Turkish citizenship by investment: how the programme actually works

Turkish citizenship by investment is one of the fastest routes to a second passport: no residence requirement, no language exam, and Türkiye permits dual nationality. But between the marketing brochure and the actual procedure lies a gap — and that gap is where applicants lose money and months.

The investment routes

• Real estate — the most used route: acquisition at or above the threshold (in recent years USD 400,000 by official valuation; the figure is revised periodically, so confirm the current one) with a commitment not to sell for three years.
• Bank deposit in a Turkish bank at the prescribed amount, blocked for three years.
• Other routes — fixed capital investment, job creation, investment funds — are used less often but can suit specific profiles.

Qualifying property: where applications are won or lost

Not every purchase at the right price qualifies. What we verify before any deposit:

• Valuation: what counts is not the contract price but the licensed appraiser's report — plus the foreign-currency conversion evidenced by a bank certificate (DAB) through the Turkish banking system.
• The seller: the property must not be acquired from certain foreign-held sellers or in structures the regulations exclude; buying from a related entity can disqualify.
• Encumbrances: mortgages, attachments, non-conformity with the approved project — all surface in the title check and can void the application.
• A three-year no-sale annotation is registered on the title deed.

The most expensive mistake we see: buy first, ask the lawyer second. The correct order is the reverse — verify the property and structure the transaction against the programme, then move the money.

Who is included

The application covers the spouse and children under 18. Adult children and the investor's parents are not included; they need separate solutions (residence permits or their own applications).

Procedure and timeline

1. Title check, purchase, valuation and currency documentation — one to three weeks when the property is ready.
2. Certificate of conformity for the investment.
3. Investor residence permit — obtained in parallel, with no requirement to live in Türkiye.
4. Citizenship file and review — recent practice ranges from a few months to about a year, depending on the authorities' workload.

Personal attendance is needed at limited points (biometrics, and collection if you prefer); the rest we run under a consular power of attorney.

1. Title and eligibility checkEncumbrances, seller, valuation basis and the commitment annotation — before any deposit.
2. Purchase and valuationLicensed appraisal plus foreign-currency conversion documents through Turkish banks.
3. Certificate of conformityConfirmation that the investment qualifies under the programme.
4. Residence permitFiled on the basis of the qualifying investment.
5. Citizenship fileApplication, follow-up and issue of the decision.

Frequently asked

"Can I pay outside the Turkish banking system?" No. Programme payments must pass through Turkish banks with proper conversion documents; off-bank arrangements disqualify the file.

"What happens after three years?" The no-sale commitment expires; you may sell the property and your citizenship remains.

"Will my current nationality be affected?" Türkiye permits multiple nationality. The consequences under your home country's law are a separate question — settle it before you apply, not after.

How we run it

End to end: property verification and deal structuring, valuation, currency documentation, conformity certificate, residence permit and the citizenship file — with a single point of contact on WhatsApp and progress reports at each stage. It starts with a free assessment of whether your scenario fits the programme as it currently stands.