Home · Turkish citizenship by investment · Real estate, USD 400,000
Buy property in Türkiye worth at least USD 400,000, keep it for three years, and you and your family can apply for citizenship. It is the route most applicants choose, and it is also the route where files fail, almost always because one of three values does not reach the threshold.
This is the lowest-threshold route. The USD 400,000 is tested against the official valuation, not the price in your contract.
At a glance
| Item | Real estate, USD 400,000 |
|---|---|
| Minimum investment | USD 400,000, established by an official valuation report |
| Holding period | Three years, recorded as an annotation on the title deed |
| Legal basis | Turkish Citizenship Law no. 5901, article 12/B; Regulation article 20; Presidential Decision no. 5042 |
| Certifying authority | Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change |
| Typical timeline | Eight to nine months from application to presidential decree, in our files |
| Who is included | Spouse and children under 18 |
| Residence in Türkiye | Not required. One short visit for fingerprints is usually enough |
Thresholds and tax rates are set by regulation and have been revised before. Confirm the figures in force on your filing date before any transfer is made.
The law
Article 12/B of Law no. 5901 allows the President to grant citizenship to a foreign national whose investment is certified by the relevant ministry. Article 20 of the implementing regulation lists the qualifying categories, and Presidential Decision no. 5042 fixes the amounts. For property, the figure has been USD 250,000, then USD 400,000; it has moved before and can move again.
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 the transfer. The payment trail has to be visible: money leaves the buyer's own account and arrives in the seller's. Cash, cryptocurrency, payments routed through an intermediary and offshore structures that obscure the source of funds are all refused, whatever the seller tells you.
Several properties can be combined to reach the threshold, and they do not have to be residential. Land, offices and shops qualify on the same terms.
Fit
The property route suits an investor who wants the money to stay in an asset rather than in a bank, who intends to use or let the property, and who is comfortable with the fact that the exit at year three depends on finding a buyer.
It suits you less well if you want the capital back in full and on a known date. A deposit or a bond returns a defined sum; a flat returns what someone is willing to pay for it, and the buyer pool for a USD 400,000 property in Istanbul is not deep. If certainty of exit matters more than owning something, read the deposit route and the bond route first.
Process
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. Avoidable delay usually comes from a missing apostille, a translation done abroad that Türkiye will not accept, or a valuation that has to be redone.
Documents
Children are included on the file up to the age of 18. A child who turns 18 while the file is pending falls out of it, which is why the birth dates of teenage children change the order in which we do things.
On top of these, the property route needs the title deed with its annotation, the valuation report, the foreign exchange purchase certificate, the bank receipts showing the payment trail, and the certificate of conformity.
Costs
The investment itself is not the whole cost. The figures below are the ones that actually appear on a property file.
| Item | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Title deed transfer fee | 4 per cent of the declared value, by law shared between buyer and seller, in practice usually negotiated |
| Valuation report | A fixed professional fee, paid before the transfer and payable again if the report expires |
| Notary, translation and apostille | Per document, for every family member |
| Estate agency commission | 2 per cent is the market norm where an agent is involved |
| Residence permit and application fees | Per applicant, set annually |
| Legal fee | Quoted for your family once we have seen the file |
VAT can be exempt on a first sale from a developer where the price is brought in as foreign currency and the property is held for a year. Whether your purchase qualifies has to be checked against the specific seller, not assumed.
Risks
Three separate numbers each have to reach USD 400,000: the price actually paid through the banking system, the value in the appraisal report, and the value declared on the title deed. Sellers routinely ask buyers to declare a lower figure at the Land Registry to reduce the transfer fee. On a citizenship purchase that request is fatal, and it is worth refusing in writing.
A share of the stock marketed to foreign buyers is priced above what the same building sells for locally. The appraisal protects the threshold; it does not protect you from overpaying. We look at the resale evidence for the building before you commit, and we tell you when the price is not one we would pay.
At year three you need a buyer. If the property was bought above market, your buyer is another foreign applicant, and that market moves with programme rules you do not control.
In numbers
A family buying a single flat in Istanbul at USD 400,000, with the transfer fee shared equally with the seller and no agency involved:
| Item | Amount, USD |
|---|---|
| Purchase price | 400,000 |
| Title deed fee, buyer's half | 8,000 |
| Valuation, notary, translations, permits | approx. 3,000 |
| Total outlay before legal fees | approx. 411,000 |
Illustrative. Transfer fees follow the declared value, and translation and permit costs vary with family size.
Set your property price and family size and see every fee that will fall due, from the transfer tax to the permits for each child.
Open the calculatorQuestions
USD 400,000, or the equivalent in another currency on the date of payment. The figure is set by Presidential Decision no. 5042 and has been revised before, so it should be confirmed on the date you transfer funds.
Yes. Several properties can be combined, and they can be residential, commercial or land, as long as the combined value reaches the threshold and each is transferred with the three-year annotation.
No. There is no residence requirement. One short visit is normally needed so that fingerprints can be taken; the rest can be handled under a power of attorney.
No. An undertaking not to sell for three years is recorded on the title deed itself. At the end of the period the annotation is lifted, the property can be sold freely, and the citizenship is not affected by the sale.
Yes. The restriction is on selling, not on using or letting the property. Rental income is taxable in Türkiye and is declared annually.
Your spouse and your children under 18. A child who reaches 18 before the decree is signed is no longer eligible as a dependant, which is why files with teenage children are sequenced carefully.
Our files typically run eight to nine months from application to presidential decree. Files with complex funds histories or extensive background checks take longer.
Not always. A property that was previously used for a citizenship application, one bought from your own spouse or children, and certain properties that passed through foreign ownership after January 2017 can be refused. This is checked before you commit, not after.
No. The purchase makes you eligible. Citizenship is granted by presidential decree after the ministry certifies the investment and the security checks are completed.
Yes, and it has to be at least USD 400,000. Declaring a lower figure to reduce the transfer fee is the most common way a property file is refused.
Türkiye permits dual citizenship. Whether your own country does is a question for that country's law, and for some nationalities the answer is no.
It is a real question for families with sons, and the answer depends on age and on service already completed elsewhere. We cover it in detail in military service and Turkish citizenship.
Each route returns a different amount of money at the end of the three years, and the gap between them is larger than most investors expect. Our comparison tool sets one exchange rate and one gold price, then shows the after-tax dollar outcome of the bond, deposit and gold fund routes side by side. Compare what each route returns.
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Written and reviewed by Av. Arda Şardağ, Istanbul Bar Association no. 70004 · last updated 22 September 2026. Thresholds, processing times and tax rules change; this page is checked periodically.
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