Turkey

Living in Turkey, and being taxed by Turkey

These are decided by different authorities, under different rules, on different clocks. The one people get wrong is the second.

Citizenship by investment carries no residence requirement, so a Turkish passport does not by itself make Turkey tax you. Settle here, or stay more than six months in a calendar year, and it does, on your worldwide income. The passport and the tax bill run on separate clocks, and only one of them is optional.

The facts, each cited

• USD 400,000

  Acquiring a property worth a minimum of USD 400,000, with a title-deed restriction on its resale for at least three years, qualifies a foreign investor for Turkish citizenship, as attested by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change.

• GEDAS only

  Valuation reports used in a citizenship application are issued by GEDAS Gayrimenkul Degerleme A.S., a subsidiary of the Housing Development Administration, under Land Registry coordination. Since the circular took effect on 4 March 2024, reports from other appraisers are not accepted for this purpose.

• From 09.12.2024

  Since 9 December 2024, the investment amount behind a citizenship application is confirmed by a Tutar Tespit Belgesi, prepared from the GEDAS valuation report through the TADEBIS system and transmitted into the Land Registry record.

• USD 500,000

  A minimum fixed-capital investment of USD 500,000, as attested by the Ministry of Industry and Technology, is a qualifying route to Turkish citizenship.

• USD 500,000

  Depositing a minimum of USD 500,000 in banks operating in Turkey, on condition it is not withdrawn for at least three years, is a qualifying route.

• USD 500,000

  Buying government bonds worth a minimum of USD 500,000, on condition they are not sold for at least three years, is a qualifying route.

• USD 500,000

  Buying real estate investment fund or venture capital fund shares worth USD 500,000, or depositing USD 500,000 into a private pension fund, each held three years, are qualifying routes.

• 50 jobs

  Creating jobs for at least 50 people, as attested by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, is a qualifying route to Turkish citizenship.

• Art. 12 / 5 yrs

  Under the exceptional route, an alien may acquire Turkish citizenship based on the resolution of the President of the Republic; the ordinary route instead requires five years of uninterrupted residence.

• Worldwide

  An individual whose domicile is in Turkey, or who remains in Turkey more than six months in a calendar year, is taxed on worldwide income; non-residents are taxed only on Turkish-source income.

What an expert actually does, and when

Moving to Turkey is four different jobs for four different people, and the order matters more than the choice of any one of them. Here is the sequence, what each person settles, and what to hold them to in writing.

1. First

   A cross-border tax adviser in the country you are leaving

   Before you sell anything, move your family, or claim to have left

   This is the one whose answer can make the rest of the plan pointless, so it is worth knowing before you spend anything on the rest. A residence permit somewhere else is not the same thing as having stopped being tax-resident where you are.

   What only they can settle

   • →Whether and when your tax residence at home actually ends
   • →Which ties (home, family, accounts, memberships, company control) have to be dealt with, and in what order
   • →What you owe on the way out, and what you can elect or defer
   • →Which transactions to complete before you go rather than after

   Ask for it in writing. A written residence and departure-date memo, with the tax on leaving set out asset by asset, and a list of the evidence your position depends on.

2. Second

   An immigration lawyer in the destination

   Six to twelve months before you intend to move

   Routes look interchangeable from outside and are not. Which one you qualify for depends on evidence you may not have gathered yet, and gathering it is often the long pole.

   What only they can settle

   • →Which route your actual income, work history, and assets satisfy
   • →Which authority handles each stage, and whether your entry status has to change first
   • →What proof each requirement takes, and what is missing today
   • →How a partner and children are included, and when

   Ask for it in writing. A route recommendation with the eligibility tested against your documents, plus a dated checklist of what is still missing.

3. Third

   Document authentication and translation

   Only after the lawyer has frozen the list

   Ordering apostilles and translations before the list is settled is the most common way to pay twice. Certified documents also expire, so starting early can be worse than starting late.

   What only they can settle

   • →Which authentication chain each document needs, in its issuing country
   • →What has to be translated, by whom, and to what standard
   • →The order to obtain things in, so nothing expires while waiting for something else

   Ask for it in writing. Authenticated originals and accepted translations, tracked so you know where every document physically is.

4. Fourth

   Local advisers where you land

   Once your status is approved

   Approval is not the same as a working life. Banking, health cover, and a tenancy each have their own requirements, and several of them want the paperwork from the earlier stages.

   What only they can settle

   • →What banking will require of you, and what to prepare before you ask
   • →Which health cover satisfies the local requirement
   • →What a lease commits you to, and what your obligations are on registering it
   • →What you now have to file locally, and when

   Ask for it in writing. A working household: identity documents, an address, cover, banking, and a calendar of what renews when.

OmniFlag is not a law firm or a tax adviser. Experts are retained independently and their engagement letter defines what they advise on, what they file, and what they deliver.

What nobody puts on the Turkey brochure

• Citizenship granted on the exceptional route can be taken back. Article 31 cancels it where it was acquired by misrepresentation or by hiding a fact the grant rested on, and article 40 withdraws it where the decision is later found to have been made without the legal conditions being met, which requires no wrongdoing by the holder. The cancellation is not confined to the investor: it applies to the spouse and children who acquired citizenship through them. A cancelled person comes under the law on foreigners, and where the cancellation decision states that belongings are to be liquidated, has one year to do so in Turkey before the Treasury sells them and holds the proceeds.

• Take up domicile in Turkey, or stay more than six months in a calendar year, and you become a full-liability resident taxed on worldwide income. Investors who only hold the asset and stay away avoid this, but relocating triggers it.

• The qualifying property carries a title-deed restriction on resale for at least three years, so the capital stays locked in the asset before you can exit.

• The thresholds are set in US dollars while the local economy runs on the lira, so exchange-rate swings and valuation practices can move the real cost of meeting the floor. Price the asset with an independent valuation.

  Indicator, not law · OmniFlag desk research, 2026

What people get wrong about Turkey

Each of these is something a confident search result will tell you. Each is wrong, and the rule that corrects it is named.

• Commonly believed
  “Once the passport is issued it is mine. The risk I am carrying from here is the property market, not the citizenship.”

  What the rule says
  The grant is reversible. Article 31 cancels a citizenship decision obtained by misrepresentation or by hiding a fact the grant rested on, and article 32 carries that cancellation to the spouse and children who acquired citizenship through the principal applicant, whose own conduct is not assessed. Article 33 then applies the law on foreigners to a cancelled person and, where the decision states that belongings are to be liquidated, allows one year to do it before the Treasury sells them. The exposure turns on how the application file was assembled, not on what the asset is worth later.

  Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901, Arts. 31, 32 and 33 (Directorate of Civil Registration and Nationality)

Common questions

Does the Turkish investment route require living in Turkey?

No. The exceptional route grants citizenship by resolution of the President of the Republic, and does not carry the five-year uninterrupted residence that ordinary naturalisation requires.

Can I keep my current citizenship?

Turkish law recognises multi citizenship, defined as the status of a Turkish citizen who holds more than one citizenship at the same time, so a Turkish passport can sit alongside another.

Can Turkish citizenship by investment be revoked?

Yes. A citizenship decision is cancelled where it was acquired by misrepresentation or by hiding a fact the grant rested on, and withdrawn where it is later found to have been given without the legal conditions being met. The cancellation applies to the spouse and children who acquired citizenship through the principal applicant. A cancelled person comes under the law on foreigners and, where the decision states that belongings are to be liquidated, has one year to do so in Turkey before the Treasury sells them. Taking the cancellation to court suspends that liquidation until the case concludes.

How does Turkey tax residents?

Full-liability residents, meaning those domiciled in Turkey or present over six months in a calendar year, are taxed on worldwide income. Non-residents are taxed only on Turkish-source income.