Turkey

Citizenship by Investment Turkey

Turkey announced its citizenship by investment programme in 2016. It grants residency, citizenship and a second passport to applicants investing either in real estate or a bank deposit.

The bank deposit route is particularly attractive for investors. This requires $500,000 to be deposited into a bank account in Turkey which then needs to be maintained for a minimum of just 3 years. Importantly this investment can be in US Dollars. That eliminates the volatile currency risk of investing in Turkish real estate. Retaining liquid funds in this way leading to a second citizenship ranks Turkey as one of the lowest cost citizenship by investment programmes on the market.

A Turkish passport allows visa free travel (or visa on arrival) to 114 countries worldwide. Turkey also holds out the possibility of eventual visa free access to the EU. Currently talks are ongoing although Turkey has some way to go in order to meet EU conditions.

Citizenship Investment Limits

Required minimum investment limits for the citizenship programme are as follows:

• Real Estate Investment  $250,000
• Bank Deposit                  $500,000
• Capital Investment         $500,000

The real estate investment amount was originally set at $1 million and in September 2018 was drastically reduced along with that for capital investment and bank deposits. The investment was required into real estate, shares of Turkish companies or government issued bonds. Citizenship of Turkey is granted after 3-6 months following the applicants investment. The applicant must hold the investment for a minimum of 3 years.

Residency

Residency in Turkey is also available through investment in real estate although the permit needs to be renewed every six months.

Please contact our advisors for further details on the citizenship by investment programme in Turkey.