Some important and major changes were made to the procedures for obtaining citizenship through the real estate investment rules on December 19, 2022. Before explaining them, it is important to clarify that all these changes will come into effect from January 1, 2023.
In the event that an initial sale contract for the property (what is known in Turkish as “gayrımenkul satış vaadi sözleşmesi”) is used as an investment, an investment of $400,000 must be pledged on each single contract, and it does not matter how many properties are covered by such a single contract, but it is no longer possible to merge More than one initial sales contract to apply for citizenship anymore.
Real estate initial sales contracts cannot be combined with real estate purchases that have already been purchased.
It will no longer be possible to apply for citizenship through a joint property, even if the value of a single property is much more than $400,000 USD;
Where only one investor can benefit from one property to request citizenship.
For example, if two foreigners buy a property worth $800,000 USD with equal shares ($400,000 USD each), they will not be able to apply for citizenship.
The property that a foreign investor will buy with the aim of obtaining Turkish citizenship must not be owned by a Turkish citizen who obtained citizenship through investment, so it does not matter anymore whether he previously used this property to obtain citizenship or not.
Al Qaeda now is much different than it was before.
For example, if Mr. Ahmed from Egypt buys two properties, one with a value of $400,000 and the other with a value of $300,000, and uses the first property to apply for citizenship, he will be able to sell the other property after 3 years to new foreign investors who aim to obtain Turkish citizenship from During the real estate investment, but the new investors will not be able to use the first property owned by Mr. Ahmed and it has already been used to obtain citizenship.
If two foreigners buy a property worth $800,000 in equal shares, they will not be able to request citizenship (communication sites).
However, as per the new rule, new investors cannot use any of Mr. Ahmed's properties to apply for citizenship anymore (because the second property is not worth the required $400,000).
The real estate that will be purchased by a foreign investor with the aim of obtaining Turkish citizenship must not be owned by a Turkish company, if the majority of its shares are owned by foreigners, foreign companies, or Turkish citizens who obtained citizenship through investment;
Where this rule is also different from what it was before.
Previously, this requirement was only applicable in cases where the company's foreign partner had the same nationality as the foreign customer.
Moreover, there has been no restriction on foreign partners who have already acquired Turkish citizenship through investment, and they will be considered native Turkish citizens for the purpose of this rule.
According to the new rule, regardless of the original nationalities of the company's foreign partners and their foreign clients, the restrictions will be applicable if the foreign partners represent the majority of the company's shareholders, and this situation will not change even if these foreign partners obtain Turkish citizenship through investment.
This means that if a company with foreign shareholders is willing to buy/develop and sell real estate to foreign investors who aim to obtain Turkish citizenship, the majority of its shareholders must consist of either native Turkish citizens or naturalized Turkish citizens who acquired citizenship through other means.
Used properties that are subject to sale or initial sale contracts cannot be transferred to any Turkish citizen/company by any foreign real person within the past three years.
Purchases arising from construction contracts ("eser sözleşmesi" in Turkish) are an exception to this rule.
Ownership of 'timeshare' real estate ("devremülk" in Turkish) cannot be used to apply for citizenship.
No additional official fees, taxes or commissions are calculated as part of the $400,000 investment.
Therefore, these fees and charges must be paid separately and must not be included in the seller's principal payment.
In the event that the foreign investor purchases more than one property for the purpose of obtaining citizenship, the application process must begin at the General Directorate of Land Registry in the area where the majority of these properties are located.
In the event that the General Directorate of Land Registry finds that any of the following points are missing, it cannot cancel the application and must notify the applicant to complete the missing point or points:
Lack of the necessary powers in the powers of attorney granted to the applicants' lawyers.
The absence of an annotation on the title(s) promising to hold up the sale for 3 years.
Absence of a sale permit for certain categories of real estate subject to a sale permit.
Deficiencies in payment receipts regarding the names of the recipient or sender.
Deficiencies in payment receipts for the necessary bank stamps.
The absence of documents proving the origin of the applicants.
Lack of documents proving the identity of the applicants.
so that lawyers can represent foreign investors;
It will be sufficient for their Power of Attorney to include general statements, such as “execute all necessary procedures and applications related to Turkish citizenship laws”, and “execute all necessary procedures related to the purchase of real estate, and submit all relevant procedures”.
Previously, some general directorates of the Land Registry put obstacles in front of applicants by expecting very detailed data in the powers of attorney, and there were also contradictions in the practices of the different directorates.
If the initial sale contract is to be used to apply for citizenship, writing a clause in that contract stating that “the purpose of the contract is to acquire citizenship” would facilitate the procedures for placing an annotation on the title deed(s), undertaking to block the sale process for a period of 3 years .
And if such a statement is included in the text of the contract, the investor can deal with the rest of the formalities unilaterally.
Since the beginning of 2022, the authorities have been asking for a new type of official document: a currency exchange document (“döviz alım belgesi” in Turkish).
Since it was an official document recently introduced in the Turkish legal and banking system, some confusing points arose about the currency exchange document.
These confusions have been resolved by the new changes:
First: The necessary information that must be written in the currency exchange document is as follows:
The full name, passport number and foreign identification number of the applicant.
The number of the building and apartment or at least the number of the plot of land for the property as registered on the website ( https://parselsorgu.tkgm.gov.tr)
The equivalent amount of funds exchanged in US dollars.
The statement in which it is clearly written that the exchange in question takes place “for the purpose of obtaining Turkish citizenship, or in accordance with Article 13 of the Regulations on Capital Movements” (“Sermaye Hareketleri Genelgesi” in Turkish).
Second: The amount written on the payment invoice(s) must exactly match the amount written on the currency exchange document.
However;
If the amount on the payment invoice is greater than the currency exchange document, then there will be no problem.
In short, it can be said that there will be major changes in the rules for citizenship through real estate investment in the new year.
On the one hand, some changes carry an indirect negative impact on citizens who are naturalized through investment, and on the other hand, there will be more clarifications on some procedural issues.