Turkish citizenship by investment

Turkish citizenship by investment was introduced in 2017 and sits in Article 12(b) of Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901, with the qualifying amounts set by presidential decision. It is one of the few remaining programmes that grants full citizenship — not residence — on the basis of a single investment, with no language test, no interview and no requirement to live in the country.

That simplicity is real, and it is also why the programme is oversold. The legal conditions are straightforward; the evidentiary burden is not. Most of the work in a citizenship file has nothing to do with choosing an apartment.

The six qualifying routes

Each route below is sufficient on its own. All carry a three-year holding requirement, and in each case the investment must be made in a way that Turkish authorities can independently verify.

Route	Threshold	What it suits
Real estate	USD 400,000	Investors who want an asset that produces income and may appreciate, and who accept an exit that depends on the market
Bank deposit	USD 500,000	Applicants who want certainty of principal and the simplest possible documentary file
Investment fund participation	USD 500,000	Investors comfortable with market exposure, including real estate and gold funds
Government bonds	USD 500,000	Fixed-income holders who want a defined term and no asset management
Private pension (BES)	USD 500,000	Applicants who intend to remain connected to Türkiye over the longer term
Job creation	50 employees	Operating businesses, not passive investors

The real estate route requires the lowest capital commitment and is by some distance the most used. It is also the only route where the value of what you hold at the end of three years is not known at the start.

The property route in detail

The threshold is set by valuation, not by price

The USD 400,000 figure is tested against an official appraisal produced by a licensed valuation firm through the centralised system, not against the price written into your contract. Where the appraisal comes in below the threshold, the file does not qualify — and restructuring after transfer is far harder than structuring correctly beforehand. This is the single most common reason a purchase that looked eligible turns out not to be.

Combining properties

The threshold can be met with more than one title deed. Two apartments totalling the required amount qualify as readily as one, provided each is separately appraised and each satisfies the conditions. For many investors this is the better structure: it allows a partial exit at the end of the holding period rather than an all-or-nothing sale.

Currency conversion

Funds must be brought into Türkiye and converted into Turkish lira through a Turkish bank, with a foreign currency purchase certificate issued in the buyer's name before transfer. The sequence matters. Converting in the wrong order, or paying the seller from an account that is not yours, will invalidate an otherwise complete file.

The three-year annotation

An undertaking not to sell for three years is recorded on the title deed itself. You may let the property, live in it, and receive rent throughout. You may not sell or transfer it. At the end of the period the annotation is lifted and the property becomes freely disposable; the citizenship is unaffected by any later sale.

Source of funds — where files fail

Turkish authorities have tightened source-of-funds scrutiny considerably. The question is not whether you have the money but whether every material part of it traces to a documented, lawful origin. A clean bank statement showing a large balance proves nothing on its own.

Each origin needs a different treatment. Sale proceeds need the underlying sale documentation. A company distribution needs the resolution and the company's own accounts. A gift from a family member needs evidence of that person's capacity to make it. Cryptocurrency needs an exchange trail and, in practice, more explanation than any other source.

This file is built before the money moves. Assembling it in response to a request from the Ministry is possible but slow, and it puts the application on the back foot at exactly the wrong moment.

Family members

One qualifying investment covers the applicant, their spouse and their children under 18 at the date of application. Children who turn 18 before the application is filed must qualify independently, which usually means a separate investment. Where a child is close to that threshold, the timing of the file is not a detail — it is the whole decision.

Nationality restrictions

Nationals of a small number of countries are restricted from acquiring real estate in Türkiye. For those applicants the property route is closed, and the deposit, fund, bond or pension routes are the workable alternatives. This is checked at the outset, because discovering it after funds have moved is an expensive way to learn it.

Separately, certain nationalities attract longer background checks. That is a timing consideration rather than a bar, but it should shape your expectations from the beginning rather than surprising you at month nine.

Timeline and costs

From completed purchase to presidential decree, our files typically run eight to nine months from application to decree. Some move faster; files with complex funds histories or extensive background checks take longer. Anyone quoting a guaranteed date is quoting a marketing number.

Beyond the investment itself, budget for title deed transfer duty calculated on the declared value, the valuation report, notarial and sworn translation costs, the residence permit fees for each family member, and legal fees. These are not large relative to the investment, but they should be in your plan from the start rather than appearing at closing.

Why applications are refused

In our experience the recurring causes are narrow and avoidable. A valuation that does not support the threshold. Funds that cannot be traced to a documented origin. Inconsistent name spellings across passports, birth certificates and title deeds — a frequent issue for applicants whose documents were issued in more than one jurisdiction or transliterated differently. Prior immigration history in Türkiye, including old visa refusals or restriction codes, that was not disclosed and dealt with at the outset. And properties encumbered in ways that were never checked.

None of these are discovered by looking at photographs of an apartment. They are discovered by reading the file.

Questions we are asked most