ACQUISITION OF TURKISH CITIZENSHIP
With the amendment made by the Presidential No. 418 dated 07.12.2018, foreigners can acquire Turkish citizenship by purchasing real estate at a minimum of $ 250,000. If the applicant meets the investment conditions and other conditions specified in the law, the applicant, his spouse and their children under the age of 18 can acquire Turkish citizenship.
Classification has been made according to the type of investment to be made according the Presidential Decree No. Today, the most preferred investment type is the application for Turkish citizenship by purchasing immovable property. Properties are determined by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization. Annotation, has to be provided to the land registry by lawyer. In Annotation it has to be indicated that property cannot be sold for three years (but you can rent it). Amount of property has to be least 250,000 USD or its equivalent in foreign currency or Turkish Lira.
ACQUIRING TURKISH CITIZENSHIP BY PURCHASING PROPERTY
DETAILS OF THE PROCCESS?
There is a 3-stage process for the investor to acquire Turkish citizenship.
1- Purchase of real estate worth 250.000 dollars and obtaining the Certificate of Conformity from the relevant institution. Certificate of conformity is obtained from different institutions according to the investment types specified in the law. When applying for Turkish citizenship through real estate acquisition, a certificate of conformity can be applied through the Land Registry Office where the immovable property is located.
2- Obtaining a short-term residence permit in accordance with first paragraph of Article 31 of the Law No. 6458. The residence permit specified by the law is only specific to the way of acquiring Turkish Citizenship through investment. Residence permit from 1 to 5 years can be obtained at the request of the investor. Residence permits will be obtained for both the investor and his / her spouse (if any) and their children under 18 years of age.
3- Applying for Turkish citizenship through investment. The institution to which the application will be made is the General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs located, where the property is located.
STAGE 1: PURCHASE OF THE PROPERTY AND CONFORMITY CERTIFICATE
If the foreign investor wants to apply for Turkish citizenship with the acquisition of the immovable, the date of the purchase of the immovable is important here:
- For immovables purchased between 12.01.2017-18.09.2019, the value of the real estate must be at least 1,000,000 USD;
- The value of the immovables purchased on and after 19.09.2018 must be at least 250,000 USD.
Foreign nationals can acquire real estates in the form of house, workplace, land and field in our country. However, foreigner nationals have to submit the project to be developed in the unstructured immovable they purchase (land, field) for the approval of the relevant ministry within two years.
The immovable cannot be registered at the name of the foreign national, their spouses or their children at the immovable land registry. In addition, the foreign national who will acquire it must be transferred by himself, his wife and children after 12.01.2017.
The foreign national who wants to acquire Turkish nationality should not be registered in the land registry on behalf of the legal entity of his/her company, of which he/she is a partner or manager.
If the investor wishes, he or she can buy a single property worth $ 250,000 or more, or buy more than one property, each with a total value of $ 250,000 or more. There is no limitation in the law for the real estate to be purchased. The important thing here is that if the foreign person buys more than one immovable at the same time or at different times, the total value of these immovables must be at least USD 250,000 and each property must have a minimum of three (3) years of non-sale annotation.
There are 3 issues that are required at the stage of purchasing the real estate and processing a 3-year non-sale annotation on the property;
– The total of the sales price (s) declared in the official deed and
– Total value / values in the valuation report and
– Total payments showing the transfer of money on the bank receipt.
A- VALUE DETERMINATION
Appraisal of the immovable, how the receipts for the sales price paid for the immovable should be is as follows;
Before the real estate is purchased, a real estate appraisal report showing the market value of the immovable must be prepared by real estate appraisal institutions authorized by the Capital Markets Board (“CMB”) and the Banking Supervision Board (“BRSA”). The date of issuance of the valuation report submitted during the acquisition application must be at most three (3) months prior to the application date. The said valuation report will be valid until the transaction is completed.
If the real estate valuation report is not received before the real estate acquisition, the real estate valuation report prepared based on the acquisition date of the real estate (s) is requested.
In the previous regulation, it was regulated that the sales price in the official deed could not be lower than the place price in the valuation report. Now, while the sales price in the official deed and the sales prices in the appraisal report are required to meet the value of USD 1,000,000 or USD 250,000 separately on the dates specified in the Regulation, it is not required that the price in the official deed should be higher than the valuation report.
In case of purchasing immovable from structures that are not yet completed, the value of the independent section should be calculated and shown in this appraisal report.
B- BANK DECONT
After the proper value determination is made, the real estate will be officially purchased and at this stage, the sales price must be made through the bank and the bank receipt must be submitted. However, since the law was amended on 15.10.2018, it is not obligatory to submit a bank receipt for sales made before this date.
For sales made after 15.10.2018, the price transfer / payment must be made through the bank. In this context, it is required to prove with a bank receipt (money order, EFT or receipt with blocked check) that the amount has been deposited by the buyer or the relevant persons into the account of the seller or the relevant persons. For transfers to be made from abroad, the receipt of the account to which the fee was sent must also be presented.
The receipt date can also be after the date of sale in the sales transaction.
Since the sale price of the real estate is stated to be worth $ 250,000, it is important to determine the exchange rates here;
• Bank Receipt Dry: If the value of the immovable is paid in TL, the equivalent of the bank receipt value in US dollars is calculated based on the effective sales rate published by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (“CBT”) of the previous business day.
• Official deed (sales) value or the exchange rate of the promise to sell contract; The equivalent of the TL value, which is specified as the official bill (sales) value, in US dollars, then the effective selling rate of the CBRT of the last business day before the day of the application for the sale transaction is taken as a basis for finding the amount. However, if multiple receipts with different dates are submitted, there may be a problem of exchange rate difference in finding the USD equivalent of the (TL) value, which is determined as the official note (sales) value. In this case, the equivalent of the official bill (sales) value (TL) in US Dollars is calculated based on the effective selling rate of the CBRT on the last business day before each payment day. These value (s) should not be less than the total of the receipt providing the value of 1.000.000 USD or 250.000 USD required on the dates specified in the Regulation.
• Real Estate Appraisal Report Rate: In this report, the effective selling rate of the CBRT on the last business day before the report date is taken as the basis for determining the TL equivalent of the real estate in USD. In case the real estate valuation report is issued after the sales transaction; In determining the USD equivalent of the report (TL) value, the effective selling rate of the CBRT on the last business day before the sale transaction application is made.
In the sales process, it is possible to sell with the existing mortgage or with foreclosure. In case the real estate is acquired through a sales-mortgage transaction; In determining the sought value, the remaining part after deducting the loan amount from the sales price should be at least the amount sought in the Regulation.
With the newly introduced regulations, it has become possible to purchase the immovable in instalments provided that the immovable property is purchased after 19.09.2018 and each instalment price is after this date. Instalment payments before 19.09.2018 will not be taken into consideration. US Dollar denominated value of the instalments, is calculated based on the effective exchange rate of the Central Bank of Turkey on the date of the transaction.
C- ANNOUNCEMENT OF 3 YEARS ON THE REAL ESTATE
In the registry of the real estate (s) subject to the sales transaction and / or the promise to sell transaction; “Within the scope of Article 20 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law, it has a commitment that it (the immovable property) will not be sold for 3 years from the date of annotation and / or the promise that sell contract will not be transferred and cancelled for 3 years from the date of annotation”
WHAT ARE THE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED TO GET A CONFORMITY CERTIFICATE?
- Notarized Turkish translation of valid passport and passport
- Four (4) colour passport-appropriate photographs
- Official deed or notarized promise to sell contract regarding the sale transaction
- Real estate appraisal report
- Bank receipt approved by the buyer or related persons to the account of the seller or related persons.
- An annotation on the immovable property for three (3) years at the relevant land registry office
Applications are evaluated by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre and Department of Foreign Affairs. Applications without any deficiencies are finalized within seven (7) business days. If the application is successful, a certificate of conformity will be sent to the land registry office where the property was transferred and to your addresses in the contact information you provided.
STAGE 2: RESIDENCE PERMIT FOR THE INVESTOR
In the next step after the investor receives the certificate of conformity for the immovable property, the investor, his spouse and their children under the age of 18 must obtain a short-term residence permit specific to exceptional citizenship. Residence permits can be obtained from 1 year to 5 years. First of all, an appointment is made with the Immigration Administration where the immovable property is located. In exceptional citizenship, there is no need to wait for the appointment date received from the immigration administration, it can be visited as soon as the appointment is made. The immigration administration immediately takes the appointment into consideration.
When making an appointment for a residence permit, the health insurance of the investor and the family and the fees stipulated by the state must be paid. These payments differ depending on which country the investor is from. The documents used while obtaining the residence permit and the documents to be used in the citizenship application, which is the 3rd stage, are almost the same. Besides these, the immigration administration also requires the following documents.
1- A copy of the title deed of the immovable property
2- An apostilled Criminal Record certificate issued by the investor, his spouse and, if any, children over the age of 15 from their own country
STAGE 3: MAKING THE CITIZENSHIP APPLICATION
After obtaining the residence permit for the investor, the investor’s citizenship application must be made to the General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs. Documents required for this application;
1- Application Form
2- 2 biometric photos of 50×60 mm in size,
3- Passport or similar document showing which state the person is citizen of, if the person is stateless, the relevant document, if available.
4- Certificate of civil status and marriage certificate if married, divorce certificate if divorced, death certificate of spouse if widowed, given by the official authority and apostilled.
5- A document showing the identity of the person, such as a birth certificate or a birth certificate, given by the official authority and apostilled.
6- If the marital status is married, a copy, of the population register or similar document proving the family ties of the spouse and children, given by the official authority and apostilled.
7- If the person does not have the month and day of the date of birth, an apostilled document obtained from the competent authorities of his country for the completion of the date of birth, and if the document cannot be obtained, the signed and apostilled declaration that he agrees to take action in accordance with Article 39 of the Population Services Law No. 5490.
8- If there is a child of a different mother or father, the apostilled consent letter showing that the mother or father has given consent for the transition to Turkish citizenship.
9- The receipt showing that the fee for the Citizenship Service has been paid to the Finance Cashier.
If the requested documents are submitted to the civil registry office, an application number is given by the Directorate. With the application number, you can check the stage of the citizenship process. Documents are first sent to Ankara. A commission is formed by the relevant ministries, the citizenship application of foreigners is evaluated and submitted to the approval of the President. The final decision is made by the President.
Those who apply for Turkish citizenship through investment have the right to acquire a new Turkish name and surname. In this case, the foreigner’s Turkish identity card and passport will be arranged according to the preferred name and surname. This procedure is not mandatory, and foreign investors can obtain Turkish ID and passports under their own names.
Obtaining a certificate of conformity, short-term residence permit application, receiving the residence permit card and submitting the necessary information and documents for citizenship application can be concluded remotely with a special power of attorney without the need for foreigners to enter the country. However, at the last stage where the application is finalized, the applicant and the first degree family members to whom the application is made must be present at the nearest population directorate to give fingerprints and obtain their Turkish citizen identity and passports.
Although the law does not give a clear answer about how long the application process will take, citizenship applications are usually finalized in 4-6 months. If the citizenship application is successful, the investor must receive the citizenship approval document from the Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs. Identity and passport applications can be made from the receipt of the confirmation document. Identities and passports belonging to the investor and his family are sent to their addresses within approximately 4-7 days.
