Turkish citizenship by buying property: the real estate route
Short answer: the real estate route grants Turkish citizenship to a foreign buyer who acquires property of at least 400,000 USD, measured at the Central Bank rate on the date of determination (Article 20(6)), registers a three-year non-sale annotation on the title deed, documents the payment through the banking system and obtains a Certificate of Conformity. The spouse and the children who are under 18 or dependent are included in the same file. Confirm the current threshold and conditions for your own application date before you pay anything.
Before a deposit is paid on a unit, Serka Law Firm checks the seller, the deed and the valuation, and then carries the file to the passport; the mandate is on our Turkish citizenship by investment lawyer page. Instructions are taken on WhatsApp at +90 530 127 59 35 or at info@serkalaw.com.
Decision table: what has to be fixed before you pay
| Question | What must be settled | Serka step |
|---|---|---|
| Does the property qualify? | Title status, mortgage or lien annotation, zoning and construction status, seller’s chain of title, whether the unit is off-plan | Title registry search and document review before any deposit |
| Does the value meet the threshold? | Valuation report by any valuation firm authorized by the Capital Markets Board of Türkiye (SPK), requested through Web Tapu, and the TTB built on it, no more than twelve months older than the application for the citizenship transaction at the registry (TKGM circular Genelge 2024/4, as amended on 28 September 2026) | Read the report and the TTB against the threshold in force |
| Is the payment provable? | Bank transfer from buyer to seller, foreign exchange purchase certificate (DAB), receipts matching the contract | Build one evidence chain: source of funds, buyer, property, payment, registration |
| Who is included? | Spouse, and children who are under 18 or dependent, at the date of application | Prepare and legalize the family documents in parallel with the purchase |
What the regulation requires that most property listings do not mention
The purchase price does not simply have to reach the threshold. Article 20 paragraph 10 of the Regulation puts the real estate route, letter (b), through the same currency chain as the deposit routes: the foreign currency is sold, before the transaction, to a bank operating in Turkey and by that bank on to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. The Foreign Exchange Purchase Certificate that proves it is not a formality, and the Central Bank implementation instruction of 16 May 2022 carries a content rule for that certificate written specifically for this route. Two further paragraphs decide files: paragraph 6 fixes the value at the Central Bank rate on the determination date, so the figure is tested once and not re-tested if the currency moves afterwards; and paragraph 8 permits movement between the qualifying investment types while the three year period runs, so a buyer who cannot complete a purchase is not automatically back at the start.
One widely repeated requirement is not in the regulation at all. Paragraph 3 lists the application documents, and a criminal record certificate is not among them. Agencies ask for one routinely; the regulation does not.
Who you buy from decides the file before the price does
Three disqualifiers sit outside the price and are checked first, because none of them can be cured after the deed is signed. The seller has to be a Turkish natural or legal person, so a property bought from another foreign national does not qualify however much it cost. A property that has already been used in someone else’s citizenship application does not qualify a second time, which is why the registry history of the unit matters more than the listing. And a mortgage or a restrictive annotation on the deed ends the file where it stands.
Two funding points follow from the same logic. A Turkish bank loan does not count towards the threshold, because the amount has to arrive through the currency chain described above rather than be created inside Turkey. Crypto is not accepted directly and is converted through the banking channel first, so that the payment leaves the same evidence trail as any other transfer. The notarized pre-sale agreement states the full price, and a contract written below the real figure destroys the file it was meant to cheapen.
What the property buys, and what it does not
The property is not a purchase of the nationality, which carries no price; what Article 20(2)(b) of the Implementing Regulation recognizes is a qualifying real estate investment of at least USD 400,000, bought from a Turkish seller and held for three years under an annotation on the deed, after which the decision is the President’s under Article 12(1)(b) of Law No. 5901. Meeting those conditions gives no absolute right, as Article 10(1) of the same law says in terms, and a property bought at the right price but from the wrong seller or with a charge on the deed qualifies for nothing.
What the file costs beyond the price
The costs beyond the price fall into the State’s charges and the file’s own costs. The title-deed fee is 20 per thousand charged to the transferor and 20 per thousand to the transferee (Law on Fees No. 492, tariff 4, item 20/a), on the declared price and never below the municipal value. VAT is a separate question: a first delivery of a newly built home or workplace is exempt when the buyer is a foreigner not settled in Türkiye and the price is brought in foreign currency (VAT Law No. 3065, Article 13(i)), and if that property is sold within three years the untaxed VAT is paid back with deferral interest before the deed moves. Beside these sit the valuation report, ordered through Web Tapu from a valuation firm the Capital Markets Board has authorized and priced by that firm, the sworn translations and notarizations of the family documents, and the residence permit charges. The USD 400,000 itself is not a fee: it buys an asset the buyer owns and may sell once the three years run.
Sequence of the file
- Tax number, then a Turkish bank account in the buyer’s name.
- Property selection, title registry search, valuation report by an SPK-authorized valuation firm requested through Web Tapu.
- Purchase and transfer at the Land Registry, with the three-year non-sale annotation entered on the title deed.
- Certificate of Conformity from the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, which is the authority that determines this route. Each route has a different one, which is why a certificate obtained for the wrong route is not a delay but a restart: the deposit route is determined by the BDDK, fund units by the Capital Markets Board, government debt instruments by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, the private pension by the SEDDK, fixed capital by the Ministry of Industry and Technology, and the fifty employee route by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
- Short-term residence permit on the basis of the investment, issued under Article 31(1)(j) of Law No. 6458, which is the provision the citizenship article itself points to.
- Citizenship application, filed by the lawyer under a special power of attorney, so that the applicant does not have to travel for each step.
Where these files fail
- Payment made before the title registry search, when the deed already carries a mortgage or an injunction annotation.
- A valuation that does not reach the threshold, or a TTB more than twelve months older than the application for the citizenship transaction.
- An incomplete DAB, or a payment chain that does not link the buyer to the seller and to the specific property.
- Off-plan units whose construction status does not allow the annotation to be registered in time.
- Family documents that contradict each other in name spelling, date of birth or marital status.
Frequently asked
How long must the property be held? Three years. The annotation on the title deed records that undertaking.
Do I lose citizenship if I sell after three years? No. Once the three-year period has run, a sale does not affect citizenship already acquired.
Are my family included? Yes: the spouse and the children who are under 18 or dependent, under Article 12(b) of Law No. 5901; a child who has come of age joins as a dependant, on documents assembled before filing.
Do I have to come to Turkey? The purchase and the application can be handled under a special power of attorney. There is no residence requirement, no language exam and no interview on this route; one short biometric visit is the practical exception.
What is the title deed tax and who pays it? The tapu harci is 20 per thousand for each party under the Law on Fees No. 492, tariff (4), item I-20/a, whose own wording is that it is charged separately for the transferor and the transferee. That is 40 per thousand across the transaction as a whole. The base is the declared transfer price and is never below the municipal property value. Which side actually bears it is contractual and the tariff does not assign it, so it is settled in the contract rather than by law.
How long does it take? Three to four months on a well prepared file. The official framework is three to six months, and the difference between the two is almost always the quality of the documents rather than the speed of the authority.
Official sources
- Directorate General of Civil Registration and Citizenship Affairs (NVI), for the citizenship procedure and the required documents.
- General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (TKGM), for title deed, annotation and registry procedure.
- Official Gazette, for the regulation text and any change to the threshold.
The 400,000 USD figure was set by the amendment published in the Official Gazette of 13 May 2022, number 31834. The most recent change anywhere in Article 20 is dated 12 December 2023, Official Gazette 32397, and it redefined which property types qualify under this route rather than moving the figure. These sources set the framework. They do not confirm the acceptance of an individual file, and no outcome can be guaranteed. The amount is measured at the Central Bank rate on the date the authority determines the investment (Article 20(6) of the Implementing Regulation).
Related routes and next step
If the real estate route does not fit your file, there are six others. Article 20/2 letters (a) to (f) also cover a 500,000 USD bank deposit, government debt instruments, real estate or venture capital fund units and a private pension contribution at the same figure, plus fixed capital and the 50 employee route, both of which sit outside the currency sale chain entirely. The service overview is on our citizenship by investment practice page.
On instruction the file opens on the title deed, the draft contract, the valuation report and your passport details; write on WhatsApp, Signal or info@serkalaw.com before you pay a deposit or sign anything. Whether this home or plot can carry a citizenship application turns on the seller’s status and on the title, and both have to be read before any money moves and before a deposit binds you.
General information, not legal advice. Turkish law; verify your specific situation with a qualified lawyer.