Turkey citizenship by investment: the real estate route, costed step by step

Turkey grants citizenship to investors, and the real estate route is the one most families use. You buy property worth at least US$400,000, the title deed is marked so the property cannot be sold for three years, and once the state confirms the purchase you apply for an investor residence permit and then for citizenship itself. There is no minimum stay in Turkey at any point. The real spend is more than US$400,000, because deed fees, valuation and legal costs sit on top, and this guide costs the route step by step using the rules published by the Presidency Investment Office.

Key takeaways

• Real estate route: property of at least US$400,000, with a resale restriction of at least three years recorded on the title deed.
• Every other route starts at US$500,000: bank deposit, government bonds, fund shares, private pension or fixed capital, each held for three years. Creating at least 50 jobs also qualifies.
• The title deed transfer fee is 4 percent of the declared value, set at 2 percent for the buyer and 2 percent for the seller. On a US$400,000 home that is US$16,000 in total.
• The order of the file matters: valuation, currency sale through a Turkish bank, title deed with the annotation, certificate of conformity, residence permit, then the citizenship application.
• Citizenship is granted by Presidential decision. Meeting the investment test makes you eligible to apply; it is not an automatic grant.
• Your spouse and your children under 18 are covered by the same application. No minimum stay in Turkey is required.

The routes in one table

The Investment Office lists seven ways to qualify. Each route is confirmed by a different authority, which issues the certificate of conformity your file depends on.

Route	Minimum	Holding rule	Confirmed by
Real estate	US$400,000	No resale for at least 3 years, marked on the title deed	Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, through the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (TKGM)
Fixed capital investment	US$500,000	Set by the confirming ministry	Ministry of Industry and Technology
Bank deposit	US$500,000	Not withdrawn for at least 3 years	Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency
Government bonds	US$500,000	Not sold for at least 3 years	Ministry of Treasury and Finance
Real estate or venture capital fund shares	US$500,000	Not sold for at least 3 years	Capital Markets Board
Private pension contribution	US$500,000	Kept in the pension system for at least 3 years	Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Agency
Job creation	At least 50 jobs	Employment must be real and documented	Ministry of Labor and Social Security

This post follows the real estate route. The full programme, including the other routes, is set out on our Turkey citizenship by investment page.

The full cost stack beyond the headline threshold

The US$400,000 buys the property. It does not buy the file. These are the costs that sit on top.

• Title deed transfer fee: 4 percent of the declared value. The law sets 2 percent on the buyer and 2 percent on the seller, though contracts often shift the whole fee to the buyer.
• Valuation: a licensed appraiser must value the property for the citizenship file, and the official value must reach the threshold. The valuation fee is set by the licensed appraiser.
• Taxes on the purchase itself, which vary with the type of property and whether it is new or resale.
• Legal and filing costs: a Turkish tax number, document translation and notarisation, earthquake insurance for the property, and the residence permit and citizenship filings for the family.

You can compare the total shape of Turkey against the Caribbean and Pacific programmes with the citizenship by investment cost calculator.

Worked example: buying at the threshold

A family buys an apartment at exactly US$400,000 and carries the full deed fee, as many buyers agree to do. The property is US$400,000. The deed transfer fee at 4 percent is US$16,000. The cash committed is therefore US$416,000 before the valuation fee, translation, insurance and legal costs. If the seller carries their legal half of the deed fee, the buyer’s share drops to US$8,000 and the total to US$408,000. Either way, plan on more than the headline number, and hold the property for the full three years.

Requirements: property rules, the annotation and your family

The property must carry condominium ownership or a construction servitude, or be a land plot with a building already on it. Its value must be proven, not just promised. Three numbers must each reach US$400,000: the price written in the title deed, the money you transferred, and the value in the official valuation certificate (TTB) prepared from a report by an appraiser licensed by the Capital Markets Board. If any one falls short, the file fails. Empty land and farmland do not qualify for this route.

The money trail is part of the test. The purchase price is paid through a Turkish bank, and the foreign currency is sold through the bank to the Central Bank before the transfer is registered. The bank issues a currency sale certificate, and the land registry works from that paper trail. Cash payments and informal transfers do not count.

At the transfer, the land registry records the annotation on the title deed: the property cannot be sold for at least three years. A notarised promise to sell can work instead, if the full price is paid in advance and the same three year bar on transfer and cancellation is recorded. The application covers the investor, a spouse and children under 18. Parents and siblings are not covered and would need their own route.

Step by step: title deed to passport

1. Get a Turkish tax number and open a Turkish bank account.
2. Choose the property and order the licensed valuation. Do not sign until the valuation path is clear, because the official value decides the file.
3. Sell the foreign currency through your Turkish bank to the Central Bank and keep the currency sale certificate and payment records.
4. Transfer the title deed at the Land Registry, with the three year no sale annotation recorded on the deed.
5. Obtain the certificate of conformity from the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, confirming the purchase meets the citizenship test.
6. Apply for the investor residence permit, issued to investors under the Foreigners and International Protection Law, without any duty to live in Turkey.
7. File the citizenship application with the Directorate General of Civil Registration and Citizenship Affairs, with your family documents translated and apostilled.
8. On approval by Presidential decision, collect Turkish ID cards and passports for the family.

Risks and checks

The valuation is the most common failure point. If the licensed valuation lands below US$400,000, the file fails even if you paid more, so the valuation should be understood before money moves. The second risk is the seller and the property history: a home sold by someone who got Turkish citizenship through investment, or passed by such a person to a Turkish citizen or company in the last three years, cannot be used for your file.

The annotation is the third. Selling inside the three years, or letting the commitment lapse, puts the citizenship itself at risk, and Turkish authorities do audit these files. Treat the three years as locked. Finally, run developer due diligence on off plan projects with the same care as the legal file, because the citizenship test does not protect you from a weak building or a slow developer.

Related reading

• Turkey citizenship by investment: the AIA programme page
• Citizenship by investment cost calculator
• Citizenship by investment: all programmes and routes

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• Acquiring property and citizenship: Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Investment Office (invest.gov.tr)
• General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (tkgm.gov.tr)
• Directorate General of Civil Registration and Citizenship Affairs (nvi.gov.tr)