Turkey grants citizenship to foreign nationals who make a qualifying investment in the country. The rule itself is short — a single paragraph in the Turkish Citizenship Law — but almost everything that determines whether an application succeeds sits in the secondary regulation and in administrative practice. This article explains what the law actually requires in 2026, what each investment route costs, how the file moves from one authority to the next, and where applications tend to fail.
Where the right comes from
The legal basis is Article 12/1(b) of Law No. 5901 on Turkish Citizenship. It allows the President to grant citizenship, on an exceptional basis, to foreigners whose acquisition of citizenship is considered to be in the interest of the country. Article 20 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law then defines who falls into that category, and it is there that the investment thresholds appear.
Two features of this route follow directly from its legal nature. First, it is exceptional — it bypasses the ordinary five-year residence requirement, the Turkish language requirement and the integration assessment that apply to naturalisation under Article 11. Second, it is administrative. You are not buying a passport; you are establishing that you meet a defined set of conditions, and the state verifies them through its own institutions before the President signs.
The six investment routes in 2026
The thresholds below have applied since 13 June 2022, when the real estate figure was raised from USD 250,000 to USD 400,000. They remain in force in 2026.
| Route | Minimum | Holding period | Authority that certifies it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real estate | USD 400,000 | 3 years | Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change |
| Bank deposit | USD 500,000 | 3 years | Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) |
| Fixed capital investment | USD 500,000 | — | Ministry of Industry and Technology |
| Government bonds | USD 500,000 | 3 years | Ministry of Treasury and Finance |
| Investment fund shares (real estate or venture capital) | USD 500,000 | 3 years | Capital Markets Board (SPK) |
| Employment | 50 employees | — | Ministry of Labour and Social Security |
Amounts are expressed in US dollars but may be met in the Turkish lira equivalent, calculated at the Central Bank effective selling rate on the transaction date. That detail matters more than it looks: in a volatile exchange market, a property valued at exactly USD 400,000 on Monday may fall short on Friday. Experienced practitioners build in a margin rather than sitting on the threshold.
The real estate route, in practice
Roughly four out of five investors choose property, so it is worth setting out its mechanics precisely.
You must acquire immovable property with a total value of at least USD 400,000 and undertake not to sell it for three years. The undertaking is not a private promise — it is recorded on the title deed itself as an annotation (şerh) by the land registry. Until that annotation is entered, no certificate of conformity will be issued.
Three conditions decide whether the purchase qualifies:
- An appraisal report from an SPK-licensed valuation company. The USD 400,000 figure is measured against the appraised value, not the price you paid or the value declared to the land registry. A report issued by a firm that is not on the Capital Markets Board's list is worthless for this purpose.
- Full ownership. The applicant must acquire the property outright. A share in a jointly owned property does not satisfy the requirement, and this is one of the most common reasons files are rejected.
- Payment through the banking system. The purchase price must move through Turkish banks and be documented. Cash handed over at the notary, or funds transferred outside the banking system, cannot be evidenced later — and without evidence, there is no certificate.
You may combine several properties to reach the threshold, provided the aggregate appraised value meets it and each is annotated. A property bought from another foreign national who used it for the same purpose, or from a company in which the applicant holds shares, will be scrutinised closely.
The deposit and capital markets routes
Investors who do not want exposure to Turkish real estate often prefer the financial routes. USD 500,000 deposited in a bank operating in Turkey, held for three years and certified by the BDDK, satisfies the requirement. The money is not frozen in the sense of being unusable: it earns interest or profit share at the rates the bank offers, and that return belongs to you. What is restricted is withdrawal of the principal below the threshold during the three-year period.
Government bonds and SPK-regulated fund shares work the same way — a three-year holding commitment, certified by the relevant authority. Venture capital and real estate investment funds have become noticeably more popular since 2023, because they combine a defined exit date with a return profile that a static deposit does not offer.
The fixed capital route (USD 500,000 invested in a business) and the employment route (creating jobs for fifty Turkish citizens, verified through SGK records) suit investors who were coming to Turkey to trade anyway. They demand ongoing operational commitment, which is why they are the least used.
How the file actually moves
The process runs in three stages, and confusing them is the source of most of the anxiety we see.
- Stage one — the investment and the certificate of conformity. You complete the investment, obtain the appraisal or bank confirmation, and apply to the competent ministry or authority for a certificate of conformity (uygunluk belgesi). This document is the gateway; nothing proceeds without it.
- Stage two — the short-term residence permit. Article 31/1(j) of Law No. 6458 provides a residence permit specifically for investors in this position. It is granted on the strength of the certificate and does not require you to live in Turkey.
- Stage three — the citizenship file. With the certificate and the residence permit, the application goes to the Provincial Directorate of Census and Citizenship, then to the General Directorate in Ankara, where the security and intelligence screening takes place. The final act is a Presidential decision.
What this sequence tells you is that the investment comes first and the citizenship decision last. Anyone who offers to reverse that order is describing something the law does not permit.
How long it takes
Marketing material frequently promises three months. A complete, clean file — full ownership, a solid appraisal, funds fully traceable, no complications in the applicant's background — commonly completes in three to six months from the certificate of conformity. Files with a missing document, a shared title, an appraisal that has to be redone, or a security check that raises a question take considerably longer; twelve months is not unusual.
The variable is almost never the government's speed. It is the quality of the file that arrives on the officer's desk.
Family members
A single qualifying investment covers the investor, their spouse, and their children under eighteen. The children's age is assessed at the date of application, which occasionally produces painful timing problems for families with a child approaching their eighteenth birthday. Children over eighteen must pursue their own route, and adult parents of the investor are not included.
Where an application covers dependants, each family member's civil status documents — marriage certificate, birth certificates — must be apostilled and translated. In practice, missing or incorrectly legalised family documents delay more files than any problem with the investment itself.
You keep your existing citizenship
Turkish law permits multiple nationality. Acquiring Turkish citizenship does not require you to renounce the nationality you already hold, and Turkey will not ask you to. Whether your own country permits you to hold a second nationality is a question for your home jurisdiction — and some countries do restrict it. That is a check worth making before you invest, not after.
What causes rejection
Applications rarely fail because the investor was unsuitable. They fail on file defects:
- A share in a jointly owned property submitted as if it were full ownership.
- An appraisal produced by a firm without an SPK licence, or one dated too far from the transaction.
- Payment made partly outside the banking system, leaving a gap in the money trail.
- Purchase from a seller whose own prior transaction disqualifies the property from being used again for citizenship.
- An existing entry ban or restriction code that surfaces only during the security screening.
- Foreign civil status documents that were translated but never apostilled.
Every item on this list is preventable at the outset and expensive to fix afterwards. Rectifying a defective purchase can mean unwinding a transfer and repeating it — with the taxes and fees paid a second time.
After the three years
The annotation on the title deed expires by its own terms at the end of the three-year period. From that point the property can be sold freely, and the sale has no effect on the citizenship already granted. Citizenship acquired under Article 12 is not conditional or probationary; it is the same status held by any other Turkish citizen, and it passes to your descendants.
The one qualification worth stating plainly: citizenship obtained through false declaration or fraudulent documentation can be annulled under Article 31 of Law No. 5901. That provision targets deception, not a lawful sale after the holding period.
Frequently asked questions
Is the USD 250,000 threshold still available? No. It was raised to USD 400,000 with effect from 13 June 2022. Any offer based on the old figure is out of date.
Do I have to live in Turkey? No. There is no physical residence requirement, no minimum stay and no language examination for this route.
Can I complete the process without travelling to Turkey? Largely, yes — through a lawyer acting under a properly drafted power of attorney issued at a Turkish consulate or a foreign notary with apostille. Biometric enrolment for the identity card and passport is done in person.
Can I buy several apartments to reach the threshold? Yes, provided the combined appraised value meets USD 400,000 and each title carries the annotation.
Does the deposit route mean my money is locked away? The principal must remain in place for three years, but it earns a return, and that return is yours.
Are my children included? Those under eighteen at the date of application, yes — together with your spouse.
How long is the passport valid? Turkish passports are issued for up to ten years and renewed in the ordinary way. The citizenship behind them is permanent.
Working with a lawyer
The investment decision is yours. What a lawyer contributes is the verification that happens before the money moves: confirming that the title is clean and unencumbered, that the property has not already been used for a citizenship application, that the appraisal firm is licensed, that the payment route will survive scrutiny, and that nothing in the applicant's record will stall the security screening. Each of those checks is cheap in advance and costly to repair afterwards.
Dural Hukuk represents foreign investors through the whole sequence — due diligence, title transfer, certificate of conformity, residence permit and the citizenship file — including for clients who never set foot in Turkey until the biometric appointment. You can reach us on +90 535 260 74 54 or through the contact form on this site.
This article is general information on Turkish law as at August 2026 and is not legal advice. Thresholds, procedures and administrative practice change; obtain advice on your own circumstances before acting.