PROCEDURE IN RELATION TO ACQUISITION OF TURKISH CITIZENSHIP THROUGH INVESTMENT

I. GENERAL

Financial and investment amounts required for the application to be made in order to acquire Turkish citizenship through investment as introduced by the “Regulation on Implementation of Turkish Citizenship Law” (“Regulation”) have been reduced by the Official Gazette dated 19.09.2018 and numbered 30540. This information note is prepared for informing our clients who are willing to apply for the Turkish citizenship through an investment to Turkey and as YM Law Firm, we provide legal services through entire application process by our lawyers who are experts in the respective field and provide fast and efficient solutions in this respect.

II. APPLICATION TO TURKISH CITIZENSHIP VIA ACQUISITON OF REAL PROPOERTY OR INVESTMENT

As per the changes introduced by the Regulation, Turkish citizenship will be granted to the foreigners who make a real property investment in the amount of USD 250,000.- (or its foreign currency or Turkish Lira equivalent) or who incorporate or acquire a legal entity with a capital amount of USD 500,000.- (or its foreign currency or Turkish Lira equivalent) or who deposit an amount of USD 500,000.- (or its foreign currency or Turkish Lira equivalent) to state investment instruments or state banks operating in Turkey under the condition that they shall not withdraw this amount for three years. Please note that only the applicant and his first-degree relatives (spouse and children under 18 years old) will be entitled to benefit from the citizenship application.

III. PROCEDURE TO BE FOLLOWED

a. Applicant who is willing to apply for the Turkish citizenship should purchase a real property within the above-mentioned limits and should deposit the purchase price to the seller via bank transfer or the respective investment amounts should be duly deposited to the respective state investment instruments or state banks operating in Turkey.
b. For the citizenship applications to be made via acquisition of a real property, the real estate appraisers which have a license from Capital Markets Board of Turkey will certify as to whether the value of the real property declared to the title deed office is above USD 250,000.- or not.
c. An “unsaleable annotation” for three years shall be attached to the title deed registry of the respective real property.
d. Application will be made to all public institutions and authorities with the application documents.
e. In case there are is no deficiency on the documents required for the citizenship application, such application will be finalized within 3 – 9 months.

IV. REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

 Application form
 Valid passport
 4 passport-size photos of each member of your family member
 Birth certificate
 Residence permit or valid Touristic Visa on your passport
 If applicable, documents proving your relationships with your spouse and children (marriage license, children’s birth certificate)
 If applicable, copies of the Turkish ID and addresses of the applicant’s relatives in Turkey
 Payment receipt required for the application

V. IMPORTANT MATTERS

For the applications to be made in order to acquire Turkish citizenship via purchasing a real property in Turkey, the respective real property shall not be sold for a term of 3 years and this is mandatory for the acquisition of the Turkish citizenship.
Furthermore, it is of utmost importance that the citizenship application should fulfilled accurately and in full and that the application process should be followed carefully. In case a fault occurs or a lack of documentation is in question, it would cause the rejection or extension of the application procedure.
As YM Law Firm, -with our solution partners who provide consultancy services in relation to acquisition of real property-, we provide effective services for the application/follow-up/finalization of the citizenship application procedure before i) Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation, ii) General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastrate, iii) Ministry of Internal Affairs, Department of Population and Citizenship Affairs and other related public authorities and institutions. All kinds of legal and technical support related to the application process is given by our lawyers and consultants each of whom are experts in this respective field.

Sincerely,
YM Law Firm