Turkey simplifies Citizenship by Investment making it faster and efficient

Turkey has eased the Citizenship by investment (CBI) rules making it efficient and faster.

In a recent interview, the Investment Office of the Presidency of Turkey has said, that from now on, the residence permit and citizenship applications can be submitted together at private/common offices.

New special joint offices have been established in Ankara and Istanbul to provide faster service to CBI applicants.

Article 12 of the Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901 allows foreign investors to acquire Turkish citizenship in exceptional terms; with 18.09.2018 dated and 106 numbered Presidential Decree, amendatory new arrangements have been made regarding the amounts mentioned in the Article 20 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the aforementioned Law.

According to the statement by Investment office of Turkey,

In order to;

·       Make the process of acquiring Turkish citizenship more efficient and faster

·       Provide services in support, consultancy and application tracking processes from the application for residence permit (6458-31/J) to the acquisition of Turkish citizenship,

·       Provide quality service with qualified personnel working in manner of “customer representative”,

·       Maintain foreign investors, who do not have a certificate of conformity, to contact with the relevant determining institutions and to direct them to the designated contact persons,

Operations have been started to provide faster service by establishing “special/joint offices”, mainly in Ankara and Istanbul.

Moreover, the documents requested for foreign citizens to acquire Turkish citizenship and the documents requested separately in citizenship applications were simplified in “private/common offices”; so residence permit and citizenship application shall be obtained at once together with the jointly determined documents.

Within this scope, the foreign investors can acquire exceptional turkish citizenship by investment under the scope of the below investments starting from USD 250,000;

Capital Investment: who make fixed capital investment at least 500.000 US Dollars or equivalent foreign currency or equivalent amount of Turkish Lira and for whom certificate of conformity is issued by the Ministry of Industry and Technology,

Real Estate:      who purchase the immovable property at least 250.000 US Dollars or equivalent foreign currency or equivalent amount of Turkish Lira and attached annotation at land registration not to sell this property for three years and for whom a certificate of conformity is issued by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization,

 Employment:     who employ at least 50 employees and for whom a certificate of conformity is issued by the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services,

Bank deposit:     who invest at least 500.000 US dollars or its equivalent in foreign currency or equivalent amount of Turkish Lira and make commitment to hold the amount of deposits for three years at banks operating in Turkey and for whom a certificate of conformity is issued by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency,

Debt Instruments:      who purchase public borrowing instruments at least 500.000 US Dollars or equivalent foreign currency or equivalent amount of Turkish Lira and make commitment to hold these instruments for three years and for whom certificate of conformity is issued by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance

  Real Estate Fund:    who purchase a real estate investment fund participation share or venture capital investment fund participation amount of at least 500.000 US Dollars or equivalent foreign currency or equivalent amount of Turkish Lira and make commitment to hold these participation shares for three-years and for whom a certificate of conformity is issued by the Capital Market Board,

Foreigners who hold the Residence permit / Turquoise Card in exchange for investments, may acquire Turkish citizenship based on the resolution of the President of the Republic of Turkey, provided that there are no impediments thereto pursuant to national security and public order.

The Citizenship granting process is given below

• The Provincial Census and Citizenship Directorate issues the citizenship file and sends it to NVIGM (Ministry of Interior, Citizenship Affairs).
• An archive investigation is conducted on whether there are any impediments with respect to national security and public order.
• The application will be submitted to the Office of the Minister to be sent to the President’s Office if the archive investigation concludes positively.
• Then it is sent to the Office of the President to obtain the President’s decision.
• Turkish citizenship will be granted if the President rules for the acquisition of Turkish citizenship.