Turkish Citizenship by Real Estate: USD 400,000, a Three-Year Hold, and a Lot of Fine Print

The legal basis and the investment routes

The legal basis is Article 12 of Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901 and Article 20 of the implementing regulation. Citizenship is not acquired automatically; it is granted by presidential decision. The investment gives you the right to apply, not a right to succeed.

The regulation lists several routes. The main ones as of October 2026:

• Real estate: at least USD 400,000, with an annotation in the land registry that the property will not be sold for three years.
• Bank deposit: at least USD 500,000 or equivalent with a bank in Turkey, held for three years.
• Government bonds: at least USD 500,000 in Turkish government debt instruments, held for three years.
• Fund units: at least USD 500,000 in real estate or venture capital funds approved by the Capital Markets Board (SPK), held for three years.
• Private pension: at least USD 500,000 in the Turkish private pension system (BES), held for three years.
• Business routes: a fixed capital investment of at least USD 500,000, or creating 50 jobs, each confirmed by the competent ministry.

In practice the vast majority of applications go through real estate. The reason is simple: at USD 400,000 it is the cheapest route, and at the end you hold an asset you can sell after three years. The other routes cost more but are less exposed to valuation problems.

What has changed since 2017

Older guides quote different numbers. The land registry authority TKGM summarises the history on its official portal like this:

• January 2017: launch with a minimum real estate investment of USD 1,000,000.
• 19 September 2018: reduced to USD 250,000.
• 6 January 2022: paying in Turkish lira no longer qualifies. The purchase price has to come into the country in foreign currency and be sold to the central bank through a bank, documented by a foreign currency sale certificate.
• 13 June 2022: raised to USD 400,000.
• 12 December 2023: agricultural land and plots without buildings no longer qualify. A plot only counts if a building stands on it.

Since 9 December 2024 a land registry circular (No. 2024/4) with an accompanying guide sets out how the offices determine the investment amount. It is the basis for the stricter valuation check covered in the next section.

How the value is checked

The USD 400,000 has to show up in three places at once, and this is where many purchases fail or end up costing more than planned. According to the land registry, each of the following must separately reach at least USD 400,000:

• the price stated in the title deed contract (Resmi Senet) or the notarised promise to sell,
• the payments and transfers actually made,
• and both must be confirmed by an amount determination certificate (Tutar Tespit Belgesi, TTB) based on a valuation report.

The valuation report comes from an appraisal firm licensed by the Capital Markets Board, ordered through the WebTapu land registry portal. Since 2024 GEDAŞ, a subsidiary of the state housing agency TOKİ, also issues these reports. All three values must clear the threshold. If you pay USD 420,000 but the certificate only confirms USD 380,000, the purchase does not qualify, even though the money has moved.

Several properties can be combined as long as the total reaches the threshold and each one carries the no-sale annotation. Buying off-plan from a developer is possible through a notarised promise to sell, provided condominium ownership or a condominium easement is already established and the amount has been paid in full upfront.

One point sellers tend to skip: prices for foreigners in the typical program locations in Istanbul, Antalya or Bodrum are often well above what locals pay. The valuation check only protects against a value below USD 400,000. It does not stop you from paying USD 500,000 for a flat worth USD 400,000 and selling at a loss three years later. That is the real cost risk of the program, not the fees.

The process step by step

The land registry describes the real estate route in ten steps. In short:

1. Purchase agreement: choose one or more properties worth at least USD 400,000 in total and agree the price.
2. Valuation report: order the report through WebTapu as the basis for the amount determination.
3. Currency proof: the price is transferred in foreign currency and sold to a bank; the foreign currency sale certificate goes to the land registry electronically.
4. Land registry check: the office compares contract price, payment receipt, currency certificate and valuation.
5. Fees and transfer: title deed fee and service charge are paid, the deed is signed.
6. No-sale annotation: the registry records that the property will not be sold for three years.
7. Investment certificate: the land registry issues the real estate investment certificate and notifies the population and citizenship directorate and the migration authority.

Then the citizenship application proper begins. It requires a residence permit, which investors obtain on the strength of the certificate with no minimum stay. The file needs birth certificates, passports and, where relevant, a marriage certificate, each apostilled with a certified translation, plus photos and fingerprints. Police and intelligence services run a security check, the Interior Ministry prepares the file, and the President decides.

There is no official deadline. Lawyers give four to nine months from purchase to passport as a guide value, sometimes less with a clean file. Anyone who has to supply missing documents or gets held up in the security check waits longer.

A spouse and children under 18 can be included without any additional investment. Older children need their own route.

What it costs besides the property

The USD 400,000 is only the purchase price. On top come:

• Title deed fee: by law 4 percent of the purchase price, split equally between buyer and seller. In practice developers often pass the whole amount to the buyer.
• Valuation, translations, notary, apostilles: a few thousand dollars depending on family size.
• Lawyer: fees vary widely. An independent lawyer who is not paid by the developer is the most important money spent in the whole process.
• Running costs: property tax, service charges, compulsory earthquake insurance for buildings, management if you rent it out.

The VAT exemption for foreigners on a first purchase from a developer, which appears in many ads, depends on conditions that have changed several times. Whether it applies in your case is something the lawyer should confirm in writing before you sign.

August 2026: more than 6,000 grants cancelled

On 4 August 2026 the Turkish Interior Ministry announced that citizenship had been cancelled or withdrawn for 6,134 people who had been naturalised through investment. According to the statement, reported among others by Hürriyet, the figure breaks down as follows:

• 1,150 investors lost their investment eligibility certificates over sham transactions and irregular valuation reports. Including family members, 5,391 grants were cancelled.
• 263 investors had their citizenship withdrawn on public order and national security grounds after police and intelligence reviews, 743 people including families.

This followed an operation across 16 provinces against a network producing fake valuation reports, with 72 suspects detained. The ministry relied on Articles 31 and 40 of the Citizenship Law. Anyone who obtained naturalisation through false statements or concealed facts loses it, and as the numbers show, in practice that also hits family members naturalised under the same application.

The practical lesson: the risk does not only sit with people who knowingly cheated. Choosing a developer or agent who makes the price "fit" can cost the whole family its passports years later. An independent valuation and a payment that exactly matches the contract price are therefore not a formality.

What the Turkish passport gets you

Visa-free travel: in every common index the Turkish passport's visa-free list is clearly shorter than those of the Caribbean program passports and much shorter than the German one.

Schengen: Turkish citizens still need a visa for the EU. Since 15 July 2025 a cascade system lets frequent travellers resident in Turkey obtain longer multiple-entry visas more quickly. As of October 2026 talks on visa liberalisation have not concluded. If you are planning on the passport for travel in Europe, the plan does not work.

US E-2 visa: according to the US State Department, Turkey has been an E-2 treaty country since 18 May 1990. But there is a condition many providers leave out: since December 2022 (Public Law 117-263), anyone who acquired the nationality through a financial investment must have been domiciled in that country for a continuous period of at least three years before the first E-2 application. Domicile means more than an address on paper. A Turkish passport without moving to Turkey therefore does not lead straight to an E-2. For Germans the point is secondary anyway: Germany itself is an E-2 treaty country, as covered in E-2 visa through a US LLC. The Caribbean comparison case is in the article on Grenada and the E-2 visa.

Living, working and buying in Turkey: as a citizen you no longer need a residence permit or work permit, and the restrictions on foreigners buying property fall away. For someone who wants to live in Turkey anyway, that is the tangible benefit.

Military service: the rules for naturalised men

Turkey has compulsory military service for men, and in principle it applies to naturalised citizens too. Article 43 of Military Service Law No. 7179 sets the rules:

• Anyone who is 22 or older in the year of naturalisation is treated as having completed military service.
• Anyone who documents that he served in his previous country, or is deemed to have served there, is also exempt.
• Everyone else serves like Turks of his age cohort. On request, service is deferred for two years from naturalisation.

For the investor himself this rarely matters. For sons included in the application it does: a twelve-year-old naturalised with his parents will later be liable like any other Turkish man. The law provides a paid foreign-currency service option for Turks living abroad, and there is also paid short service. Amounts and conditions change regularly, so if sons are involved, the question belongs with a Turkish lawyer before you apply.

The German angle: keep the passport, tax stays

Until June 2024 a second passport was a risk for Germans: anyone who acquired a foreign nationality on their own application automatically lost German citizenship under the old Section 25 of the Nationality Act unless they held a retention permit. With the Act to Modernise Nationality Law, in force since 27 June 2024, that provision was repealed. A German who acquires Turkish citizenship today remains German. Turkey for its part does not require you to give up your existing nationality.

Anyone who acquired a foreign nationality before 27 June 2024 is a different case. What that means and the other pitfalls are covered in Dual citizenship for Germans.

For tax, the passport changes nothing. Germany taxes by residence and habitual abode, not by nationality. If you live in Germany you remain fully taxable there, however many passports sit in the drawer. Rental income from the Turkish property is taxed in Turkey and has to be declared in Germany. If you really want to move, the options are in Plan B: residency options compared. How it plays out in your case depends on the details and belongs with an adviser who knows both legal systems.