Turkey runs a direct route to citizenship for foreign investors, granted by Presidential resolution rather than by years of residence. It sits at the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East, and Turkish law recognises multiple citizenship.
Sources verified 2026-07-12
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Turkey grants citizenship to qualifying investors by resolution of the President, skipping the five years of uninterrupted residence that ordinary naturalisation requires. Turkish law recognises multiple citizenship, so an existing passport can be kept.
Buy qualifying real estate at USD 400,000 and hold it for three years.
| Property value | USD 400,000 |
| Resale lock | 3 years |
| Grant mechanism | Presidential resolution |
| Valuation report | GEDAS, ordered through Web Tapu |
| Amount confirmed by | Tutar Tespit Belgesi |
Grants citizenship without the five-year residence the ordinary route requires.
Commit USD 500,000 as a bank deposit, government bonds, fund shares, or a private pension, each held three years, or as fixed capital.
| Investment amount | USD 500,000 |
| Holding period | 3 years (deposit, bonds, funds, pension) |
| Qualifying forms | Deposit, bonds, funds, pension, capital |
These tiers share one USD 500,000 floor. The three-year lock applies to the deposit, government-bond, fund-share, and private-pension forms; the fixed-capital route carries no stated holding period.
Employ at least 50 people, as attested by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
| Jobs created | 50 people |
| Grant mechanism | Presidential resolution |
These are decided by different authorities, under different rules, on different clocks. The one people get wrong is the second.
Granted by the immigration authority. Says nothing about tax.
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.
Acquiring real estate worth at least USD 400,000, with a title-deed restriction on resale for three years, qualifies a foreign investor for Turkish citizenship.
Investment Office
A bank deposit, government bonds, fund shares, a private pension contribution, or a fixed-capital investment of USD 500,000, held for three years, is an alternate qualifying route.
Investment Office
Ordinary naturalisation requires five years of uninterrupted residence in Turkey; the investment route does not.
Law No. 5901
Full-liability residents are taxed on worldwide income; residence means domicile in Turkey or presence over six months in a calendar year.
Revenue Administration
A generic read against Turkey's cited thresholds. Your plan weighs all six of your inputs against every destination.
For 2026, Turkey taxes self-employed and business income at 15% up to TRY 190,000, 20% up to TRY 400,000, 27% up to TRY 1,000,000, 35% up to TRY 5,300,000, and 40% above that.
Revenue Administration
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.
Presidency Investment Office
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.
TKGM
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.
TKGM
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.
Presidency Investment Office
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.
Presidency Investment Office
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.
Presidency Investment Office
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.
Presidency Investment Office
Creating jobs for at least 50 people, as attested by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, is a qualifying route to Turkish citizenship.
Presidency Investment Office
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.
Directorate of Civil Registration
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.
Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ask for it in writing. A route recommendation with the eligibility tested against your documents, plus a dated checklist of what is still missing.
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.
Ask for it in writing. Authenticated originals and accepted translations, tracked so you know where every document physically is.
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.
Ask for it in writing. A working household: identity documents, an address, cover, banking, and a calendar of what renews when.
A licence is not the same as a good engagement. These are worth asking on the first call with anyone you find, in the Vetted Directory or outside it.
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.
A note for US citizens and green-card holders. US federal tax follows US persons wherever they live. A move to Turkey does not reduce US federal tax, and OmniFlag makes no such claim.
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
Once the passport is issued it is mine. The risk I am carrying from here is the property market, not the citizenship.
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)
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.
Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901 (Directorate of Civil Registration and Nationality)
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.
Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901 (Directorate of Civil Registration and Nationality)
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.
Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901, Arts. 31, 32, 33 and 40 (Directorate of Civil Registration and Nationality)
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.
Gelir Vergisi Kanunu No. 193, Arts. 3, 4 and 6 (Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi, consolidated)
Middle East
No personal income tax, long-term Golden Residency, and a remote-work visa, each figure cited to a UAE government source.
Southern Europe
Passive-income and remote-work residence, a defined path to a passport, and dual citizenship kept.
Southern Europe
Residence for income earned abroad, a flat-rate tax window for new arrivals, and a defined route to a passport.
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OmniFlag helps you research and plan. It is not a law firm or tax advisor and does not give legal or tax advice. The filings go to licensed professionals you engage, and the order matters: a cross-border tax adviser where you are leaving, then an immigration lawyer in Turkey.