New guidelines for acquisition of Turkish citizenship

A newly revised set of rules ("Guideline") concerning the acquisition of Turkish citizenship through purchase of real property was published by the Foreign Affairs Department of the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre on December, 20 2022.

Some of the notable changes introduced by the Guideline can be summarized as follows:

• For citizenship applications based on the execution of a promise to sell real property agreement, the real property sales amount required by the legislation for eligibility of citizenship acquisition—which is currently US$400,000—must now be paid in a single contract. Within this framework, more than one real property can be subject to a single contract, however, submission of more than one promise to sell real property agreement will not be deemed eligible for citizenship applications.
• It is not possible to apply for citizenship by acquiring a real property in shares. For example, acquisition of a real property by more than one foreign person in the form of shared ownership will not be an acceptable form of acquisition, while a foreign person's acquisition of a real property owned by more than one person will be an acceptable form of acquisition.
• The seller / owner of the real property subject to citizenship application cannot be a Turkish company with foreign capital within the meaning of Article 36 of the Land Registry Law numbered 2644.

Provisions of the Guideline will become effective on February 1, 2023.