How to Obtain Turkish Citizenship When Buying Property
Earlier, in this section, I told you how to get Turkish citizenship as quickly and reliably as possible based on investments in the country's economy and on the basis of buying real estate.
Today, I will tell you what important changes have taken place in the law on obtaining Turkish citizenship since February 1, 2023.
There is a lot of inaccurate, unprofessional and unverified information on the market related to the release of this law, which makes many questions arise that we are often asked to clarify.
Recent Changes in Turkish Citizenship Law
I think you will agree with me that obtaining citizenship abroad is always a responsible thing that must be done correctly and without mistakes from the very beginning.
Tolerance, with 20 years of experience, provides professional services for the rapid acquisition of Turkish citizenship when buying property in Turkey under the program of investment in the country's economy.
In this article, you will learn all about the latest important changes in the citizenship law and will be able to get answers to your questions.
On September 19, 2018, Turkey adopted amendments to the law, according to which any buyer of Turkish real estate in the amount of $250,000 or more could obtain Turkish citizenship through an accelerated procedure, you can read about it here.
Since June 13, 2022, this limit has been raised by the government to $400,000. The most important details of this law can be found in the video below.
What has changed in the norms of the law on citizenship since February 1, 2023?
Here are the most important changes in order:
1 – Buying housing in the property under construction on the basis of a notarial contract
I think you know that registration of real estate in Turkey does not take place at the notary, but at the Cadastre and Tapu Department. It is there that they draw up the most important documents on property ownership in Turkey - Tapu.
In addition, the provisions of the law on citizenship allow you to buy property under construction, where the registration of Tapu is often not possible yet.
In this case, the buyer can conclude a notarized sales contract with the developer, which will also give you the right to apply for Turkish citizenship after the full payment and a number of procedures are followed and done.
So, if earlier the buyer could buy several real estate objects under construction, in different places, at different times and from different developers and formalize it with different notarial sales contracts, then the terms and conditions of the new law limit this procedure flow.
Now, if an object or objects under construction are bought on the basis of a notarial contract of sale, there must be only one contract fixing this point. It can contain several real estate objects, but you will need to buy them at the same time and within the framework of one contract.
Do not forget also that despite the fact that the property is under construction, you will need to pay its total cost fully, and no later than the day the notarized contract of sale is concluded. Only this condition will give you the right to apply for Turkish citizenship.
Once again, I want to emphasize that these changes are applied only to those objects that you buy for citizenship on the basis of a notarial contract of sale in new buildings.
Concluding this type of contracts, by the way, is possible not only in Turkish lira, but also in US dollars or other currencies.
Do not forget that we are now talking about a purchase for obtaining Turkish citizenship. In normal cases, when buying real estate in Turkey in new buildings, notarized sales contracts are not drawn up, and a regular sales contract is concluded between the buyer and the developer.
Important: all these changes are not applied to objects, the ownership of which is registered in the Cadastre and Tapu Department.
In this case, it is still possible to purchase 2 or more properties, from different owners, at different times under the citizenship program.
That is, it is still possible to buy several objects for a total of 400,000 dollars and thus obtain Turkish citizenship! And this is the main point in which most of you are confused.
You can view the best real estate offers for obtaining Turkish citizenship using the link here.
2 – If I own real estate which was bought under the citizenship program, but the total amount of the purchchase was not enough to be eligible, can I buy a little more housing and apply for the Turkish citizenship?
Of course, you can provided that you buy constructed real estate with the execution of the transaction in the Office of the Cadastre and Tapu and no, you can’t if you plan to buy additional objects in housing under construction with the execution of a sales contract with a notary.
3 – What important limitations were added to the owner or seller of real estate under the Turkish citizenship program?
As you know, the main condition for the seller when buying property in Turkey to obtain Turkish citizenship has been and remains the following: the owner or seller must be a Turkish citizen or company.
In the past, for example, it was possible to get around this restriction if you liked the property very much, by quickly re-registering it from a foreign seller to a trustee - a Turk, and then to you, as the final buyer of real estate.
Now, this will no longer be possible.
Since February 1, 2023, the following restrictions have been added for sellers who own or even previously owned real estate that the buyer wants to purchase under the citizenship program.
- the property that is purchased under the citizenship program must not be owned by Turkish citizens who are directly related to a foreign buyer of Turkish real estate,
- the purchased resale property must not previously belong to the buyer or any of their direct relatives, whether Turkish citizens or not,
- the object of secondary real estate purchased during the last 3 years must not be sold by any foreign citizen to the current owner, even if the current owner is a Turk or a Turkish company,
- the purchased property must not previously belong to a Turkish citizen, in the past a foreigner who received Turkish citizenship under the investment program on the basis of this property,
- the property which is ready to be bought must not belong to a company the founders of which are the owners or their direct relatives, as well as to a company that was established in accordance with paragraph 36 of Law No. 2644.
Such companies mainly include companies where the share of a foreign founder is more than 50% or their rights to manage the firm are basic.
4 – Is it possible to buy real estate for Turkish Citizenship in shared ownership?
With the release of the new law, the answer is no.
That is, if earlier several families could buy a property worth $ 800,000 and apply for citizenship for 2 families at once, now it will be impossible.
That is, the buyer of real estate must be an individual! No registrations for several families or owners!
These conditions are not applied to the seller - that is, the main thing is that there is one buyer, and there can be several sellers in the shared ownership.
5 – Can I sell or buy the same property to obtain Turkish citizenship?
No, it's not possible now. That is, if someone has already received Turkish citizenship for this property, you will not be able to do it for a second time.
6 – What other important requirments are there under the new law?
According to the new amendments, if a foreigner sells the object to the previous owner after the statutory minimum tenure of 3 years, the Office of Cadastre and Tapu must notify the Office of Citizenship.
This is also applied in the situation when the property purchased under a notarial sale and purchase agreement will be sold to third parties within the period established by law.
7 – Is it possible to buy real estate on credit to obtain Turkish citizenship?
Yes, it is legally possible, but in practice it is very difficult. According to the law, the property for citizenship can be bought on credit with the following conditions:
The loan amount must be deducted from the total purchase amount and the remaining amount must be greater than/or equal to the citizenship limit.
Everything would be fine, but as a standard, banks, imposing a mortgage encumbrance on the purchased property, do this with a serious margin, sometimes several times. Thus, the deductible amount will officially be much more than the actual loan amount, and you must take this into account when buying.
The second obstacle may be the mandatory certificate of the sale of the DAB currency. By law, this certificate must be obtained for the full value of the property, which will be indicated in Tapu. That is, again the question arises with the loan amount and with the fact that you will not be able to issue a DAB certificate for this amount.
Also, banks usually transfer the amount of payment to the Seller after receiving the Tapu, and according to the citizenship law, the bank transfer must be made before the receipt of the Tapu or on the same day.
Thus, buying real estate in Turkey on credit, in order to obtain citizenship, is theoretically possible, but practically very difficult and unpredictable.
8 – To which regional Cadastre and Tapu office can you apply for citizenship encumbrance?
In the case of buying 2 or more properties, the purchasing procedure goes like this: first you must issue a Tapu for all properties, and then apply for an encumbrance on citizenship and submit the obligation not to sell this property for 3 years.
By law, you must hand in documents to the Cadastre and Tapu Department, which is responsible for most of the purchased properties.
If you have 2 properties, you can choose the Cadastre and Tapu Department that is convenient for you, according to the location of the property.
You cannot apply for the encumbrance to the Cadastre and Tapu Office that has not been involved in the registration of your property.
9 – If my plan have changed, can i sell a property having citizenship encumbrance within 3 years
This is possible only if this encumbrance is lifted by the Cadastre and Tapu Office, and if you have not submitted documents to the Citizenship Office to obtain Turkish citizenship yet.
10 – Can they raise the minimum limit to the investment in the Turkish Citizenship program?
Turkey is entering the electoral campaign, which means that changes may be quite possible. Many are talking about raising the investment threshold to $700,000 or more.
Also, opposition parties often use the topic of citizenship in their campaign promises, so we can expect an increase in the total amount of purchases or even a temporary suspension of this law in the near future.
11 - What objects do we recommend to acquire to obtain Turkish citizenship
You can view the best real estate offers for obtaining Turkish citizenship on the link.
12 - What are the terms and conditions of application of Turkish citizenship under the investment program?
The terms and conditions for obtaining Turkish citizenship under the investment program for the whole family are actually 4-6 months from the date of submission of documents to the Office of Citizenship. Do not believe those who say that this can be done for 2-3 months. This means only one thing - they do not know what they are talking about and what they are doing.
Once again I want to remind you that today we told you about the main changes in the Turkish citizenship program.
Many important details and moments remain unchanged, but they are also extremely important for the correct execution of documents and obtaining citizenship!
You can learn about these important points of the law and get answers to your questions in our detailed video instruction on obtaining Turkish citizenship through purchasing real estate.
Tolerance was the first company on the market to obtain Turkish citizenship by investment for its clients back in 2018, immediately after the citizenship law was issued.
At present, hundreds of the company's clients and their relatives have received Turkish passports with us!
For all questions about obtaining Turkish citizenship, you can contact this phone number +90 537-482-84-23, you can also leave a request on our website.
Our team of experts will find the best deals for you in the shortest time!
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Sergey Volchenkov, the Development Director of Tolerance, a leading real estate agency in Turkey with 20 years of experience in the market.
