Family Inclusion in Turkish Citizenship by Investment

Av. Serkan KARA, Serka Law Firm (Istanbul Bar, no. 53770)

Last reviewed: 29 October 2026 · Reviewed by Av. Serkan KARA

A spouse and the minor or dependent children can acquire Turkish citizenship together with the main investor in a citizenship by investment (CBI) application, but who is included is decided by the civil-status records, not by the application form. Eligibility rests on the relationship proven through authenticated civil-status records under the Turkish Citizenship Law (Law No. 5901) and its implementing regulation, read together with the Turkish Civil Code (Law No. 4721) on marriage, parentage, custody, and minority. The family file moves cleanly only when those records line up with the investor’s qualifying investment before the application is filed.

Who can be included as family in a Turkish CBI application?

The investor’s spouse and the children who are minors or dependent can be included in the same CBI application and acquire citizenship alongside the principal investor. Inclusion follows the relationship recognized under the Turkish Civil Code (Law No. 4721) and proven by authenticated civil-status documents, not by declaration. An adult child comes in only as a dependent child, on documents that prove the dependency and are gathered before filing; parents and siblings are outside the family limb and need a legal basis of their own.

In practice the family unit that travels with the qualifying investment is built around the legally married spouse and children who are minors. The statute names the children of the investor and of the spouse alike (Article 12(1)(b) of Law No. 5901), so a stepchild is inside the limb; stepchildren, adopted children, and children under sole or shared custody each carry a distinct evidentiary burden. Who is on the file is settled before the investment is made, because a member added or corrected afterwards holds up the whole family.

What law governs family inclusion in Turkish citizenship by investment?

Turkish citizenship by investment runs on the Turkish Citizenship Law (Law No. 5901) and its implementing regulation, which set the investment routes and the rules for including a spouse and minor or dependent children. Family relationships themselves are defined by the Turkish Civil Code (Law No. 4721), and cross-border records are assessed under Turkish private international law (Law No. 5718).

This layering matters. The investment side decides whether the file qualifies at all; the civil-law side decides who counts as spouse or dependent child and how a foreign divorce or custody judgment takes effect in Turkey. The recognition of a foreign court decision runs under Law No. 5718, while a foreign civil-status certificate needs an apostille or, from a state outside the Apostille Convention, the legalization chain, which is why family inclusion is a legal exercise rather than a clerical one.

How does the family inclusion process work step by step?

Family inclusion proceeds in a fixed sequence: map the family, gather and authenticate civil-status records, confirm the qualifying investment, then file the principal and family applications together so the unit moves as one file. Who is included is decided at the start, before the investment is made.

1. Map the family. Identify the spouse, each minor child, and any stepchild, adopted child, or custody complication. Decide who will be included before choosing the investment route.
2. Build the evidence set. Collect marriage, birth, custody, and identity records for every included person and plan the translation and authentication chain.
3. Confirm the qualifying investment. Verify that the chosen route meets the threshold set by current regulation and that the documentation will withstand later audit.
4. Resolve recognition issues. Address any foreign divorce or custody judgment whose effect in Turkey the file depends on, under Law No. 5718, before filing.
5. File as one unit. Submit the principal and dependent applications together so the family is assessed on a single, consistent record.

How long does it take to include family members?

Family inclusion runs on the same timeline as the principal CBI application when the records are prepared in parallel from the start. Delay comes almost entirely from documentary gaps: a missing apostille, an untranslated custody order, or a civil-status inconsistency that surfaces late and stalls the whole unit. Prepared in parallel, the family's papers are ready when the investor's are.

The investment qualification, residence permit step, and citizenship decision each have their own processing windows set by the authorities, and those windows shift. Rather than rely on a fixed duration, build the family evidence set before the investment closes so no dependent becomes the slow member of the file. In 2026 the security and archive research has kept many files waiting well beyond four months, and decisions have come in batches, so the family file is built to be complete on the first day rather than to a date.

Does adding family change the investment amount or the cost?

Including a spouse and minor or dependent children does not require a separate qualifying investment for each person; the principal investor’s single qualifying investment supports the family inclusion. The cost difference is procedural rather than a multiplied investment threshold: added translation, authentication, and legal-preparation work for each included member, plus any state fees that apply per applicant.

The qualifying investment amount is the same whether one person or a whole family applies: USD 400,000 in real estate or USD 500,000 on the other capital routes (Article 20(2) of the Implementing Regulation). What family inclusion does change is the documentary and legal workload, because each additional applicant adds civil-status records that must be consistent with the others. Budget for that preparation.

What documents are required to include a spouse and children?

Each included family member needs authenticated identity and relationship records: a marriage certificate for the spouse, birth certificates for the children, and custody, adoption, or stepchild documentation where the relationship is not a straightforward birth link. Every document needs consistent translation and apostille or consular legalization, with names and dates matching across the whole file. Russia, Belarus and China are parties to the Apostille Convention, as is Türkiye; the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are not, so a record issued there goes through the issuing state’s own authority and then the Turkish mission, which can certify the Turkish translation in the same visit (Articles 195, 193 and 103 of Notaries Law No. 1512; the Hague Conference’s status table, read 5 October 2026). Where the translation is made in Türkiye, we make it ourselves and put it to a sworn translator for checking and approval; the family sends the originals or their scans.

• Marriage certificate proving the spousal relationship
• Birth certificates for each minor or dependent child
• Custody, guardianship, or parental-authority orders where relevant
• Adoption or stepchild documentation where the relationship is not by birth
• Valid passports and national civil-status documents for every included applicant
• Apostille or consular legalization chain, with certified Turkish translations
• Recognition documents for any foreign marriage, divorce, or custody order that must take effect in Turkey

A weak family file usually fails because a document is missing, inconsistent, or not properly authenticated, not because the relationship is genuinely in doubt. Link each included person to a clean, authenticated record before the investment path is locked.

Who counts as a dependent child for Turkish citizenship?

The statute gives a child two ways in: not of age, or dependent (“ergin olmayan veya bağımlı”, Article 12(1)(b) of Law No. 5901), so a child who has reached majority is not excluded but moves to the second leg. Not of age means under eighteen by Turkish law, whatever the child’s own law says (Article 3(1)(c) and (e) of the Implementing Regulation; Article 11 of Civil Code No. 4721), and a younger child who has married or been declared of age by a court comes in only as a dependant. The regulation sets no test for dependency, so no one can promise how it will be assessed; it is proved with documents assembled before filing, and in 2026 practice a child who turns eighteen before the Presidential decision has been judged on the dependency leg or refused, with the courts divided, so a child close to eighteen is filed early and documented as a dependant from the start.

Guides published in 2026 draw two lines the statute does not draw. Some say a child who has turned eighteen is out even if he depends on his parents, and others let him in only with a disability or a medical board report; the “veya” of Article 12(1)(b) admits the dependent child whatever his age, and no text read ties dependency to illness or disability. Some fix the child’s age on the day the application is filed; no instrument read sets that day, and a child who turned eighteen before the Presidential decision has been refused unless he qualified as a dependant.

A child left out of the parents’ file has no later path through the investment: if he applies after reaching majority, he is dealt with under Article 11, ordinary naturalization with its five years of residence (Article 20(3) of Law No. 5901). Edge cases drive most of the difficulty here. A child near the age threshold, a child under the sole custody of one parent, a child from a previous marriage, or an adopted child each requires documentation that proves the legal relationship cleanly. Where custody is shared or contested, Article 20(2) of Law No. 5901 decides the order of work: the children in the custody of the parent who acquires citizenship acquire it with the other parent’s consent, and where consent is refused the matter follows the decision of a judge in the country of that parent’s habitual residence, so the written consent, or that judgment, is in the file before it is filed. The same paragraph opens with the rule that a decision on one person does not change the spouse’s citizenship, which is why the spouse comes in only through Article 12(1)(b), on the marriage record in the file. A child born to the investor within marriage after the decision is Turkish by birth, in Türkiye or abroad (Article 7(1)).

What are the main risks in family inclusion files?

A family file goes wrong on the documents left for later. A civil-status record corrected after the filing contradicts the records already in the file, and some defects cannot be cured at all once the investment is made.

Specific pressure points recur: marriage timing relative to the application, a child who turns eighteen before the filing date or before the decision and must then prove dependency, unrecognized foreign custody orders, mismatched names across translated documents, and broken apostille chains. Planned at the start, the family's documents do not have to be repaired one by one against a deadline.

How does family inclusion compare to applying separately?

Including the family in the principal CBI application is the route the statute is built for, because the unit is assessed on one consistent record built on a single qualifying investment. Leaving a member out is rarely repairable: a child not processed with the parents who applies after majority falls under ordinary naturalization and its five years of residence (Article 20(3) of Law No. 5901), and a change in family status can close a leg that was open on the original filing date.

For most investors with a spouse and minor children, building the family into the file from the start is the lower-risk path. Where a family member’s status is unsettled, resolve the underlying civil-law question before committing to the investment route.

How does Serka Law Firm structure a family CBI file?

We list every member of the family, the records each one needs, and the apostille or legalization, sworn translation and notarization each record takes, and the family is filed with the investment as one consistent record.

Where a foreign marriage, divorce or custody order must have effect in Türkiye, we have it recognized before the filing, so that the age, custody and recognition questions are settled before the application is made.

Frequently asked questions

Can family documents be corrected later without affecting the file?

Sometimes a record can be corrected, but late fixes often create inconsistency and delay across the whole application, and some defects cannot be cured once the investment path is committed. Prepare and authenticate family documents at the start rather than relying on later repair.

Does each family member need a separate investment?

No. The principal investor’s single qualifying investment supports inclusion of the spouse and the minor or dependent children. The added cost is documentary and procedural, not a multiplied investment threshold.

Can foreign clients handle a family CBI file remotely?

Not entirely. A properly issued power of attorney carries the property, valuation and bank steps without travel, but the Directorate General of Civil Registration and Citizenship Affairs requires the investor to obtain the Certificate of Conformity, apply for the short-term residence permit, collect the residence card and apply for citizenship in person. The consular or notary appointment for that power of attorney is ours first; it passes to the investor only where we cannot take it, with the reason.

When should legal review of family inclusion start?

Before the investment route is chosen, so that a gap in the civil-status records, a child close to eighteen or a foreign judgment that needs recognition is dealt with before the money moves.

Every family member, settled before the investment is locked

If your citizenship by investment file includes a spouse or children, settle the inclusion strategy before the investment path is locked.

Related practice areas: citizenship by investment with dependants on the file, immigration and residence permits, family law and divorce cases, real estate and property acquisition, and deportation and exclusion order defense.

This article is general information about Turkish law and not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, which forms only through a signed engagement. Investment thresholds, fees, and processing timelines are stated here as they stand on the date of this page.