All you need to do to get Turkish passport 2022

Many people of different countries are keen to obtain Turkish citizenship to live in Turkey. In the last ten years, Turkey has become an excellent destination for investment and living by many, especially those whose countries suffer from wars or whose societies have economic crises and poor living conditions. Turkey is the ideal place because of its nature. It is an Islamic country and also It is a mixture of Western life with its modernity of way of living, with our eastern Islamic customs and traditions.

The reasons for the desire of foreigners to obtain Turkish citizenship is due to the fact that many countries were exposed to many crises, especially the countries of the Middle East, which led to waves of migration and displacement from the countries of the region to Turkey, since it is considered one of the countries closest to those coming from crisis areas, so the Turkish government worked on integrate them into social and economic life.

Why Turkish citizenship?

Many foreign investors, especially those from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and some Arab countries, seek to obtain the Turkish passport, as the Turkish passport ranks in 53rd according to the Index of Passport Arrangement, and Turkey passport holders have the possibility of visa-free travel to 111 travel destinations around the world, or obtaining a visa on arrival to many countries such as Brazil, Qatar, Albania and South Korea, which allows holders of this passport to travel immediately to many countries around the world, however, Turkey passport holders will need to obtain a visa in advance to enter about 118 countries including China, all EU countries and India.

Advantages of the Turkish passport

Turkish citizens enjoy many advantages, including qualifying for the investor visa program (E-2) in United States, also can get free school and university education, the citizenship lasts for life time and can be passed on to newborns, free medical care services for all citizens, the possibility of obtaining citizenship Turkish without having to physically live in Turkey.

Who can get Turkish citizenship?

You can get Turkish citizenship generally in two ways, by birth and family parentageor others.

1- Obtaining citizenship by birth

Turkish citizenship acquired by birth is the citizenship acquired at the time of birth, and it becomes valid from the moment of birth upon notification. Acquisition of Turkish citizenship by birth depends on parentage or place of birth.

A - Acquisition of Turkish citizenship by parentage

 which is that one or both parents hold Turkish citizenship, whether the father or mother, and for the child to acquire Turkish citizenship through parentage, it is enough if one of the parents to be a Turkish citizen at the time of the child’s birth. If one of parents is a foreign citizen or the child was born in a country other than Turkey does not prevent him from obtaining Turkish citizenship.

B- Children born out of wedlock

Citizenship is granted if the father is a Turkish citizen, they become Turkish citizens upon acknowledgment of paternity or the court decision to affiliate the child to the father.

C - Acquisition of Turkish citizenship according to place of birth

Children those was born in Turkey and cannot obtain any other country citizenship since birth, and children were found who cannot express themselves due to they are babies should be registered in the population registers of the place where they were found by the authorities.

2- Other ways to Obtain Turkish citizenship, that includes several ways

Turkish law allowed a foreigner to obtain Turkish citizenship through several conditions, and the legislator enacted the categories that wishing to obtain citizenship and gave the right to the authority to classify them into:

• Acquisition Turkish citizenship in general

• Exceptional acquisition of Turkish citizenship

• Re-acquisition of Turkish citizenship

• Acquisition of Turkish citizenship by marriage.

Acquisition of Turkish citizenship in general

A foreigner who wishes to obtain Turkish citizenship can obtain Turkish citizenship by a decision of the authority, if he meets the necessary conditions.

Chapter 11 of the Turkish Nationality Law stipulates that the conditions to be met by the applicant, these conditions are:

- have the legal capacity in terms of age for people who have reached the legal age, mental awareness or if they are stateless but they must have stayed in Turkey for five years without interruption, and vice versa from the date of application.

- To prove through their behavior that they have decided to settle in Turkey, and the Turkish authorities can detect this desire through:

• Buying a property in Turkey.
• Establishing a company or institution or licensing any business or investment in Turkey.
• He moved his business activities to Turkey.
• Obtaining a work permit in Turkey.
• The presence of a family member (father, brother, mother or son) of the applicant who has previously obtained Turkish citizenship.
• Completion of university education in Turkey.

- Not to have a disease that poses a threat to public health, according to reports issued by Turkish public hospitals, and not by private or foreign hospitals.

- To have good morals and manners, as the security authorities investigate into the behavior of the person from the vicinity and places of residence during the five-year period, and the authorities have the full right to evaluate the person's behavior, and be sure that the person is not involved in problems related to prostitution or drug dealing and others.

- The ability to speak Turkish language sufficiently that enabling him to interact with Turkish society. The authorities do not require that the Turkish language be fluent, but they expect that the applicant will reach a level of language that enables him to live in Turkey, and this is confirmed by inviting the person to an interview with the citizenship committee.

- Obtaining an income or profession that enables them to support themselves and their families in Turkey. The authorities do not require additional documents if the applicant holds work permit or owns his own project in Turkey. The applicant can enhance his chances by submitting a bank statement, or submitting bank accounts if He had a fixed income for a commercial activity outside Turkey, and if the citizenship applicant did not hold a work permit and did not have his own project in Turkey or any fixed income that can be legally proven through his bank account, the authorities require a letter of guarantee from a Turkish citizen.

- Not to be in a situation that would constitute an obstacle to national security and public safety.

This is by making sure that there are no sanctions issued by the Turkish judiciary against the applicant, especially in the fields of tax evasion, smuggling and various criminal cases criminalized by the Turkish law, and that he has not been imprisoned in Turkey on a criminal background, because a clean criminal record is a basic requirement for the Turkish authorities when studying the applicant file.

Relating to Turkish or Ottoman origins

It is possible for a foreigner to apply for Turkish citizenship after he presents the documents that prove his family’s origins from the Ottoman Empire, and it is required that these documents be translated and certified by the notary and then from the governor’s office or the governor’s department, and they are evaluated, Also, consulates and embassies abroad can receive applications attached to the documents without the person attending Turkish lands.

Marriage to a Turkish citizen

Obtaining Turkish citizenship through marriage is common, and it is easier than other methods because the only condition is the continuity of the marriage for five years, and the foreign party who married to a Turkish citizen has the right to apply for Turkish citizenship, and the right to apply does not necessarily mean acceptance because the Turkish government is keen on the continuation of the marriage for five years in a stable manner, and that it was founded on the intention of have a family, and not a marriage of convenience aimed at obtaining citizenship only.

Obtaining Turkish nationality by adoption

Turkish law allows the adoption of children, so if a Turkish citizen (or a Turkish family) adopts an immature foreigner, it allows him to get Turkish citizenship, provided that he does not pose any danger to the national security and public security of the state.

Granting exceptional citizenship by government decision

The Turkish Nationality Law allows the executive authority and the Council of Ministers to grant any foreigner the Turkish citizenship if he does not pose a threat to national security or public security and is one of the following cases:

a- Those who believe that they will make great services and real contributions to Turkish society in the field of industry, science, technology, economic, social, sports, cultural and artistic

B - Who thinks that it is necessary to obtain Turkish citizenship.

c- Migrants, if they are classified as such, who obtain humanitarian residency.

Whoever fulfills the conditions of any of the previous cases can submit an application to the Department of immigration to obtain citizenship, where the file and the documents attached to it are studied by the committee, and upon making sure that the conditions are met, the file is submitted to the Council of Ministers, which makes the final decision, and in some cases the foreigner is asked to give up his original nationality in order to be granted Turkish citizenship, and this matter is not necessarily considered an obstacle to the executive authority to approve the application.

There are some points from the above that may not be clear to those wishing to obtain Turkish citizenship, including those related to proving the intention to live on Turkish lands, as they are not specified in the law, but there are some examples, including investment, such as transferring a business to Turkey, buying a property, or completing a study In Turkey, or the presence of a first-degree relative who has previously obtained Turkish citizenship.

Obtaining Turkish Citizenship by investment

In 2018, the Turkish government issued a presidential statement for the law of obtaining Turkish citizenship, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced through rule No. 106, which stipulates “Pursuant to Article no.46 From the Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901, a decision was made to implement Law No. 139/2010, issued on February 11, 2010, regarding granting Turkish citizenship by amending the requirement for depositing fixed deposit funds in a Turkish bank to be worth 500 thousand dollars Or their equivalent in Turkish lira instead of $2 million or their equivalent in Turkish lira.

The decision also stipulates that the foreigner investor has the right to obtain Turkish citizenship in case of buying a property worth 250 thousand dollars instead of one million US dollars, provided that the property is kept and not dispensable for a period of no less than 3 years, and according to the law, the investor is entitled to obtain citizenship for himself and his wife and for his children under the age of 18.

At the same time, the state has set some conditions for the investor in the real estate field, according to which he is granted citizenship. In the event of a breach of these conditions, a foreigner is not entitled to grant citizenship to a foreigner, including:

• The property must be worth 250 thousand US dollars or more or its equivalent in Turkish lira.
• Obtaining an evaluation report for the value of the property approved by the Turkish government.
• The value of the property with the title deed should be at the same real purchase price.
• The value of the property should be paid through bank transfers, and transfer receipts that prove bank transfers between the buyer and seller should be submitted in the file for applying for citizenship.
• The property must be owned by a Turkish person or Turkish company.
• Keeping the property for a period of 3 years from the date of purchase, and the investor is not allowed to sell or give up the property and then repurchase it.
• The price of the property is fully paid, and there are no external installments or mortgages on it.

Nationality Law Amendments 2022

Recently, the Turkish government changed some of the conditions for obtaining Turkish citizenship for foreigners in an attempt to support its national currency, the lira. According to the new regulation, the foreign currency obtained from selling real estate to foreigners will be sold to the central bank through a local bank, and converted into Turkish lira.

During the past four years, some investors were able to manipulate the conditions for obtaining citizenship and circumvent them in twisted and illegal ways to obtain citizenship. Therefore, among the recent amendments made by the state were:

1- It is forbidden to recycle the property or sell it to a Turkish person and then resell it to another investor of the same nationality, as it was previously possible to sell it to a Turkish person and resell it to a person of the first investor’s nationality after obtaining Turkish citizenship, i.e. after 3 years, but now it must Selling to a Turkish person and an investor of another nationality so that the new investor can obtain Turkish citizenship as well.

2- The property can be sold after obtaining Turkish citizenship after 3 years of purchasing to a Turkish person or a foreigner directly, but the foreigner - the new investor - will not be able to submit it to obtain Turkish citizenship even if he is a relative, friend or of another nationality. It is mean that is, a foreigner can invest in the new property, but he will not obtain Turkish citizenship unless it is sold to a Turkish citizen and then to a foreigner, and the foreigner should have a different nationality other than the nationality of the first investor.

3- When buying a property for the purpose of obtain Turkish citizenship for an amount of 250 thousand dollars, it is not allowed to you to resell the property after obtaining Turkish citizenship after 3 years to the same person who sold you the same property, that is, the property cannot be resold to the original owner, whether this owner is a person or a company.

4- When applying for Turkish citizenship or after obtaining it, when you discover a deficiency or forgery in identification papers or any required files that can withdraw Turkish citizenship from you even after you obtain it.

5- In the case of the sale or the preliminary sale agreement, the pledge shall be made according to the following: “I pledge that I will not sell these real estate that I have purchased to obtain Turkish citizenship within the scope of Article 20 of the Regulation for the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law for a period of 3 years and if it is found that the information and documents that will be provided upon implementation Incomplete, incorrect or misleading based on Article 31 of the Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901 on Acquisition of Turkish Citizenship, and if it occurs as a result of false declaration to the person concerned or concealment of important matters that form the basis of obtaining citizenship, it will be canceled by the authority that made the decision.” The phrase "I know that actions will be taken by the relevant authorities".

6- Real estate that has been transferred to a Turkish citizen or company of Turkish origin after January 12, 2017 and is subject to the law of obtaining Turkish citizenship by sale or preliminary sale contract, must not have any record in the name of the investor who wants to obtain citizenship for his wife/husband, child or applicant Another (the investor) of the same nationality, however in this case only another investor with a different nationality can subject this property to obtaining Turkish citizenship.

7- The real estate subject to sale or the preliminary sale agreement must not be registered in the name of the legal entity where the applicant (the investor) who will acquire the real estate by himself or his wife or children is a partner, manager, or on behalf of the company subject to Article 36 of the Land Registry Law (with a capital foreign/international) where the real person of the same nationality is a partner and through this regulation it is planned to prevent the purchase of a property from a legal entity by another legal entity of the same nationality.

On May 13, 2022, the Turkish government issued a decision to raise the amount of obtaining Turkish citizenship through the purchase of real estate to a value of 400,000 dollars instead of 250,000 dollars. The decision has been implemented starting in 12th June 2022.

The investor has the right to buy a real estate or several properties with the new amount of $400,000 in order to obtain citizenship, provided that the investor must keep the property for 3 years and he mustn’t sell the property he purchased for the purpose of citizenship before 3 years from the date of purchasing. For more information about the Turkish citizenship law and its conditions, click here.

At Ramzy Real Estate Company, we are glad to accompany you on the journey of buying property in Turkey and to provide you with a range of services to make the process smooth and easy , as we are always keen to present a variety of options for residential and investment properties in addition to helping you obtain Turkish citizenship for those looking for it.
Our services:
- Legal advice .
- Property Management.
- After-sales services .
- Legal services and obtaining Turkish citizenship.
- Buying and selling real estate in Turkey.
- For more details, you can contact us via the communication platforms or via the WhatsApp attached on the site.

Editing by Ramzy Real Estate Team ©

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