TURKISH CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT
With the new regulation which was declared on September 18t, Republic of Turkey grants citizenship to foreigners who make
- 250,000 $ property investment
- found/buy a company with 500,000 $ capital
- deposit 500,000 $ in State investment instruments or state banks operating in Turkey provided that they do not withdraw such amount for three years.
Also, employing 50 personnel is determined as a criteria for applying for Turkish citizenship with the new regulation. Several regulations published in the Official Gazette No. 106 decision of foreign nationality were changed with the concept of Turkish citizenship. Turkey intended to qualify for citizenship fixed capital amount was reduced to 500.000 $ from 2 million $.
The minimum amount required for applying to citizenship by immovable property in Turkey have also determined as 250.000 $. The most common type of investment for Turkish Citizenship is the purchase of an immovable property of 250,000 $. When the real estate is purchased, the annotation of the real estate must not be sold for three years. When the regulation was first implemented, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization wanted the annotation to be sold for three years at the time of the purchase of the real estate. This situation has caused great difficulties for foreigners who are not aware of the legislation. Fortunately, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization went to a new arrangement on this issue and eliminated this requirement. After the purchase of an immovable property of 250,000$, an expiration date of three years cannot be placed on the land registry records.
| Prerequisite for obtaining Turkish citizenship | The quantitative limit [TODAY] | The quantitative limit [BEFORE] |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed Capital Investment | Minimum USD 500k or equivalent other foreign currency or Turkish Lira | Minimum USD 2 M |
| Property Investment | Minimum USD 250k or equivalent other foreign currency or Turkish Lira | Minimum USD 1 M |
| Employing Personnel | Minimum 50 employees | Minimum 100 employees |
| Purchasing Public Debt Instruments | Minimum USD 500k or equivalent other foreign currency or Turkish Lira | Minimum USD 3 M |
As informed in (b) Regulation (a) Article 20 of the Regulation with the amendment of the Article 2 «b» which regulates the condition for the exceptional acquisiton of Turkish citizenship and referred as « it is possible to obtain Turkish citizenship on exceptional basis for foreign nationality who purchased the immovable property with a minimum amount of 250,000 $ having land registry record which are determined by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanism on the condition that it is not going to be sold for three years».
Within this scope;
- In order to benefit from this arrangement and determine the amount which is indicated in the application for the slae of the immovable property, there should be prepared an immovable valuation report which should be accepted by the Capital Market Board in accordance with valuation standards by valuation expert who has a valid license .
- Based on the value in the immovable valuation report that shows the market value, the value of immovable/immovables in US dollars is calculated on the effective selling rate of the Central Bank of Turkey at the date of transcation.
- The amendments of the Regulation dated 12.01.2017 and the effective date of this instruciton, in case if more than one immovable is acquired by the same person, the sum of which corresponds to a price stated in the relevant article or above, the value calculated in accordance with the effective sales price of each immovable on the sale date shall be taken as basis.
- The foreign real person who has bought the real estate should be arranged and declared;
Within the scope of Article 20 of the Regulation on Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law states that this immovable / immovables property will not be sold for a period of 3 years for purpose of acquisiton of Turkish citizenship; Within the scope of the 20th Article of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law” is stated that within 3 years is declared that it will not be sold for 3 years from the date of acquisition”. “Within the 20th Article of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law, there is a commitment not to be sold within three years from the date of acquisition”.
- From now on, the immovable property which will be purchase for purpose of obtaining Turkish citizenship should commit that tyhe property will not be sold for 3 years. However, the immovable property which was purchased between the Regulation on implementation dated 12.01.2017 and the date of entry into force of this directive without declaration of not selling the property should declare and undertake that in accordance with article 20 of the regulation on the implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law there is a declaration that the immovable property will not be sold within three years from the date of acquisition.
- With the condition to have the same date and the same journal number, If more than one immovable is requested for the same person with a value equal or exceeding stated in the related article, the statement of each immovable shall be made within the scope of “Article 20 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law There is a commitment not to be sold within three years from the date of acquisition”. Point (b) The condition that the amendment of the regulation taken on the date of 12.01.2017 and for the immovable/immovables acquired in the date interval in which this directive entered into force shall not be required to be purchased with the same journal number.
- According to the decision taken with the regulation the said statement with the requirement the abandonment following the three years stated within the law, If the applicant’ cancellation requested by the applicant within 3 years from the date of the entry of the declaration, the MERNIS registry shall be checked to see if the applicant has obtained Turkish citizenship. by;
- If the owner is registered as a Turkish citizen in the system, the citizenship will be revoked until the end of three years’
- In case of not being registered, the question of whether to abandon the commentary from the General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs should be questioned and directed to the procedures to be taken.
- Foreclosure, measure etc. on immovables acquired in this way is possible by establishing annals with the same limited rights and in case that the property’s owner change within the three year period without the agreement of the owner the General Directorate of Population and Citizenship shall be informed urgently.
- The evaluation reports which will be submitted within the scope of this instruction shall belong to the same year and the application and operation made at the end of the year or the applications which have not been finished in the same year the reports submitted will be reevaluated according to the reevaluation ratio determined by the Ministry of Finances.
- If the amount of the immovable valuation report based on the sales transactions under this instruction is lower than the value of the real estate tax determined for the municipal acquisition year according to the provisions of the Real Estate Tax Law No. 1319, the title fee shall be collected on this value.
- The title deed registration is given to the applicant following the completion of the procedure.
Turkish citizenship by investment – Capital Investment
In accordance with the “Regulation on Making Amendments in the Regulation on the Implementation of Turkish Citizenship Law” which is effective as of being published on the Official Gazette dated 12 January 2017 and No 29946; it has been decided that Turkish Citizenship can be granted to the persons, whom are determined by Ministry of Economy to have made fixed capital investment in the amount of 2 million US Dollars, upon the suggestion of the Ministry of Interior and with the Cabinet Decision. In accordance with the abovementioned Regulations, citizenship applications of the foreign real persons shall be evaluated within the framework of the following procedures and principles:
A) Application and Evaluation Process
1. Foreign real persons who will demand citizenship based on fixed capital investment in the amount of 2 million US Dollars shall submit an application in writing to the Ministry of Economy together with the following documents:
A. Enclosed to the application form signed by the applicant;
a. Completely filled in investment information form
b. Photocopy of the identity information pages of the passport
c. Trade registry gazette which shows the partnership structure of the legal entity which has made the fixed capital investment which constitutes the basis of application and the investment amount
d. Special purpose report approved by a Sworn-in Certified Public Accountant which shows the fixed capital amount (The report shall contain information regarding fixed capital investments made after the publication date of the regulations. In applications to be submitted in following years, fixed capital investments made within maximum 3 years before the application date shall be taken into consideration within the scope of the report)
e. Proof that the direct foreign investment in the amount of 2 million US Dollars are transferred to the equity capital of the company and submission of the related foreign deposit account receipt in the same Sworn-in Certified Public Accountant report
2. The application shall be submitted to the approval of the Ministry after it is determined by the Ministry of Economy Directorate General of Incentive Implementation and Foreign Investment that the application fulfils the requirements. Applications which do not fulfil the requirements shall be rejected by the Directorate General of Incentive Implementation and Foreign Investment. For application submitted with incomplete information and documents; applications, which fails to complete the incomplete information and documents within 1 month following the written notification to the applicant, shall be rejected without further notice.
3. Applications approved by the Ministry shall be sent to the Ministry of Interior to carry out necessary procedures.
B. Descriptions
a. In the event that the foreign investor is a shareholder of the company, which makes the investment, at a certain rate; it is required that the amount to be obtained by multiplying the rate which corresponds to the share of the individual in the company that makes the investment with the total investment amount is minimum 2 million US Dollars.
b. In determining the fixed capital amounts, the publication date of the regulations, 12 January 2017 shall be taken into consideration. Fixed capital investments made before that date shall not bestow a right to apply for citizenship.
c. When calculating for the fixed capital expenses for the applications to be submitted in following years, the expenses made in the last maximum 3 years shall be taken into consideration.
d. In the event that additional fixed capital investment is made to a currently present investment, the increase in the amount of fixed capital investment as of the beginning of the additional investment shall be taken into consideration.
e. For the applicants who are determined by the Administration to have applied with false or misleading documents, citizenship procedure shall be suspended and a notice shall be sent to the Ministry of Interior for denaturalization of the individuals who were given citizenship. Further applications to be submitted by persons who have applied with false or misleading documents shall not be taken into consideration even if they fulfil the related criteria.
The contribution to Turkish economy is one of the most important criteria for gaining Turkish citizenship for foreigners. With the new regulation, it’s possible to become Turkish citizen by employing 50 personnel in your company.
With the new regulation, it’s possible to become Turkish citizen by purchasing public debt instruments with the condition of not selling for three years. The minimum amount is determined as 500.000 USD for the public debt instruments concept. You can also make your investment to the state banks in order to benefit from the citizenship concept in Turkey.
Many developments have been recorded since January 2017 regarding the acquiring of foreigners to Turkish citizenship. The works have completed for foreigners who purchase houses, have an account in a bank and establish a business in Turkey about being a “Turkish citizen” if they demand. The government is working on expanding the application of citizenship in order to led up for foreigners to bring foreign currency investments to the country.
Selling 16500 houses to foreigner in the first months of 2016 took up time of the real estate market especially. In the first months of 2017, the Committee of Ministers took action when the prospect of an explosion in housing sales in the case of “recognition of citizenship for who purchase house”
The giant companies of real estate sector gave explanations about this subject. With the law published in the Official Gazette on 12 January, the scope of exceptional cases in the acquisition of Turkish citizenship in Article 12 of the Turkish Citizenship Law was expanded. With the regulation on the implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law published on 25 May, some changes were made in practice. It was known that the immovable property with a minimum of 1 million US Dollars could not be sold for three years in the title deed restriction, provided that the Ministry of Environment and Urbanism who determines purchasing, they can acquire Turkish citizenship with the proposal of the Ministry and the decision of the Council of Ministers.
Within the scope of the Regulation, how were the boundaries of being a Turkish citizen for foreigner who purchase houses?
The application for the acquisition of the real estate by sale will not be sufficient to determine the amount stated in the article, a valuation report will be demanded which accepted by SPK and prepared by an evaluation expert who have a valid licence and prepared properly for the evaluation standards. It will be observed that the valuation report refers to the year of transaction made. The value in US dollars will be calculated on the effective selling rate of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey on the date of the transaction, and for each foreigner acquiring more than one house, each house will be evaluated separately.
The most important subject of regulation will be the scope of time. The foreigners will make a commitment about not selling this immovable or immovables for three years and registration request document for foreigners who request for citizenship and declaration of immovables by taking a commitment “within the scope of the 20th Article of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law, there is a commitment not to be sold within three years from the date of acquisition.” condition will be stipulated. Within 2 years from the date of indication, in case of cancelling by tenant, if the person acquires Turkish citizenship or not, can be controlled by MERNİS records. In case of immovable’s handover without tenant’s consent for various reasons, this issue should be reported to General Directorate of Civil Registration and Nationality urgently.
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