and even the Turkish presence is in northern Syria. All of these actions stem from the Turkish feeling that their country is a compound of all Islamic nationalities: Arab, Turkish, Kurdish, and Persian, and therefore they do not find any difficulty in acquiring many new citizens from other nationalities.
These six reasons we mentioned are the most important things that Push Turkey to take these amendments to the Turkish citizenship law to maintain the growth of economic growth and the rise of the domestic product, in addition to other reasons and motives.
What are the amendments to the Turkish citizenship law through real estate investments?
These Amendments Have Been a Demand From Turkish Real Estate Developers.
Several real estate developers launched demands in the previous period of this year to the Turkish official authorities to make amendments to the law on granting Turkish citizenship and to reduce the minimum amount from one million US dollars to less than that, and the claimants justified This is because the Turkish domestic product has increased by 8%, and such measures increase the naturalization of productive human resources, which achieve a more increase in the GDP year after year.
Read: Buying an Apartment In Istanbul
The real estate developers at the time linked their demands to the inquiries they received from foreign investors about Turkish citizenship, especially in Real estate exhibitions in Doha, Dubai, and Paris, most of the questions was regarding the minimum, which many considered relatively large in the past, which indicate their constant interest in this issue and their follow-up to it. and the real estate developer sees that the first motivation for foreign investors is the incentive that the government lunches every once and while The Turkish government, from time to time, aims to touch the aspirations and desires of foreign investors
The Amendments will Open Doors for New Investments in Turkish Real Estate
When the minimum amount was one million US dollars, many foreign investors could not obtain this advantage, so they established limited investments and bought real estate in Turkey with the limits of budgets, because the difference between what they owned and the limit was large, for example, who now owns a property worth 100,000 A dollar or 150 thousand dollars, the difference between what they have and the minimum is a big difference, but now the difference is reasonable and accessible.
therefore, reaching the Real Estate Limit becomes more easily, and this particular segment of investors is the target of more than this amendment, where they are the closest to motivation, especially since what they saw far, approached them greatly.
Also, whoever invested amounts very close to the new minimum of 250 thousand dollars, must strive for other investments that achieve the possibility to be entitled to Turkish citizenship, all of these things will contribute to increasing the number of new real estate investments and escalating the temptation to buy apartments or houses in Turkey to obtain citizenship.
The Amendments Shortened the Way for those who Seeking Citizenship
Many foreign investors own real estate in Turkey worth more than a quarter of a million dollars, but they had not reached the previous limit of “a million dollars.” These are the earliest to benefit from the amendments to Turkish citizenship law because they already met the citizenship requirement. Therefore, we advise foreigners who own real estate in Turkey to calculate the values of their properties so they can find out whether they are entitled to obtain Turkish citizenship or not.
It was clarified in the last amendment that several ministries in Turkey will open joint offices to facilitate and simplify procedures of obtaining Turkish citizenship.
These offices will be emanating from the Ministry of the Interior and supervised by the Ministries of Finance, Social Security, Labor, and others.
The recent amendment in the Nationality Law will undoubtedly contribute to increasing the number of real estates that will be sold to foreigners in Turkey and will increase the volume of foreign real estate investments in the country.
and the next stage represents a serious challenge to developing the real estate sector to keep up with the high demands from investors looking to obtain Turkish citizenship
If you want to obtain Turkish citizenship by buying a property in Turkey, browse our properties in Istanbul, or contact us and register here or via WhatsApp to find the right property for you
