Turkey has granted citizenship to a total of 9,962 foreigners, in exchange for investments according to latest update from Ministry of Interior. This is a significant number of people acquiring citizenship for investments in just a year.
Ankara launched Turkish citizenship by investment (TCBI) scheme in 2017.
The Interior Ministry announced, among the total foreigners, 2,611 were main investors who were approved of citizenship since Sep 9, 2018 and were naturalized, according to Hurriyet Daily News.
Turkey last year simplified citizenship rules for acquiring citizenship through investments in real estate making the application process faster and easier for foreigners.
Last year, Turkey approved close to 1000 applications, raising $1 billion from citizenship investors. There were also close to 1900 pending applications.
Currently, Turkey offers the following investment options available to foreign investors applying for fast track citizenships which are granted within 3-6 months
- Real Estate: USD 250,000
- Capital Investment: USD 500,000
- Employment: employ at least 50 employees
- Bank deposit: USD 500,000
- Bonds/Debt Instruments: USD 500,000
- Real Estate Fund: USD 500,000
Real estate is the cheapest route for citizenship and most popular option among many foreign investors.
The free fall of Turkish lira against US dollar, attracts more foreigners for cheaper prevailing property prices which comes with the citizenship perk. Many see it is the best desirable time to invest in turkish properties, since the lira crisis began.
Who are those investors investing in Turkey for citizenship?
Here are the top countries who have invested in Turkish Citizenship by investment (TCBI), during the same period since last year.
Iraqi’s and Afghans top the table for TCBI scheme. It is interesting to note that there are also investors from other CBI countries such as St Kitts and Nevis. It is also important to note that number of Iranians acquiring Turkish citizenship has almost went to zero this year, compared to last year.
- Iraq – 327
- Afghanistan – 250
- Palestine – 170,
- Egypt – 110,
- Libya – 66,
- Lebanon – 44
- St Kitts and Nevis – 29
Others were 29 Saudis, 28 Azerbaijanis, 26 Pakistanis, 24 Sudanese, 22 Russians, 21 Algerians and 19 U.S. nationals
