BlogTurkish Business Immigration, Foreign Direct Investment and Citizenship PortalTurkish Citizenship by Investment: The 2026 Legal Guide

The minimum investment figure is the easiest part of this programme to find and the least likely to decide the outcome of an application. What decides it is the type of property, the way the price is documented, the valuation, and the applicant’s own file.

This guide sets out the legal basis of the programme, the seven qualifying investments, the real estate route in detail, what the Land Registry and the Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs examine, and the circumstances in which an application is refused or a citizenship already granted is withdrawn.

The legal basis

Turkish citizenship by investment is not a separate statute. It is an application of the exceptional naturalisation route in Article 12(1)(b) of the Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901, given content by Article 20 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law.

Two consequences follow, and both matter.

First, the decision is a Presidential decree. It is a discretionary administrative act. The outcome cannot be guaranteed in advance, and no adviser is in a position to give such a guarantee.

Second, because the thresholds sit in a regulation rather than in the statute, they can be changed by a regulatory amendment published in the Official Gazette. They have been changed several times: USD 1,000,000 in 2017, reduced to USD 250,000 in September 2018, raised to USD 400,000 by the amendment of 6 January 2022, and narrowed again as to the type of qualifying property on 12 December 2023. Confirm the figure in force on the day you transact, not the figure in an article dated last year.

The seven qualifying investments

As of 2026, an applicant qualifies by making and documenting at least one of the following:

A rule that applies across all of them: the foreign currency must be sold to a bank operating in Türkiye, and by that bank to the Central Bank, before the transaction, and the resulting Foreign Exchange Purchase Certificate (Döviz Alım Belgesi, “DAB”) must be produced. Money that arrives in Türkiye the wrong way cannot be repaired afterwards. This is the single most common reason a straightforward purchase becomes an unusable one.

The real estate route accounts for the overwhelming majority of files, so the rest of this guide follows it closely. The principles — document the source, document the conversion, document the lock-in — apply to the others.

The property route in detail

Which properties qualify

Since the amendment of 12 December 2023, the property must be either:

• an independent unit registered under the Condominium Law No. 634, with either full ownership (kat mülkiyeti) or construction servitude (kat irtifakı) established; or
• registered as land (arsa) with a lawful permanent structure on it, supported by an occupancy permit (yapı kullanma izin belgesi).

Excluded: agricultural land; vacant land under Article 35/4 of the Land Registry Law carrying a two-year development obligation; and timeshare rights.

You may combine several properties to reach the threshold, provided they are all registered in the applicant’s own name and all carry the three-year annotation. Fractional or shared ownership is not accepted — you cannot take a share of a property with another buyer and qualify. Property bought in the name of a spouse or child does not count toward the applicant’s own threshold.

Which sellers create a problem

This is where files quietly fail. Under the Land Registry guidelines, the property must not be:

• registered in the name of a person who themselves obtained Turkish citizenship under Article 12(1)(b) — that is, a property already “used” for a citizenship file;
• registered in the name of a company falling under Article 36 of the Land Registry Law (companies with foreign shareholding); or
• a property the applicant, their spouse or their children previously owned and transferred after 12 January 2017 — the buy-back route is closed.

These checks are carried out at the Land Registry and normally take a few days. They are worth completing before any reservation agreement is signed, because afterwards there is little room left to renegotiate.

Valuation: the appraised value, not the price you pay

Eligibility is determined by an official valuation report prepared by a licensed appraiser and transmitted through the TADEBİS system, and since 2024 confirmed by a Determination Certificate of the Amount Underlying Citizenship Acquisition through Real Estate (TTB) under Circular 2024/4 of the Land Registry Directorate.

Three figures must independently satisfy the threshold: the value stated in the official deed or the notarised promise-to-sell, the total of the payments actually transferred, and the appraisal. A contract price of USD 420,000 with an appraisal of USD 380,000 does not qualify. Where a unit is described as suitable for a citizenship application, it is advisable to ask for the current valuation report rather than to rely on the asking price.

The USD equivalent of a TRY valuation is calculated on the Central Bank effective selling rate of the last business day before the relevant date. In a moving exchange-rate environment, a file assembled slowly can drift below the threshold between appraisal and deed.

The three-year annotation

The title deed carries an annotation that the property will not be sold for three years. The alternative structure — a notarised promise to sell for an off-plan unit, with an undertaking annotated on the register that no transfer or cancellation will occur for three years, and the price paid in full up front — is available and is frequently the right answer for projects under construction, but it demands more careful contract drafting, not less.

The annotation is lifted by the Land Registry on request once the three years expire. If lifting is requested before the period ends, the Land Registry notifies the Provincial Directorate of Population and Citizenship and the Provincial Directorate of Migration Management, and the citizenship is exposed to cancellation. The three-year commitment is not a formality.

Why files are refused

In practice, the amount is almost never the problem. Files are refused or delayed because of:

• payment routed incorrectly — cash, a transfer from a third party, payment in Turkish lira brought in without the DAB, or payment made before the FX sale;
• an appraisal below the threshold, or an appraisal that was not uploaded through the correct system and is therefore disregarded;
• an ineligible property type after the December 2023 narrowing — most often land without a building or an agricultural plot;
• a disqualified seller, as above;
• source-of-funds questions under the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) regime, where the twelve-month bank history, tax records or business documentation do not explain the sum;
• the applicant’s own record — public order and national security grounds are assessed independently of the investment, and a prior deportation decision, entry ban or criminal record is a real obstacle;
• inconsistent identity documents across passport, birth certificate and civil status records, particularly where names are transliterated differently in each.

Each of these is easier to deal with at the outset than to remedy afterwards.

Who can be included

The application covers the investor, their spouse, and their children under 18. Children who turn 18 during the process are a known trap: the relevant date is assessed on the file, and a delay of a few months can cost a child their inclusion. Adult children must qualify on their own footing — normally residence, study or work routes.

Where a marriage is polygamous under a foreign law, only one spouse can be included under Turkish law. Where custody is shared, the consent of the other parent is generally required for a minor’s application.

The process, step by step

1. Pre-transaction due diligence. Title search, encumbrances, mortgages, annotations, the seller’s status, zoning and occupancy permits, and the property’s transfer history.
2. Valuation by a licensed appraiser, submitted through the official system.
3. Transfer of funds from abroad, sale of the FX to the bank, issue of the DAB. Instalments are permitted, with a separate DAB for each payment.
4. Deed transfer or notarised promise to sell, with the three-year annotation registered.
5. Certificate of conformity (Uygunluk Belgesi) issued by the Land Registry Directorate confirming the investment satisfies Article 20.
6. Short-term residence permit applied for on the basis of the investment.
7. Citizenship application to the Provincial Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs, with the family file.
8. Presidential decree, registration in the civil registry, then identity card and passport.

Timelines vary with the province and the completeness of the file. A well-documented file commonly moves from completed investment to decree within roughly three to six months; files with a document defect can take considerably longer, because the clock restarts each time a deficiency is notified. No firm date can be given in advance, since the final decision rests with the administration.

Costs beyond the investment

Budget for: the title deed fee (4% of the declared value, in practice usually borne by the buyer unless negotiated); the valuation report; compulsory earthquake insurance (DASK); notary, sworn translation, apostille and consular legalisation; residence permit and passport fees; and professional fees. First delivery of a property to a non-resident foreign buyer who pays in foreign currency may be exempt from VAT, subject to conditions including a one-year holding period — this is fact-specific and worth confirming before you rely on it.

After the passport

Dual nationality. Türkiye permits it. Whether your country of origin does is a question for your own law, and the consequences of losing it — pensions, inheritance, land ownership at home — are sometimes larger than the gain.

Tax. Citizenship does not by itself make you a Turkish tax resident. Residence for tax purposes generally turns on domicile or on staying in Türkiye for more than six months in a calendar year. Investors who assume the passport triggers worldwide taxation, and investors who assume it never does, are both wrong.

Military service. Male citizens fall within the conscription regime. Exemptions and paid-service options exist, and treatment differs according to age at naturalisation and service already performed abroad. This needs to be assessed individually before the file is filed, not afterwards.

Mobility. The Turkish passport gives visa-free, visa-on-arrival or e-visa access to well over 110 destinations, and Turkish nationals are eligible for the US E-2 investor visa under the bilateral treaty — for many families the single most valuable feature of the programme, and one that requires its own separate planning.

What it is not. Turkish citizenship is not EU citizenship and does not confer free movement within the Schengen area. Türkiye’s accession negotiations do not change this, and it is worth verifying wherever the two are presented together.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to live in Türkiye?
No. There is no physical residence requirement for the investment route, and no language or integration test.

Can I sell after three years?
Yes. Once the annotation is lifted, the property is freely transferable and the citizenship already granted is unaffected.

Can I use a mortgage?
The qualifying amount must be paid and documented as described; financing structures need to be checked against the current guidelines before you commit, and loans from savings-finance companies are not available to foreign buyers.

Can someone act for me without my travelling to Türkiye?
Yes, under a power of attorney, provided it is drafted with the specific authority required — a general power of attorney is routinely rejected for citizenship-purpose acquisitions.

Can citizenship be revoked?
Yes — if the investment condition is broken within three years, or if it is established that the acquisition rested on false declaration or fraud.

Is the threshold going to rise?
It has risen before and may again. Amendments have generally applied prospectively, with transitional treatment for transactions already begun, but there is no guarantee of a grandfathering rule for any future change.

How we work

Tercan Legal is an Istanbul law firm advising foreign nationals and foreign investors, with clients from more than 40 countries and casework conducted in Turkish, English, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Persian and French. Our citizenship-by-investment work is handled together with our real estate, title deed and immigration practice, because in this area those are not separable questions.

We carry out the legal checks before funds are transferred, state plainly when a property or a structure does not meet the conditions, and document the file to the standard the authorities apply. Our role is confined to legal advice on the transaction and the application.

Tercan Legal
Hikaye Sokak No: 7, Floor 2, 34394 Esentepe, Istanbul, Türkiye
info@tercanlegal.com · +90 506 689 97 22 (WhatsApp / Telegram)

This page is general information on Turkish law as at 2026 and is not legal advice on any particular matter. Thresholds and administrative practice change; please obtain advice on your own circumstances before acting.